Gustavo Rojas Pinilla

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(b. Tunja, Boyaca, Colombia, 12 Mar. 1900; d. 17 Jan. 1975) Colombian; President of Colombia 1953 – 7 Rojas attended the Military Academy in Bogotá, and later studied engineering in the USA. He worked as a road engineer for a while, and then rejoined the army in 1932. He became Commander of the 3rd Brigade in Cali during the uprising in Bogotá, the Bogatazo, the wave of riots which hit Bogotá after the assassination of the populist Liberal leader, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. Rojas remained in Cali for most of the years of the Colombian civil war, known as la violencia, which followed. In 1949 Rojas was promoted to lieutenant-general, and in 1952 he became Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Minister of Communications, and member of the Inter-American Defence Board.

On 13 June 1953 Rojas overthrew the then unpopular Conservative President of Colombia, Laureano Gomez, in a bloodless coup. He promised to end la violencia and establish political peace. His initial actions, like granting an amnesty for the Communist and Liberal guerrillas, were well received by almost everyone. His first Cabinet consisted almost entirely of Gomez's moderate opponents within the Conservative Party. However, he failed to establish full political peace. And in response Rojas became increasingly authoritarian, attempting to establish his own political party, which he described as "Christian and Bolivarist". He attempted to woo organized labour in the style of General Juan Perón of Argentina. But these political moves alienated the two main Colombian political parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, and worried both the Catholic Church and the business community. When Rojas secured a constitutional amendment to stand for a second term, and indicated he would not allow free elections, the above groups persuaded the heads of the armed forces to pressure him to go into exile. He did so on 10 May 1957, when it was clear that he had very little support in the country. He was replaced by a provisional military junta which in turn gave way to a "National Front" government of Conservatives and Liberals.

Rojas later returned to Colombia in spite of being convicted of abuses of power by a national tribunal. In 1960s he established himself as leader of ANAPO, the populist and nationalist National Popular Alliance. He opposed the National Front, and narrowly lost the 1970 presidential elections. Many claim he was only deprived of victory through fraud. After his death his daughter became head of ANAPO, but the movement fell into insignifance.

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (1900-1975) was a Colombian general and dictator-president. Though he interrupted briefly Colombia's civil war, his rule ultimately became an oppressive regime of terror.

Gustavo Rojas was born in ancient Tunja on March 12, 1900. After receiving his preuniversity education at Tunja Normal School, he began his military career in 1917, specializingin building airports. In 1927 he wrote a thesis at the Tri-State College of Engineering in Angola, Ind., on the building of airfields in Colombia. During the next 20 years, as he rose from lieutenant to general, Rojas was an engineer, building roads and airports. By 1945 he had become the director of civil aeronautics.

The Bogotazoriots of April 8, 1948, marked a turning point in Rojas's life and the start of his political career. He suppressed the Cali rioters with such efficiency and brutality that he won the hatred of the Liberals and the approval of the Conservative dictator, Laureano Gómez, who promoted him in 1950 to commander in chief of the armed forces and sent him in 1952 to Washington to represent Colombia on the Inter-American Defense Board and to Korea to inspect Colombian troops there.

In 1953, threatened with demotion and removal by Gómez, Rojas led a plot of army officers in a successful coup against the dictator and brought a brief stop to the bloody civil war in Colombia. Colombians were so thankful to Rojas for peace that they elected him president, but by June 8, 1954, Rojas had started his own violence.

Rojas used the army and police against all opposition in Colombia. Hundreds of thousands of Colombians fled burning villages for the comparative safety of mushrooming city slums. By the end of the Rojas regime, in 1957, over 300,000 Colombians were dead, and Rojas, the peace-maker and builder, had acquired a different reputation. Hubert Herring described him as a "sadist … one of the most savage and venal and altogether incompetent administrators in the history of the nation." Other historians were not so harsh. Vernon Lee Fluharty considered him a much-maligned reformer trying to modernize a semifeudal society which had been run for centuries by two small elite oligarchies. Fluharty saw these oligarchies as unwilling to give up their privileges or to "cope with long-smoldering social revolution." Fluharty excused the violence but incorrectly predicted that the two rival oligarchies would never cooperate.

The new military coup against Rojas came suddenly on May 9, 1957. After months of secret negotiations in Spain and Colombia, the Conservative and Liberal leaders jointly ousted Rojas and instituted their unique 16-year plan for "peace through alternation and parity." By this plan, Liberals and Conservatives alternated the presidency every 4 years after 1958, dividing the government jobs equally and giving Colombia years of comparative peace.

After a brief period of disgrace and exile, Rojas organized ANAPO, a rapidly growing party of left and right extremists who vowed to upset this "frozen democracy." In 1970 they claimed to have won a third of the votes and the presidency. When the Conservative Misael Pastrana was officially declared the winner, Rojas promised revolution and was held under house arrest. Bogotá was tense, but Pastrana became president.

