por He Bogotazo It was an outbreak of violence that took place in the Colombian capital and ended up spreading to other areas of the country. The reason for these revolts was the assassination of the liberal political leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, candidate for the presidency of the government.
Since its very proclamation as an independent country, Colombia had suffered several civil wars carried out by its main parties: the Liberal and the Conservative. Both political forces had alternated in power, always in the midst of great tension and with frequent armed confrontations.
The 1946 elections marked the return to power of the conservatives, partly due to the internal division in the Liberal Party. Within this there were two different currents, one led by Alberto Lleras Camargo and the second by Gaitán, further to the left than the previous one.
Gaitán prepared for the following elections and obtained the support of the most popular classes. His murder at the hands of Juan Roa Sierra caused his supporters in Bogotá to take to the streets violently. Although the government managed to suppress the protesters, the Bogotazo became the beginning of the period known as La Violencia.
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Background
Two large parties, the Liberal and the Conservative, had dominated Colombian political life since the 19th century. The first was born as a representation of the mercantile class and proposed a decentralized organization of the country, the separation between the Church and the State and a free market economic system.
For its part, the Conservative Party was made up of the most privileged classes, as well as the landowners. Ideologically, they were supporters of the centralized and hierarchical state, in addition to defending the participation of the Catholic Church in political life.
Over time, internal currents began to appear in both parties, further multiplying tensions and confrontations.
alternation in power
Liberals and Conservatives had alternated in power, with prolonged periods of government in each case. Between 1886 and 1930 the so-called Conservative Hegemony took place, with a government of that sign. During this stage, the Thousand Days War took place, which pitted both sides against each other.
Several factors, including the Bananeras Massacre, caused a shift in favor of the Liberals as early as 1930. That year elections were won by Enrique Olaya, who sought to end partisan clashes by forming a government with members of both parties.
Four years later, López Pumarejo prevailed in the elections and formed a totally liberal government. That was the beginning of the so-called Revolution on the Move, during which numerous laws were approved that tried to reform Colombian society and economy.
Despite the fact that the changes were not radical, the most conservative sectors strongly opposed them.
Split in the Liberal Party
López Pumarejo’s presidency ended in 1938 after a period of tension within the Liberal Party. The lack of a leader to replace the former president sparked a fight to gain control of the organization.
The two liberal sectors in dispute were the moderates, representative of the commercial elites, and the radical, led by Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, further to the left and highly popular among the most disadvantaged classes.
1946 election
After two presidential terms (1938-1942 and 1942-1946) won by the Liberals in the absence of a Conservative candidate, the 1946 elections seemed much more complicated for the party.
The main cause was the increasing internal division that it presented. Thus, there were two different candidates: the official, Gabriel Turbay, and the dissident, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán.
This circumstance allowed the conservatives, led by the moderate Ospina Pérez, to win the presidency. Ospina, however, made a speech that called for forgetting partisan confrontations.
The new president appointed a cabinet with liberals and conservatives, but clashes between the two parties soon began. These clashes led to episodes of violence and, by 1947, 14,000 people had died as a result.
Legislative elections of March 16, 1947
On March 16, 1947, legislative elections took place in Colombia. Gaitán’s supporters were clearly victorious. The Liberal Party, before this, recognized the politician as sole head of the party.
That victory and Gaitán’s growing popularity made him the top favorite to win the 1950 elections.
Break with the government
On March 18, 1948, Gaitán decided that the liberal ministers would abandon the government of national unity presided over by Ospina. The reason was the lack of government response to the episodes of violence suffered by supporters of his party.
The government’s response, in addition to naming Laureano Gómez, a conservative, as Foreign Minister, was to veto Gaitán’s presence at the IX Pan-American Conference that opened in Bogotá on March 30.
Causes
Although the trigger for El Bogotazo was the murder of Gaitán, historians affirm that there were previous conditions that contributed to the outbreak. Colombia had a society in which economic and social inequality was very pronounced. In addition, the popular classes considered that neither of the two parties had bothered to solve their problems.
For this reason, a candidate like Gaitán, a dissident within his party and a supporter of issues such as agrarian reform, soon found great support among the less favored classes.
