Slaven Letica facts for kids

Slaven Letica (born June 28, 1947 – died October 25, 2020) was a famous person from Croatia. He was a writer, an expert in economics, a TV commentator, and a politician.

Biography

Slaven Letica was born in Podgora. He studied economics at the University of Zagreb and finished his studies in 1971.

In the 1980s, he taught about how society and health are connected at the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb. He also worked as an advisor for the World Health Organization. He helped with health services in many countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

In the late 1980s, the government in Yugoslavia became less strict. Slaven Letica started to use this new freedom to suggest changes. He wrote many articles and appeared on TV shows. He quickly became a well-known thinker in Yugoslavia.

In May 1990, after the first democratic elections, Franjo Tuđman asked him to be his personal advisor. During talks with Jovan Rašković, a leader of Serbs in Croatia, Letica shared a secret recording of their conversation. He hoped this would make Croatian Serbs turn away from Rašković's ideas of separating from Croatia. However, this led to more extreme Serb leaders taking over. This made the war in Croatia start sooner. Letica and Tuđman stopped working together in March 1991. They disagreed about Croatia's approach to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the years that followed, Letica continued to appear in Croatian media. He shared his opinions, often disagreeing with the government. He became a regular writer for Globus, a popular news magazine.

Political Career

In the 2000 Croatian presidential election, Slaven Letica ran for president as an independent candidate. He finished fourth, but he received a good number of votes (4.14%). Because of this, the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) wanted him to join them. This party was trying to improve its image. Letica was known as a smart and educated person, which helped the party.

In the 2003 Croatian parliamentary election, he ran with the HSP. He won a seat in the Sabor (the Croatian Parliament).

The HSP chose Letica again as their candidate in the 2005 Croatian presidential election. This time, he received fewer votes (2.59%). He said the HSP did not support him enough. He left the party during his term. He stayed in the Sabor as an independent until January 2008.

In the 2007 Croatian parliamentary election, his independent group in Zagreb did not get enough votes to enter Parliament.

Personal Life

Slaven Letica was married to Gordana Cerjan-Letica. She was also a sociologist and a professor at the School of Dental Medicine, University of Zagreb. They had two sons, Bartol (born in 1976) and Frane (born in 1982).

Works

Here are some of the books Slaven Letica wrote:

• Zdravstvo u Hrvatskoj: razvoj, stanje i perspektive (1981)
• Kriza i zdravstvo (1984)
• Zdravstvena politika u doba krize (1984)
• Intelektualac i kriza (1984)
• Četvrta Jugoslavija (1989)
• Obećana zemlja (1992)
• Divlje misli (1993)
• The Road from Paradise (1993, co-author)
• Habits of the Balkan Heart (1993, co-author)
• Postmoderna i genocid u Bosni i Hercegovini (1997, co-author)
• Političko pleme (1999)
• Strašni sud (2002)
• Medicinska sociologija (2003, co-author)