REVOLUTION ATTEMPTED IN COLOMBIA

Grey River Argus, 12 April 1948, Page 5

REVOLUTION ATTEMPTED IN COLOMBIA

Hundred Killed at the Capital BUT COALITION IS FORMED BOGOTA April 10. Destructive riots and killings here and in other towns of the republic of Colombia have coincided with the shooting on Friday of Dr Jorg Elicer Gaitan, leader of the Colombian Opposition Liberal Party, by an unidentified man whom the police captured. He was leaving his office when the assailant fired three shots at close range. He fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. Dr Gaitan was unsuccessful as Liberal Party candidate for President in 1946. President Perez (Conservative) was elected. After the shooting a mob of his followers seized the attacker as ho was being dragged away by the police and kicked him to death. They ripped the clothes from his body and dumped it naked at the door of the President’s Falace, seven blocks from the scene of the shooting. A mob of 1000 attacked the building where the Pan-American conference •was being held. They were mostly students and workers. They began smashing doors, wrecking furniture, and breaking windows. The troops took no action against them as they rushed through the streets hurling stones and shaking their fists. They pressed on towards the Presidential Palace, demanding the resignation of Dr Gomez, the Conservative Party leader. Pan-American Conference Broken up by Revolutionaries (Rec. 5.35). NEW YORK. April 10.. A revolutionary mob worked their destructive way through the PanAmerican conference headquarters in the capitol building at Bogota for twenty minutes, breaking furniture and smashing tvnewriters. says :.i Herald Tribune correspondent. The unarmed Capitol Guard did not try to stop them. Soon one hundred soldiers arrived and drove out the mob with rifles and bayonets. Delegates to the conference were still in the building, and conference personnel were herded up on to the third floor for protection. Troops guarded the stairway. The Mexican delegation left the capitol under the protection of their own flag, holding it in front of them as they walked. Revolutionaries Loot and Sabotage (Rec. 9.55) NEW YORK,' April 10 The city of Bagota is now in shambles. The main buildings have been gutted by fire. Stores have been looted. Streets are littered with debris. and scattered corpses. It is impossible to give the accurate number of the dead, but it is estimated that it must be at. least one hundred. Among the buildings which were burned was the Ministry of Justice: the nine-story Communications Building, and the century-old Metropolitan Cathedral opposite to the Capitol Building. Drunken rioters surged through streets, armed with a machete Xjie or a club in one hand, and a bottle of liquor in the other A crowd of 1000 swarmed over to the National Capitol, where the PanAmerican Conference was being held. They broke through the _ police cordons and raced along the halls, shouting “Death to Laurano Gomez.” who is head of the Pan-American delegation to the conference. Troops fired on the crowds trying to storm the Presidential Palace and at least eight were killed. The rioting was spread by broadcasts Qver the captured Government radio urging a widespread revolution. Widespread looting of liquor and hardware stores occurred, trolley cars were upended and fires raged. All communications between the United States and Colombia were suddenly cut off, but radio listening post heard Colombian Government radio stations broadcast repeatedly: “Attention. Attention, the radio and telegraphic communications of Colombia are controlled by the revolution.’’ The broadcast, which came over a channel previously controlled by the Government proclaimed that the Liberal Party had taken control of the Government and all the communications of the republic. The revolutionary element referred to Gaitau’s “assassination,” and said Dr Dario Echandia had taken over the Presidency of Colombia and had been recognised by the armed forces. The Government under President Mariano Ospina Perez has been. predominantly Conservative. Rebels Report Killings of Ministers (Rec. 8.40) NEW YORK, April 10 The Colombian rebel radio in Colombia aserts that, in addition to Gaitan who died in hospital during Saturady afternoon, and his assailant who was killed by an infuriated mob in the stret. the dead included Senor Laureano Gomez, the President of the Conservative Party and Colombian Foreign Minister; Senor Guillermo Leon Valencia, a Conservative Senator, who is reported to have been caught and hanged in the Plaza Bolivar. facing the Capitol; and Senor Josa Aontonio Montalvo, the Minister of Justice and Minister of the Interior who was knifed to death in his country home. REBEL’S SEIZE TOWN The United States Consul has reported to the U.S. State Department that revolutionaries, backed by the army and the police, had seized control of Cali, which is Colombia's third city. Coalition Formed by Conservatives and Liberals to End Deadlock (Rec. 8.30). NEW YORK, April 10. An agreement has been reached at Bogota to form a coalition Government of Conservatives and Liberals as a “possible solution” of a political impasse. This was announced bv the Colombian Vice-President, Dr Eduardo Santos, who is himself a Liberal leader, and who is stopping in New York for a few days on his way home from Paris. Dr Santos said that he has received a communication from the Liberal Party leadership in Bogota saying: “We are confident that the formula for the new Cabinet will permit joint action by the Liberals and the army to put an end to mutinies”. ... Dr Santos added that President Mariano Osnina Perez remains in power in Colombia, and that the army is in control of the situation, though disturbances still continue in some important sectors. The new Cabinet was sworn in, and it immediately held its first meeting. The State Department at Washington has been informed that five hundred troops of the Presidential Guard,

including one detachment of. tanks, are apparently policing the city. The Liberals have been given six of the thirteen Ministries, including those of war, education, and the interior, while the Conservatives retain, among others, those of Foreign Relations, the Treasury, Communications and Labour. There has been a dispute between the Liberal and Conservative Parties, which is one of long standing, and it has engendered much tension. President Perez is the first Conservative President to have been elected in twentv years. He was elected as the result of a split in the Liberal Party. The Liberals retained control ‘of the Congress. President Perez has established a Government of both Liberals and Conservatives. Both the Conservative and the Liberal Parties are strongly anti-Com-munist. Shortly before the PanAmerican conference opened, Dr Gai’ tan had ordered the Liberals to withdraw from the Government. Communist Moves in Other South American Republics Reported (Rec. 9.5). ASUNCION, April 10. The Paraguayan police announced to'-dav that they had blocked an attempted Communist coup, which was co-ordinated with similar moves in other of the Latin American countries which have been aimed at interfering with the Pan-American conference at Bogota. Four Communist leaders were arrested. Rifles, hand-grenades, and a radio' transmitter were seized. The police, in a communique, said: The plan for a revolt included attacks on the police stations and the telephone exchange: and a countrywide assassination of foreigners and of Government officials.