Revolution of the Right

After almost half a century of unbroken constitutional government, revolution came to Colombia last week. It was a revolution of the right, carried out by the government in office.

With the election of his successor less than three weeks away, Conservative President Mariano Ospina Perez proclaimed a state of siege. In a volley of swift decrees he also: 1) indefinitely suspended Congress (which has a Liberal majority); 2) took away the power of the supreme court's Liberal majority to nullify any of his acts; 3) imposed censorship on press, radio and cables; 4) banned meetings and demonstrations; 5) empowered government officials to dismiss all remaining Liberal employees.

Political Passion. Ever since the tragic Bogota uprising of April 9, 1948, Colombia had been drifting toward just such a moment of force. Liberals, having healed the division that cost them the presidency in 1946, used their congressional majority to push the election date seven months forward in expectation of victory. The Conservative reply, in an atmosphere hot with political passion, was to choose their most inflammatory rightist, Franco-loving Laureano Gomez, as their nominee, and to throw every government resource into his campaign.

In rural political killing and burning, which frightened the other party's members from voting, Conservatives gained a bloody advantage. Liberals raged that the police fought for the Conservatives. By last week, counting their dead in the thousands, Liberal leaders concluded that they had no chance of a fair election. They withdrew their presidential candidate and ordered their followers to boycott the election. Then, still trying to follow constitutional procedures, a Liberal caucus decided to impeach the President in Congress for failure to keep democratic order, and informed him of its intention. Thirty minutes after learning that, Ospina struck.

Panic spread fast as news of the state of siege exploded over Bogota. Tanks rumbled into the plazas. Rifle-toting troopers turned Congressmen away from the Capitol. Rumors spread through Carrera Septima crowds that Liberal leaders had been assassinated. Panicky shopkeepers slammed down their iron shutters. People stampeded. One woman, asked why she was running, answered: "Because everyone else is." An Austrian who had seen Dollfuss take over Vienna in 1932 said: "It is not only the same but exactly the same."

"Complete Calm." Within two hours, the tension lifted. This was no April 9 for Bogota. Well-drilled military police on every street corner made that plain. At 9 p.m. curfew the government announced:

"Complete calm prevails throughout the country." Rural shooting stopped. Business perked up as merchants saw a chance to get the coffee crop to market after all. Many bogotanos went down the mountainsides to resort hotels for a holiday weekend.

Liberals talked of a general strike, then decided against it because of its potential bloodiness. For the present, their opposition to the government would consist of secret sessions of Congress held in private houses. When supreme court justices protested that the President's action was flagrantly unlawful, the muzzled press did not even print the fact. In the showdown between the Liberal leaders and ruthless Laureano Gomez, Laureano appeared to have won. After 14 years of Liberal congressional majorities, Conservatism moved toward supremacy in Colombia. With Liberals abstaining, Laureano could not miss being elected President. After that, it would be easy to put over a new Conservative Congress. For the week's decrees, Liberal Congressmen had one word: "Dictatorship."

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