Draft:Colombia under Gustavo Rojas Pinilla

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Republic of Colombia
República de Colombia
1953–1957
Motto: "Libertad y Orden" (Spanish)
English: "Freedom and Order"
Anthem: Himno Nacional de la República de Colombia (Spanish)
"National Anthem of the Republic of Colombia"
Location of Colombia
CapitalBogotá
Common languagesSpanish, Wayuu, Páez, Emberá, Kichwa, Misak, 63 other Indigenous Languages, English (In San Andrés and Providencia)[1]
Religion
Catholicism
Demonym(s)Colombian
GovernmentUnitary presidential republic under an authoritarian military dictatorship
• President
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Vacant
LegislatureCongress of Colombia
Historical eraLa Violencia, Cold War
13 June 1953
9 April 1948 – 1958
13 June 1954
1955
10 May 1957
Population
• 1953
12,767,237
• 1957
14,329,355[2] [3]
CurrencyColombian Peso
ISO 3166 codeCO
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Colombia
Colombian Military Junta
Portrait of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, president of Colombia from 1953 to 1957

Colombia, under Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, is a time in Colombian history during La Violencia where Gustavo Rojas Pinilla ruled the country under a military dictatorship.[4]

Colombia began as a military dictatorship on June 13th, 1953, when Colombian general Gustavo Rojas Pinilla started a coup against the unpopular conservative president of the time, Laureano Gomez, and seized power, ruling as a military dictator until he was overthrown by a military junta.[5]

Rojas Pinilla ruled the country during a time of political and economic crisis during La Violencia and had a very dictatorial style of ruling. Early on, Pinilla was very popular with Colombians due to his initial actions, such as granting amnesty to Communist and Liberal guerillas. However, during later years of ruling, Pinilla became unpopular due to actions such not allowing free elections thus leading to his overthrowing by a three-man military junta that convinced Gustavo Rojas Pinilla to step down from power early in the morning of May 10th, 1957.[4]

Primary Events[edit]

1953[edit]

June 13th, 1953

July 10th, 1953

  • Gustavo Rojas Pinilla adds the National Police to the Ministry of War, as the fourth component of the General Command of the Military Forces, by decree 1814 of July 10, 1953.24.

October 14th, 1953

1954[edit]

February 4th, 1954

  • Increase in income tax from 5 or 6 percent to 14 percent.[7]

June 13th, 1954

August 3rd, 1954

September 14th, 1954

1955[edit]

June 9th, 1955

  • On the second week of June, Gustavo Rojas Pinilla ordered a military offensive against peasants in Villarrica, Tolima between the Colombian army and armed peasants, triggering the Villarrica War. Possibly displacing around 100,000 Colombians.[10]

December 6th, 1955

1956[edit]

June 24th, 1956

August 7th, 1956

  • An explosion in Cali, Colombia occurred when seven army ammunition trucks loaded with 1053 boxes of dynamite exploded and killed over 1300 civilians.[12]

1957[edit]

Photo taken in 1957 of the Colombian Military Junta

May 10th, 1957

  • When Gustavo Rojas Pinilla secured the amendment to ban free elections, he was starting to become less popular over time. On May 10th, 1957, he was overthrown by the Colombian Military Junta, convincing him to step down from power, and was put in Exile. Thus ending the 4-year military dictatorship in Colombia.[4]

Rise and Fall of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla’s Regime[edit]

Pinilla started as a military general early on during his career and was involved in many wars during Colombian history, including Colombia-Peru War, Korean War, and La Violencia, which was started by the assassination of Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, leading to riots in Bogotá, and the Liberal Party having no presidential candidate to run in the 1949 Colombian presidential election.[13] Later on, he led a coup against the unpopular president of the time, Laureano Gómez and seized power due to his popularity. Early during his presidency he was generally liked by the people and was a major contributor to women’s rights, he also brought over the television to Colombians and granted an amnesty to Liberal and Communist Guerillas, although many did not demobilize. Rojas Pinilla also established a national radio station which consisted of mostly Catholic propaganda. Thousands of radios were distributed but they only tuned to the government-controlled station, Radio Sutatenza [14]. Rojas Pinilla also established a gun permit system.[15] However as La Violencia pursued, and the economy started to struggle, Gustavo Rojas Pinilla started to become very unpopular with Colombians. The Colombian Military Junta took over the government with the backing of the Liberal and Conservative parties and the citizens, forcing him to step down as the president. [4] However, the dictatorship of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla is notable for being more tame than other dictatorships in Latin America, such as the regimes of Pinochet and Nicolas Maduro. Rojas Pinilla was also a major contributor towards the modernization of Colombia, and was highly against communism and the Colombian Communist Party.[16]

Que Viva Mi General! A popular Colombian Nationalist Song during the 1950’s

Foreign Relations[edit]

Gustavo Rojas sought to stimulate investment by signing a pact with the United States, which allowed foreign companies to take 100% of their profits out of the country. [17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://translatorswithoutborders.org/language-data-for-colombia | Retrieved on 2023-8-11
  2. ^ https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/COL/colombia/population | NOTE: this is an estimation and not an official census count by the official Colombian government. Retrieved on 2023-8-11
  3. ^ https://population.un.org/wpp/Graphs/DemographicProfiles/Line/170 | Statistics from United Nations, Retrieved on 2023-8-11.
  4. ^ a b c d e https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100426699;jsessionid=42B6D36F4D042B45F62C964E153D075B | Archived 1975-1-17, Retrieved 2023-08-11
  5. ^ https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/colombians-overthrow-dictator-1957 | from the original on 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
  6. ^ https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/acerca-del-dane/informacion-institucional/generalidades | (In Spanish) Retrieved on 2023-8-12
  7. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20170123070445/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00809A000500410027-4.pdf | Central Intelligence Agency. 1954. Archived from the original on 2017-1-23. Retrieved on 2023-08-11.
  8. ^ https://medialandscapes.org/country/colombia/media/television | From Media Landscapes, 2019. Retrieved on 2023-8-11.
  9. ^ https://www.suin-juriscol.gov.co/viewDocument.asp?id=1825725 | LEGISLATIVE ACT 6 OF 1954|Archived government document, retrieved on 2023-08-11
  10. ^ https://www.comisiondelaverdad.co/villarrica-la-guerra-olvidada | (In Spanish), The second week of June. From 2020, Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  11. ^ https://www.suin-juriscol.gov.co/viewDocument.asp?ruta=Decretos/1517303 | (In Spanish, official government file from 1955, Retrieved on 2023-8-12.
  12. ^ https://www.elpais.com.co/especiales/explosion-7-agosto | (In Spanish), Explosion of August 7th. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  13. ^ http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0123-48702010000100003 | (In Spanish) Original copy from 2010, Retrieved on 2023-8-11
  14. ^ "Radio classes help priest whip commies". The Daily Register. Associated Press. 1961.
  15. ^ "Colombia has killing wave". Marshfield News Herald. Associated Press. 1955.
  16. ^ https://nacla.org/article/evolution-farc-guerrilla-group%27s-long-history | Recieved 2010-2-25, Retrieved 2023-08-12
  17. ^ "Colombia, U.S., sign profit pact". The Bismarck Tribune. Associated Press. 1955.

Category: Colombia Category:Military history of Colombia Category: 1953 establishments in Colombia Category: 1953 in Colombia Category: 1954 in Colombia Category: 1955 in Colombia Category: 1956 in Colombia Category: 1957 in Colombia Category: 1957 disestablishments in Colombia