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3. Rojas Pinilla and the Pacification of the Llanos, 1953–1957
- University Press of Florida
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3 Rojas Pinilla and the Pacification of the Llanos, 1953–1957 On June 13, 1953, Colombian army commander Lieutenant General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, with the support of all political groups in the country except the Laureanista wing of the Conservatives, staged a military coup that ended the presidency of Laureano Gómez. Born in Tunja in 1900, Rojas Pinilla had studied engineering before entering the Colombian Military Academy. He received his commission in 1920. In 1924 he requested permission to retire from active service so he could study civil engineering in the United States at Tri-State Normal College in Angola, Indiana. He obtained the title of civil engineer in 1927 and returned to Colombia to work on construction projects. In 1933 the invasion of Peru into the ColombianAmazon territory of Leticia prompted him to reenter active army service to repel the aggressors.1 After Colombia’s victory in the war, he advanced through army ranks, crowning his career in 1949 with his promotion to general and chief of staff of the nation’s military forces. Although President Laureano Gómez had approved Rojas Pinilla’s promotion ,he feared his potential power and assigned him to a variety of posts abroad. Later, when distressed by policies adopted by his acting president, Roberto Urdaneta , Gómez resumed power on June 12, 1953, determined to remove Rojas Pinilla from his post. When he attempted to carry out his threat on June 13, however, the general announced that the armed forces had seized power. Two hours later, in a radio address to the nation, Rojas Pinilla called for peace with the following words: No more blood, no more depredations in the name of any political party, no more rancor between sons of the same immortal Colombia. Peace, law and justice for all, without distinction, but with special consideration for those less favored by fortune—for the workers, for the poor. The patria cannot live in peace while its children are hungry and naked.2 Rojas Pinilla and the Pacification of the Llanos, 1953–1957 55 Rojas Pinilla immediately made good on his initiative. On June 19, he declared a general amnesty for all those involved in the violence except military deserters .“Those engaged in insurrectional activities, or other forms of violence, had merely to surrender their arms in order to return to civilian normality.”3 To publicize this policy,he sent air force planes over guerrilla strongholds in the Llanos, Antioquia, and Tolima to drop leaflets signed by his minister of war, General Alfredo Duarte Blum,announcing that Gómez had fallen and that the new government would extend guarantees to all who wished to lay down their weapons. Many guerrilla leaders rushed to accept the amnesty. Following preliminary discussions that hammered out agreements on the terms of surrender, a flurry of meetings took place between army units and rebels during which former combatants relinquished their arms.“Between July and September 1953, over ten thousand guerrillas accepted the government’s terms, and by year’s end resettlement workers had helped nearly five thousand people displaced by La Violencia to return to their homes and had aided more than thirty thousand others who had fled to Bogotá and other towns and cities.”4 At the national level, the impact of Rojas Pinilla’s dictatorship is controversial . On the one hand, given the protracted partisan fighting, members of the elite factions of both parties welcomed his military coup.In the first six months he was able to staunch theViolencia,relax press censorship,and release political prisoners. Underwritten by high prices for coffee on the international markets, his government began an extensive series of public works projects and improved the system of credits for small farmers.5 On the other hand, as time passed, the regime took on the character of a classic military dictatorship. The creation of the National Secretariat of Social Assistance (SENDAS) headed by Rojas Pinilla’s daughter, María Eugenia, appeared to be patterned after the policies of Argentine strongman Juan Perón, as did the general’s talk of creating a “third force” and his call for a national convention to draft a new constitution. The lull in the Violencia proved only temporary, with renewed fighting in some parts of the country along the same lines as before, and as years passed, Rojas appeared to be taking steps toward the establishment of a personal dictatorship with populist features. Press censorship returned, and the partisan elite became increasingly uneasy. By early 1957...