Prosperous President

On a visit to a ranch, Colombia's cattle-raising President Gustavo Rojas Pinilla enthusiastically admired his host's prize bulls, offered to buy one. "Your Excellency," said the rancher, "I cannot accept money from the President. I will give you a bull as a gift." Replied Rojas, squaring his shoulders: "As President, I cannot accept a gift."

Rancher: Well then, Mr. President, I will sell you a bull--for one peso.

Rojas (handing him a bill): Here's 5 pesos.

Rancher: Mr. President, I have no change with me.

Rojas: That's all right. Just give me four more bulls.

Colombians tell this joke, and several variations of it, to sharpen the point that, as President, Gustavo Rojas Pinilla has done very well for himself. Before taking power, Lieut. General Rojas lived in a modest rented house. In three years he has become a multimillionaire, the nation's No. 1 cattleman. As of last week, Rojas owned at least nine ranches and tens of thousands of cattle, all branded "13," the lucky date in June 1953 when he brought off a swift military coup and began hurrying along the highroad to wealth. Rojas has a fenced-off market for his beef: he supplies the nation's army commissaries, which not only provision the troops but sell to civilians as well.

Rojas' favorite weekend hideout is his luxurious estate at Melgar. Since he acquired the place, millions of government pesos have gone into improving the highway that links it with Bogota, the nation's capital, and millions more have been allotted for a rail spur from Melgar to the nearest railroad trunk.

Near Berastegui sprawls a 17,000-acre ranch that Rojas recently bought in an unusual auction. Originally the judge in charge of the sale insisted that the bidding start at 2,500,000 pesos. He was abruptly dismissed from his post. His successor lowered the starting bid by 800,000 pesos, and Rojas, the sole bidder, snapped up for 1,700,000 an estate worth an estimated 8,000,000.

Another Rojas ranch cost him nothing at all when the deal was completed. He bought a large estate at Gamarra for 500,000 pesos, then turned right around and sold half of it--the poorer half. Price: 500,000 pesos. Buyer: an agency of the Rojas government.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.