Joint Choice

Forbidden by the government of President Gustavo Rojas Pinilla to use a restaurant or the country club, a band of opposition politicians met in a private home in Medellin for a ceremonial dinner one evening last week. Several of the invited guests, including former President Alberto Lleras Camargo. were missing, prevented by Rojas Pinilla's secret police from boarding Medellin-bound planes in Bogota. But the ceremonial part of the evening went off on schedule; Guillermo Leon Valencia, a middle-of-the-road Conservative, was named joint Conservative-Liberal candidate for President.

In Valencia, the recently united opposition got both a famous name from the past and a fighter for the future. His father was for years unofficial poet laureate of Colombia, twice ran for President as a Conservative candidate. Born in 1908, Valencia parlayed his famous name and a quick wit into a successful public career. He was elected to the federal Senate in 1939, gained fame as a dramatic speaker during three successive terms. He went on to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador to Spain.

Valencia is in the odd position of being a candidate without yet having any election to fight. Rojas Pinilla's term is up next year, but he apparently has no intention either of stepping down or allowing a general election to take place. Instead, he has set the stage for himself to be re-elected unanimously by a new Constituent Assembly, chosen, directly or indirectly, by himself alone. Last week, as the opposition tried to get the news of Valencia's candidacy past press censorship by distributing handbills, Rojas Pinilla took a long, firm step closer to the presidency. In Bogota, he called together a "Council of Delegates," a collection of hand-picked pro-government men from all over Colombia, which chose 60 of the 90 members of the new Constituent Assembly. For an extra margin of safety, the other 30 were appointed directly by the President.

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