Carlos Lemos Simmonds

His Excellency Carlos Lemos Simmonds
6th Vice President of Colombia
In office September 19, 1996 – August 7, 1998
President	Ernesto Samper
Preceded by	Humberto de la Calle
Succeeded by	Gustavo Bell
Colombian Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office 15 November 1995 – 15 October 1998
President	Ernesto Samper
Preceded by	Noemí Sanín
Succeeded by	Humberto de la Calle
Colombia Ambassador to Austria
In office 1995–1996
President	Ernesto Samper
Preceded by	Alfonso Gómez Méndez
Minister of Government of Colombia
In office 1989–1990
President	Virgilio Barco Vargas
Preceded by	Orlando Vásquez Velásquez
Succeeded by	Horacio Serpa
33rd Minister of Communications of Colombia
President	Virgilio Barco Vargas
Preceded by	Pedro Martín Leyes
Succeeded by	Enrique Daníes Rincones
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia
In office March 12, 1981 – August 7, 1982
President	Julio César Turbay Ayala
Preceded by	Diego Uribe Vargas
Succeeded by	Rodrigo Hernán Lloreda Caicedo
Member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia
In office 20 July 1974 (1974-07-20) – 20 July 1978 (1978-07-20)
Constituency	Cauca Department
Personal details
Born	Carlos Apolinar Lemos Simmonds (1933-10-23)23 October 1933 Popayán, Cauca, Colombia
Died	30 July 2003(2003-07-30) (aged 69) Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Martha Blanco Guauque (1985–2003)
Children	María Eugenia Carlos María Victoria Adriana
Alma mater	University of Cauca
Profession	Lawyer

Carlos Apolinar Lemos Simmonds (October 23, 1933 – July 30, 2003) was the sixth Vice President of Colombia.^[1]

After graduating Lemos worked as a Municipal Judge in the town of Piendamó, Cauca. He later transferred to Bogotá where he was elected councilman in the early 1970s for three consecutive terms. He then ran for the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia. During the government of President Julio César Turbay Lemos was appointed as Secretary General of the Presidency of Colombia. In the same administration he was promoted to minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after that he was shifted to different ministries, Ministry of Government, Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (Colombia).

Lemos served later as Ambassador of Colombia to the Organization of American States (OAS), drafter of the Colombian Constitution of 1991, Ambassador of Colombia to Austria, Ambassador of Colombia to Great Britain, senator, vice president and president of Colombia temporarily.

As a member of the Colombian Foreign Affairs Commission he contributed towards resolving the dispute over San Andrés y Providencia Islands in the Caribbean Sea between Colombia and Nicaragua for territorial waters. He also negotiated the peace process with the M-19 guerrilla.

Carlos Apolinar was born on 23 October 1933 in Popayán, Cauca to Antonio José Lemos Guzmán and María Antonia Simmonds Pardo. He married María Victoria Perez y Soto Bohorquez, with whom he had four children: María Eugenia, Carlos José, María Victoria, and Adriana. He later divorced Perez y Soto, and in 1987 married Marta Piedad Blanco Guauke on October 13, 1987, in the state of Virginia (U.S.), which was registered at the Consulate of Colombia in Washington, D.C., and in turn at the First Notary of Colombia; later in the light of the Civil Marriage Law in Colombia (Decree 2668 of 1988) and after the Holy See granted him the annulment of the Catholic marriage with María Victoria Pérez y Soto, (since August 2, 1993) they remarried civilly, on October 19, 1994, which was registered in Notary 27 of Bogotá, under public deed No. 11910..

Lemos died on 30 July 2003 in Bogotá, D.C. after a fight with lung cancer. In accordance with his last will and testament, he was mourned and buried privately, and did not receive a state funeral as he would have been entitled.

• (in Spanish) Colombia.com Carlos Lemos Simmonds biography
• (in Spanish) Presidency of Colombia; Carlos Lemos Simmonds biography