The Strongman Falls

Citizens of Bogota were hauled from their beds before dawn one day last week by the nervous jangle of telephones and the jubilant honking of auto horns in the streets. Joyous news swept the city; after a ten-day period of terror and near-revolution that saw more than 100 killed, President Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, 57, was out. The overwhelming combination of the Roman Catholic Church, rioting university students, the Liberal and the Conservative Parties and the country's tough-minded bankers and businessmen had brought the strongman tumbling down.

In his last week, every move the dictator made to keep the upper hand went wrong. He ordered military police to end student demonstrations that broke out when his secret police arrested the joint Liberal-Conservative presidential candidate, Guillermo Leon Valencia, in Cali (TIME, May 13). But outside Bogota's La Porciuncula Church the troops stormed the church itself as well as student demonstrators. Just as a priest raised the chalice at the altar, two tear-gas bombs exploded. Eyes streaming, the priest turned to the congregation. "A curse on the tyrant!" he thundered. "A curse upon the man who has led the nation to this situation!"

A Sense of Destiny. Under such provocation, resistance spread. In a sunny front room of his second-floor apartment, former President Alberto Lleras Camargo asked the city's leading businessmen and bankers to join in a commercial strike.

With rare courage and sense of destiny, they agreed. Next day, as banks closed, business came to a standstill and newspapers shut down in protest, tanks and armored cars rolled into the main streets. The business strikers refused to be overawed. Rojas fueled the opposition fire by calling together his puppet Constituent Assembly and ordering it to revoke the long-established sections of the constitution which decreed that a President must be elected by direct popular vote, and that no President may succeed himself.

The well-coached Assembly obediently elected Rojas to a new four-year term beginning in 1958. After the election Rojas addressed the nation by radio and television. In soothing tones, he blamed the riots and strikes on the "oligarchs" (businessmen). He tried to make his peace with the church by declaiming that "the government is Catholic."

The Path Down. In his early days, Rojas' peacemaking might have worked. After he overthrew Dictator Laureano Gomez in 1953, he was hailed as the savior of Colombia. But one year later Rojas' tragic flaw--the strongman's inability to accept criticism--began to show through. With a heavy hand he began censoring newspapers, finally suppressed Bogota's two leading dailies, El Tiempo and El Espectador. From there his path led only downward. His soldiers and cops shot down political opponents and students. By spending uncounted millions on arms and post-exchange luxuries aimed at keeping his military supporters loyal, he used up most of the coffee-prosperous country's-gold reserves and ran up an exorbitant foreign-trade debt. As Colombia went broke, Rojas grew rich. He made himself the nation's No. 1 cattleman, using loans from intimidated banks. He exported millions to haven abroad.

Economic fumbling and pressure on the banks at last turned Colombia's business. men against Rojas; corruption and killing earned him the wrath of the church. Toward the end of last week, ignoring Rojas' attempt to smooth over the rift, Colombia's Primate Crisanto Cardinal Luque issued a pastoral letter with his bitterest attack yet on Rojas. That night, the dictator's military supporters gathered for a worried meeting.

After four hours of heated talk, they made up their minds: Rojas had to go. Army Commander in Chief Rafael Navas Pardo was chosen to break the news to the President. Shortly after midnight he was shown into the study at the presidential palace. "My general," he said, "you must leave the country. Things cannot go on like this." At first Rojas refused to believe it. But three hours later, after conversations with other army commanders and Cardinal Luque's personal representative, he yielded. Rojas asked only that his War Minister and old friend, Major General Gabriel Paris, be made President. As a face-saving gesture to the ousted President, the commanders agreed to name Paris head of the five-man junta set up to replace Rojas.

Back to Normal. Later the same morning Rojas went to the microphones to announce his resignation. "It would be impossible," he said, "that I, who gave the country peace, should cause the country useless bloodshed." Then he announced the members of the junta: Paris, Navas Pardo, National Police Director Major General Deogracias Fonseca, Secret Police Chief Brigadier General Luis E. Ordonez and former Public Works Minister (and Rear Admiral) Ruben Pie-drahita. General Paris, as president of the junta, promised on his honor as an officer that popular elections will be held next year. And Cardinal Luque appealed to the people to support the junta.

With Rojas aboard a Colombian DC-4 bound for exile in Spain, the junta got to work. Calling in Opposition Leaders Valencia and Lleras Camargo, they began organizing a civilian Cabinet to help govern the country until next year's elections. At week's end, with the list drawn up, Bogota was almost back to normal. Only one Colombian seemed to have completely missed the significance of the uprising. In Bermuda, where he stopped over with his wife and family, Rojas was asked what caused his downfall. "There was no revolution," he said. "I decided to turn the government over to a military junta. Only a few priests were against me."

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