Education
University of Cauca.
Diplomat journalist politician
University of Cauca.
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 (Organization of American States), 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.
He also negotiated the peace process with the M-19 guerrilla.
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.