Gustavo Rojas Pinilla

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (born March 12, 1900 in Tunja , Colombia , † January 17, 1975 in Melgar ) was a Colombian military , politician and dictator . He became President of Colombia through a military coup from June 13, 1953 to May 10, 1957 .

Early years

Born in Tunja, Colombia, to Julio Rojas Jiménez and Hermencia Pinilla Suárez. He spent his early years there and then moved to Villa de Leyva . His siblings were Ana Elvira María, Carlos Arturo, Margarita María and Julio César. He went to primary school with the sisters Hermanas de la Presentación in Tunja and then attended the secondary school Escuela Normal de Varones . Between 1916 and 1917 he received his Abitur ( bachillerato ).

Military career

After school he attended the Escuela de Cadetes in Bogotá from 1917 , where he began his military career. As early as 1920 he received the rank of sub-lieutenant and in 1923 in Manizales that of lieutenant . A year later, dissatisfied with the army, he traveled to the United States to learn the trade of civil engineer at Tri-State College . He completed this training in 1927 with a diploma.

Due to the impending conflict with Peru , Rojas Pinilla was again part of the army as a captain in 1932. A year later he was transferred to Buenaventura because an attack by the Peruvians was expected there. In 1936 he traveled to Germany in order to acquire the necessary skills and machines for the production of ammunition for the state. He then became the technical manager of the ammunition factory in Bogotá. At this point he was already a major and was distinguished by his interest in military technology.

As part of the new lending and leasing law , he traveled to the United States as head of the Escuela de Artillería in 1943 to purchase weapons and technology. His study of the airports in Colombia earned him the rank of colonel. In addition, in 1944 he was appointed head of the Aeronautica Civil , part of the aviation authority.

The years from 1946 to 1953 were marked by Rojas' efforts to defuse the conflict between liberal and conservative combat groups that had intensified after the murder of the popular politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán . Rojas himself stated in this regard that from a military point of view his leadership on April 9, 1948 (nationwide riots after the murder of Gaitán) in Cali was the most noteworthy. During this time, under the influence of the communist party, various guerrilla groups were formed, from which the FARC , which is still active today , were to emerge (1964-66) . In 1949 Rojas was made general and on December 3 of the same year he was made Minister of Post and Telecommunications.

Political career

By the interim president Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez Rojas Pinilla was moved towards the end of 1952 to lead the entire army. The military coup of June 13, 1953 against the government of President Laureano Gómez, who had already expected such an action and had therefore returned from exile in Spain on the same day, was intended to prevent further bloodshed between conservatives and liberals ( La Violencia ). The coup led to the presidency of Rojas Pinilla, who was supported by former presidents Mariano Ospina and Roberto Urdaneta. In his first speech he gave "peace, justice and freedom" as his guidelines.

His reign was characterized by a large number of large construction projects. Among other things, he had the El Dorado airport in Bogotá constructed. With the help of German technicians, he also introduced television , founded several banks and automated telephone switching. On August 25, 1954, he introduced women's suffrage and was re-elected president for a further four-year term that same year. At the same time, however, the country fell into a deep crisis again. The student surveys of June 8 and 9, 1954, as well as the censorship and closure of the El Tiempo , El Espectador and El Siglo newspapers , exacerbated this situation.

Despite generous amnesty legislation, Rojas did not succeed in definitely ending Violencia . After a brief phase of relative peace (1953/54), fighting between the government and the guerrillas flared up again from June 1954. In this phase, however, it was primarily revolutionary (communist) groups and economically motivated gangs that showed no interest in "reintegration". Rather, they rejected Rojas' authoritarian system of government and the oligarchy in general.

However, recent research shows that Rojas enjoyed considerable support from the impoverished majority due to its populist redistribution policy in the style of Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón . By creating his own mass base and his own party ( Tercera Fuerza ), however, he snubbed the long-established elites who had brought him to power in June 1953. For this reason, the relevant sectors of the oligarchy (trade, banking, party elites, education) organized a "general strike" that ultimately brought down the dictator in May 1957. Bearing group this protest movement was that of Laureano Gómez and Alberto Lleras Camargo launched Frente Civil , who later in Frente Nacional was renamed (from 1958).

On May 10, 1957, Rojas Pinilla left the state to a military junta , which consisted of the generals Gabriel París, Deogracias Fonseca, Rafael Navas and Luis Ordóñez and the counter-admiral Rubén Piedrahíta. In the next two years he was held accountable by the Senate. Despite a guilty verdict, he was restored to his political rights seven years later by the Tribunal Superior de Cundinamarca . In 1958 Alberto Lleras was elected President. Rojas Pinilla founded the Alianza Nacional Popular ( ANAPO ) in 1962 with some sympathizers .

In the 1970 elections, this new group received 39% of the vote. The conservative opponent Misael Pastrana Borrero received 40.6%, which led to speculation about rigged elections. The M-19 guerrilla group then emerged as a radical ANAPO splinter group , which declared the democratic path to have failed and therefore chose the violent option. It was not until June 1971 that ANAPO officially became a party. In 1974 Rojas Pinilla became senator and died of a heart attack a year later on his finca in Melgar. He was buried in Bogotá.

Awards (selection)

• 1953: Special level of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Web links

• Biography in Spanish
• 50 years after the junta (spanish)

literature

• Galvis, Silvia / Alberto Donadio: El jefe supremo. Rojas Pinilla en la Violencia y el poder . Planeta, Bogotá 1988.

predecessor	Office	successor
Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez	President of Colombia 1953–1957	Gabriel París Gordillo