Armando Alberto Benedetti Villaneda (born 29 August 1967) is a Colombian politician. He served as

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 ...

from 2006 to 2022 and Member of the

Chamber of Representatives of Colombia The Chamber of Representatives (Spanish: ''Cámara de Representantes'') is the lower house of the Congress of Colombia. It has 172 members elected to four-year terms. Electoral system According to the Colombian Constitution, the Chamber of ...

from 2002 to 2006.

Career

Benedetti attended the

Pontifical Xavierian University The Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (English: Xavierian Pontifical University) is a private university in Colombia founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest and most traditional Colombian universities, directed by the Society of Jesus, with its ...

, and graduated with a degree in

communication studies Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

. He briefly worked as a reporter for ''Noticiero QAP'' between 1990 and 1991, and later served as political adviser to Eduardo Verano de la Rosa during the 1991 Constituent Assembly. He served as Secretary General of Public Establishments of the National Traffic and Transport Institute (Intra) between 1992 and 1993, and was later appointed deputy director of the Colombia Health Resource Company (Ecosalud), serving from 1996 to 1997. In 1998, Benedetti was elected to the Bogotá City Council as a

Liberal party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

candidate, and head of his

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

. He served as Council Member until 2000, when he decided not to seek re-election in order to run for Congress.

Congressman

During the 2002 parliamentary elections, Benedetti ran for a seat in the Chamber of Representatives for the

circumscription Circumscription may refer to: * Circumscribed circle * Circumscription (logic) *Circumscription (taxonomy) * Circumscription theory, a theory about the origins of the political state in the history of human evolution proposed by the American anthr ...

of the

Capital District A capital district, capital region, or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politic ...

as a Liberal candidate and head of his electoral list. He won with 31,855 votes.

Senator

In 2006, Benedetti decided to run in the 2006 parliamentary elections, this time for a seat in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, and this time as a

Social Party of National Unity The Union Party for the People (), or Party of the U (), is a liberal political party in Colombia. The Party is led by former president Juan Manuel Santos. After supporting the presidencies of Álvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos and Iván Duqu ...

candidate. He won a seat in the national elections with 50,356 votes. In 2010, Benedetti was re-elected to the Senate with 81,029 votes, On 20 July 2010, Benedetti was elected by his peers

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the Speaker (politics), speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's Order of succession, succes ...

. As President of the Senate, Benedetti administered the

oath of office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Suc ...

to President

Juan Manuel Santos Calderón Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. An economist by training and a journalist by trade, ...

when he took office the following month on 7 August.

Ambassador

In August 2022, President

Petro Petro is a masculine given name, a surname and an Ancient Roman cognomen. It may refer to: Given name * Petro Balabuyev (1931–2007), Ukrainian airplane designer, engineer and professor, lead designer of many Antonov airplanes * Petro Doroshenko ...

appointed Benedetti as Ambassador to Venezuela. On June 2, 2023, Ambassador Benedetti submitted a letter of resignation to President Petro after recordings of phone conversations surfaced in the media. In these, Benedetti threatened President Petro's Chief of Staff, Laura Sarabia, with releasing information regarding Petro's campaign financing that could, according to him, topple the government and send people to prison. Sarabia, who got her start in politics as an aide to Benedetti, resigned as Chief of Staff on June 2, 2023.

Personal life

Armando Alberto was born on 29 August 1967 in

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 ...

, Colombia, to Armando Benedetti Jimeno and Genoveva Villaneda Jiménez. His sister Ángela María is the current Ambassador of Colombia to Panama.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benedetti, Armando 1967 births Living people People from Barranquilla Colombian people of Italian descent Pontificia Universidad Javeriana alumni Colombian journalists Colombian male journalists Members of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia Members of the Senate of Colombia Presidents of the Senate of Colombia Social Party of National Unity politicians Colombian LGBTQ rights activists Ambassadors of Colombia to Venezuela Representatives of Colombia to the Food and Agriculture Organization Petro administration cabinet members Chiefs of staff of Colombia Ministers of the interior of Colombia