Further Reading

A chapter on Rojas appears in Tad Szulc, Twilight of the Tyrants (1959). For further information on his role in the context of Colombian politics see Vernon Lee Fluharty, Dance of the Millions: Military Rule and the Social Revolution in Colombia 1930-1956 (1957); John D. Martz, Colombia: A Contemporary Political Survey (1962); and Robert H. Dix, Colombia: The Political Dimensions of Change (1967).

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Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Bust of President Rojas Pinilla in Medellín.
26th President of Colombia
In office June 13, 1953 – May 10, 1957
Preceded by	Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez
Succeeded by	Military Junta Gabriel París Gordillo
Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
In office December 3, 1949 – August 7, 1950
President	Mariano Ospina Pérez
Preceded by	José Vicente Dávila Tello
Succeeded by	José Tomás Angulo
Born	March 12, 1900(1900-03-12) Tunja, Boyacá, Colombia
Died	January 17, 1975 (aged 74) Melgar, Tolima, Colombia
Nationality	Colombian
Political party	National Popular Alliance
Spouse(s)	Carola Correa Londoño
Relations	Samuel Moreno Rojas (grandson) Iván Moreno Rojas (grandson)
Children	Gustavo Emilio Rojas Correa María Eugenia Rojas Correa Carlos Rojas Correa
Alma mater	Trine University
Occupation	Soldier (General), politician
Profession	Civil Engineering
Religion	Roman Catholic
Military service
Allegiance	Colombia
Service/branch	Army
Rank	Captain General
Battles/wars	Colombia-Peru War Korean War La Violencia

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (born in the city of Tunja, Boyacá on March 12, 1900 died in Melgar, Tolima on January 17, 1975) was a Colombian General, military dictator of Colombia from 1953 to 1957 and Colombian political figure, as well as a 1970 presidential candidate on behalf of the National Popular Alliance (ANAPO), political movement that he founded. He was the son of Julio Rojas and Hermecia Pinilla.

Contents 1 Early years and education 2 War with Peru 3 Colombian envoy to the United States 4 La Violencia 4.1 General of the Colombian Armed Forces 5 Coup d' etat 6 Later career 7 References

Early years and education

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in a graduate student photograph

Gustavo Rojas began his career in the school of cadets Escuela Militar de Cadetes Gral. José María Cordoba of Bogotá in 1917. He obtained his degree in 1920. In 1923 while serving in Manizales, Caldas, he was promoted to lieutenant in the army. He became dissatisfied with the army and in 1924 he requested permission to retire from active service so that he could study Civil Engineering in Tri-State Normal College, in the United States where he obtained the title of civil engineer in 1927. From there he started taking part in the construction of highways and other works of engineering as part of his military career.

War with Peru

See also: Colombia-Peru War

In 1932, Rojas was called to the front lines in order to defend the country in the war against Perú. The following year he was assigned to Buenaventura's port as commander of the Coast Battery and military engineer of the region in case of a Peruvian attack. In 1936, he became an engineer of the technical department of the Colombian Army munitions factory on behalf of which he was sent on a special mission to Germany to obtain the machinery necessary to make ammunitions in Bogotá. On his return to Colombia he was nominated as chief of the technical department of the munitions factory.

Colombian envoy to the United States

In 1943, he was sent to the United States to acquire weapons and other machinery for the Colombian military. In 1944, he became assistant director of the School of War, and in 1945 the director of Civil Aeronautics. It was there where he presented his project for airports in Colombia under the name " Tracks of landing in Colombia ", which served as dissertation for his promotion to colonel of the Army, a plan which he would subsequently bring into being with the El Dorado Airport and other airports during his later presidency.

La Violencia

La Violencia
Prelude
Murder of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
El Bogotazo
Political Parties
Liberal Party
Conservative Party
Colombian Communist Party
Presidents of Colombia
Mariano Ospina Pérez
Laureano Gómez
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
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Main article: La Violencia

In 1946, already a colonel, Rojas was nominated as commander of the First Brigade in Tunja and in 1948 was named commander of the Third Brigade in Cali. There, he gained major recognition in the country for having managed to appease the rebellion that happened in this region as a consequence of the assassination of the popular leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in April 9, 1948, for which he was honored by the incumbent Conservative president Mariano Ospina. On October 11 of the following year, he was promoted to General and on October 19 assigned to the General Direction of the National Army. On December 3 of the same year Rojas was named Minister of Post Office and Telegraphs (nowadays so-called Department of Communications) in the government of Mariano Ospina.

General of the Colombian Armed Forces

In 1950, he was nominated as a delegate for Colombia to the United Nations in Washington, and as such he inspected the battalion Colombia that was fighting against communism during the Korean War. In 1952, he was designated general of the Armed Forces of Colombia by stand-in president Roberto Urdaneta during the Conservative government of Laureano Gómez.

Coup d' etat

On June 13, 1953, Rojas seized power by means of a coup d'état supported by Liberals and Conservatives.

Later career

In 1970 Rojas ran for president of Colombia with the support of the dissident "Anapo" faction of the Conservative Party, with a populist platform. He was defeated by Misael Pastrana, but alleged that this was the result of fraud.

This section requires expansion.

References

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