Alejandro Char
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Alejandro Char Chaljub (born 16 April 1966), commonly known as Alex Char, is a Colombian politician. He is Mayor of
Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...
for the third time, having previously served two terms from 2008 to 2011 and 2016 to 2019. A civil engineer and member of the
Radical Change Radical Change (, CR, stylised with a backwards "R") is a conservative liberal political party in Colombia. After the elections on 12 March 2006, the party became one of the most important in the new Congress, receiving 20 seats in the lower ho ...
Party, he was councilor for the Liberal Party in 1997 and in 2000 ran for the Governorship of the
Department of Atlántico Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
. Initial ballot results gave victory to his contender Ventura Díaz Mejía, but after a lengthy and often criticized process, the Administrative Supreme Court of Colombia reviewed the election results and found Char to be rightful winner of the race and allowed him to serve the remaining period of his term in 2003. In 2007 he was elected Mayor or Barranquilla with 221,625 votes equivalent to 58.38% of the total vote, the biggest margin of votes in the Mayoral election history of Barranquilla, and according to an Invamer/
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, Char had a 75% approval rating in April 2008, the best ranked mayor of Colombia, a statistic that grew to an 80% approval rating at the end of 2008. In 2015 he was reelected for Mayor of Barranquilla defeating his opponent, ex councilor and independent politician Rafael Sanchez Anillo. In 2022, was pre-candidate for the
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in the representation of the independent movement País de Oportunidades, but he was beaten by
Federico Gutiérrez Federico Andrés Gutiérrez Zuluaga (born 28 November 1974) is a Colombian politician, civil engineer, who currently serves as the mayor of Medellín, having held this office previously from 2016 to 2019. Before being mayor, he had been a membe ...
in the
primary elections Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...
celebrated in March 13, 2022. In October 29, 2023 was elected as Mayor of Barranquilla for third time defeating 5 opponents including the ex councilor of Barranquilla Antonio Eduardo Bohorquez Collazos.


Family

Alejandro comes from a well-established and influential, Syrian Colombian family that immigrated from
Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
. he is the son of
Fuad Char Fuad Ricardo Char Abdala (born 5 October 1937) is a Colombian businessman and politician who served as Governor of Atlántico from 1984 to 1987, as Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (Colombia), Minister of Economic Development from 1987 ...
, a Liberal former
Senator of Colombia The Senate of the Republic of Colombia () is the upper house of the Congress of Colombia, with the lower house being the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia, Chamber of Representatives. The Senate has 108 members elected for concurrent (non ...
, former Governor of the Department of Atlantico in 1984, former Minister of Economic Development in 1987, and Ambassador of Colombia to
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, and his wife was Adela Chaljub de Char, who died in 1994. His brother, Arturo Char was also a Senator of Colombia, as is his cousin David Char Navas. His other brother, Antonio Char was the president of Junior Barranquilla, the city's foremost football team. He married Katia Nule Marino on August 27, 1999, of Lebanese descent and a former winner of the Miss Carnival of Barranquilla pageant in 1995. She is the daughter of former Ministry of Mines and Energy and Minister of Communications Guido Alberto Nule Amín, and of Ginger Marino Mendoza, a lawyer and activist. Together they have two children, Alejandro Char Nule and Mariana Char Nule.


Basketball

In 2018, the
Titanes de Barranquilla Titanes de Barranquilla (in English: Titans of Barranquilla) is a Colombian professional basketball team based in Barranquilla. The team plays in the Baloncesto Profesional Colombiano, where it has won the championship a league-record nine times ...
became the city's first professional basketball team in 15 years. Chaljub who was Barranquilla's major at that time stressed that the team would enjoy his full support as it would support the development of the local youth. Chaljub added that the idea of having the professional team in Barranquilla came from him. He said “we studied it, analyzed it, and gave the go-ahead, because after the
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the city was hungry for sports. And furthermore, these venues need important events to keep them running and what better way than to be with a team like Titanes at the Elías Chegwin stadium.”


Controversies

Alejandro Char has been linked with corruption cases, including the bribing of judges, and the purchase of votes for his personal benefit or the benefit of his political allies. The accusations were made by former congresswoman Aída Merlano Rebolledo, herself accused of participating in vote-buying patronage networks in the Caribbean Region (Colombia) and currently was returned from
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.


References


External links

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Char Chaljub, Alejandro 1966 births People from Barranquilla
Alejandro Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander. Alejandro has multiple variations in different languages, including Aleksander ( Czech, Polish), Alexandre ( French), Alexandros ( Greek), Alsander ( Irish), Alessandro ( Italian), Aleksand ...
Colombian people of Syrian descent Living people Georgia Tech alumni Colombian civil engineers Governors of Atlántico Department Mayors of places in Colombia