El Bogotazo (from "Bogotá" and the -azo suffix of violent augmentation) was a massive outbreak of rioting after the assassination in Bogotá, Colombia of Liberal leader and presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on 9 April 1948 during the government of President Mariano Ospina Pérez. The 10-hour riot left much of downtown Bogotá destroyed. The aftershock of Gaitan's murder continued extending through the countryside and escalated a period of violence which had begun eighteen years before, in 1930, and was triggered by the fall of the conservative party from government and the rise of the liberals. The 1946 presidential elections brought the downfall of the liberals allowing conservative Mariano Ospina Pérez to win the presidency. The struggle for power between both again triggered a period in the history of Colombia known as La Violencia ("The Violence") that lasted until approximately 1958; the civil conflict that continues to this day originated from that event.
Background
During the 1940s the reigning political system in Colombia was called the convivencia, a politics of civility between liberals and conservatives.
On April 9, 1948, the 9th Pan-American Conference was being held in Bogotá. The Cold War was in its early stages with communist regimes installed throughout eastern Europe. Washington was eager to set a position against communism through a statement forwarded by General George Marshall, the U.S. Secretary of State and head of the American delegation, which was to be backed by the foreign ministers of the Latin American nations.
At the time, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán was the leader of the Liberal Party, and the most prominent politician in the country after President Ospina. He also possessed great oratory skills. His office was in downtown Bogotá, on the corner of Carrera 7 and Calle 14. Gaitán was a candidate in the presidential election, and with massive support among the country's working class, was seen as the candidate most likely to win. Both Conservatives and traditional Liberal elites were very concerned at this prospect.
Murder of Gaitán
Gaitán, a practicing attorney, arrived home early on the morning of the 9th of April after the successful ending to a case that he had been involved with. He returned to his office around 9:00 a.m., where he used to work on political matters until the afternoon. Later that day he was invited to lunch by a political supporter, Plinio Mendoza Neira. Other sympathizers would join them as well including a newspaper editor, a fellow politician and a physician. On their way out, the group was surprised by a lone gunman who fired several times at Gaitán from the front. Gaitán fell to the ground.
Suspect
The man suspected of killing Gaitán ran away heading south and pursued by an angry crowd. A policeman, Carlos Alberto Jiménez Díaz, tried to control the situation. According to police reports, the man surrendered to Jiménez, calling:"Mi cabo, no deje que me maten" (My corporal, don't let them kill me)In an attempt to avoid the mob, Jiménez locked both himself and his prisoner in the nearby Granada drugstore. Some witnesses subsequently interviewed by local newspapers (El Tiempo and El Espectador, issues from April to May, same year) claimed that the man who was taken into the drugstore was not the same one who was captured, and that in the confusion Officer Jiménez was mistaken because the other man was also wearing a gray hat. According to the drugstore owner, when he asked the prisoner why he had killed Gaitán, he replied:"¡Ay Señor, cosas poderosas! ¡Ay, Virgen del Carmen, sálvame!" (Oh Lord, powerful things! Oh Virgin of Carmen, save me!)After that, the doors were charged and the man was taken by the mob. His naked corpse was found later, in the Bolívar Square, outside the Presidential Palace. His face was crushed with a brick, and his body was mutilated. A bystander, Gabriel Restrepo, collected the remains of his clothes and found some personal documents, which identified him as 26-year-old Juan Roa Sierra.