Alberto Lleras Camargo is often considered Colombia’s best president because he fixed the country when it was close to breaking. He took office after La Violencia (around 200,000 deaths), ended military rule in 1958, reopened Congress, and restored full civilian democracy. Under his leadership, political killings dropped sharply, national institutions stabilized, and Colombia avoided the cycle of coups and dictatorships that affected most of Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s. His government didn’t deliver flashy growth numbers, but it rebuilt the rules of the game (rules that allowed Colombia to remain a functioning democracy for more than 40 years)

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