To the improvement of social conditions that Gaitán promised, we must add his great charisma, capable of making peasants and urban workers join forces to support him.
Gaitan’s death
The murder of Gaitán was the most immediate cause of the inhabitants of Bogotá taking to the streets to violently protest. It was an outbreak carried out by the working class and which was aimed at the oligarchy.
Proof of Gaitán’s ability to convene are the 100,000 people who attended the demonstration he called at the beginning of 1948. The protest, called the March of Silence, had the objective of protesting against episodes of political violence that especially affected liberals.
Facts
The morning of April 9 began for Jorge Eliécer Gaitán with a meeting held in his office. At the end, he and the rest of his fellow party members decided to go out for lunch around 1:00 p.m.
When leaving the elevator, Mendoza Neira, one of Gaitán’s companions, took him by the arm and they both went ahead of the rest of their companions. As soon as he opened the door of the building, an individual who would later be identified as Juan Roa Sierra shot several times at the Liberal leader.
According to the chroniclers, Gaitán was hit by three bullets, although he did not die on the spot. The politician managed to reach the Central Clinic alive, where his death was certified.
Witnesses to the shooting tried to capture the murderer, who had to be protected by the police so as not to be lynched on the spot. The tension was such that the agents had to introduce him to a nearby drugstore. Right there they conducted the first interrogation, but all they got were the words «Oh, Holy Virgin!»
Population reaction
Despite the police’s attempts to protect Roa Sierra, a crowd managed to enter the drugstore. There they beat the murderer to death. Later, they dragged the corpse until they reached the National Capitol, on whose steps they abandoned the body.
As the news spread, riots broke out throughout the city. The first day almost all the violence was concentrated in the center of the capital, but later it spread to the rest of the neighborhoods. Finally, several cities in the country joined the protests. The common request was the resignation of Mariano Ospina.
Those days there were numerous lootings and burnings of churches, commercial premises and trams. At first, the police and the army tried to calm the situation. However, some members of those bodies joined the protests and offered weapons to the population. Others, instead, began to shoot at the demonstrators.
In just one week, 3,500 deaths were recorded throughout the country. Finally, the government managed to crush the revolt, not without difficulty.
Consequences
Although Roa Sierra’s authorship is not in question, there are numerous hypotheses about his motivations. Some historians claim it was a political assassination for national causes and others accuse the United States of commissioning it. Finally, there is also a group that denies the political intent of the act
days of revolt
The riots and the consequent repression lasted for three days. A group of armed demonstrators went to the National Capitol and demanded that Ospina resign from the presidency. Other groups limited themselves to burning everything they found. In the end, the city was destroyed.
Similar days were held in other Colombian cities. In many of them, the fury of the population was directed against the headquarters of the Conservative Party.
government crackdown
As a consequence of the Bogotazo, the government headed by Ospina chose to increase the repression. Among the measures taken were the prohibition of public meetings and the dismissal of all the governors of the Liberal Party. Finally, the Congress was closed.
The Liberals, in protest against these measures, presented their resignation from all the positions they held, both national and local. In addition, they gave up presenting a candidate for the following presidential elections. This cleared the way for the conservative Laureano Gómez to rise to power.
As soon as he took office, the new president took a series of repressive measures: reduction of civil liberties, abolition of laws favorable to workers, prohibition of unions, and introduction of censorship in the press.
The violence
The Bogotazo, according to the opinion of almost all historians, marked the beginning of a bloody stage in the history of Colombia: Violence. This term designated a true civil war, although not declared, which caused between 200,000 and 300,000 deaths.
Just before the 1949 election, the Liberals planned to take power by force. However, their leaders were shot in the capital. The repression unleashed by the government of Laureano Gómez caused the appearance of numerous guerillas throughout the country, both liberal and communist.
La Violencia lasted until 1958, when the two main parties reached an agreement to share power: the National Front.
References
news. What was ‘El Bogotazo’, the origin of ‘La Violencia’ in Colombia? Retrieved from newsmerica.com
EcuRed. The Bogotazo. Obtained from ecured.cu
Manetto, Francesco. The shots that fired in…