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3 Encounters on the Middle Ground Bogota is the least tropical of tropical cities. Jorge Eliecer Gaitan (1932) The Rise and Fall Gaitan set out in 1925 along a winding, often tortuous path. He rose confidently to powerful positions more than once, only to fall back silently into his private law practice, his reputation seriously damaged. When his public actions brought the crosscurrents of conflict swirling around him, he disappeared from public life to gather strength and surface anew once the storms had subsided. After obtaining his degree in November 1924, Gaitan practiced law for a year and a half from a small, sparsely furnished office in downtown Bogota until he fulfilled his dream of traveling to Rome to study with his mentor, Enrico Ferri, whose ideas he had championed for the past five years. He proudly relied on his family to pay for the trip. Gaitan invested his meager savings in a small pharmacy in downtown Bogota run by his brother, who sent him money to pay his expenses. The trip moved him closer to the elite that looked to Europe for its origins and traveled regularly to the Old World. Gaitan was only the second Colombian lawyer-the first was the Liberal politician Carlos Arango Velez-to study with the eminent jurist. But Gaitan's success was unparalleled. Ferri and Gaitan became close friends. Dressed in dapper clothing that resembled Ferri's, Gaitan was often photographed with him in the streets of 56 The Rise and Fall 57 Rome.1 Gaitan was much taken with the older man. In Ferri he must have seen images of the future to which he aspired. Ferri had risen from humble beginnings, the son ofa poorsalt-and-tobacco-shopowner, tobecomea highly successful trial lawyer and Italy's greatest forensic orator. He was a member of parliament most of his life as well as the editor of Avanti, the well-known socialist newspaper. A tireless reformer, he was both a republican and a socialistand at the end of his lifea fascist sympathizer whobelievedin coaxing the politicalinstitutions to produce the penalcodes he thought would improve the well-being of all.2 After a year of arduous study and considerable financial hardship, Gaitan presented a proficient but narrowly drawn thesis on criminal premeditation. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Rome and read the thesis before King Immanuel, Mussolini and his entire cabinet, and his professors and fellow students. In an emotional scene Ferri awarded the Colombian the coveted Ferri Prize. Gaitan became the first Latin American to be named to the Italian section of the International Society of Penal Law. Early in 1929, when he had already returned to Colombia, Gaitan was informed that Ferri had incorporated his thesis into his course on legal positivism.3 Following his graduation, Gaitan traveled through Europe and spent a few months in Paris. There hebecame acquainted with otherColombians, including Alejandro Vallejo, a Liberal, who latercommented that Gaitan's dark skin and debonair behavior made him standout among the other Latin Americans there.4 Gaitan visited the museums and cathedrals of Europe and cultivated an interest in art and literature. He returned from his international trip in 1928 laden with books in various languages and with paintings of Italian Renaissance statues. With a renewed sense of nationalism, he deplored the "subservience of the country to foreigners."5 Although he was not opposed to foreign investment, he felt that Colombians should be treated as well as visitors. Gaitan quickly became a pole of attraction and one of the main architects of the Liberal victory two years later. His rise to fame was meteoric. After an intense campaign in Bogota's barrios and the surrounding towns of Cundinamarca , he was elected to the House of Representatives on a dissident Liberal list.6 From the center of politics he initiated his attack on the social and political institutions that surrounded him and began his climb to power. With the leopardo Silvio Villegas, he led Bogota crowds during the June 8, 1929, riot against the corrupt municipal administration. Three months later he launched his celebrated two-week attack against the Conservative regime of Abadia Mendez and against the army that had massacred the banana workers in the northern coastal town of Cienaga, on strike against the Americanowned United Fruit Company. The ill-organized strikers wanted a moderate wage increase, job security, and the elimination of company stores, to which [3.16.147.124] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 05:54...

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