Draft:Colombia under Gustavo Rojas Pinilla



Colombia, under Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, is a time in Colombian history during La Violencia where Gustavo Rojas Pinilla ruled the country under a military dictatorship.

Colombia began as a military dictatorship on June 13th, 1953, when Colombian general Gustavo Rojas Pinilla started a coup against the unpopular conservative president of the time, Laureano Gomez, and seized power, ruling as a military dictator until he was overthrown by a military junta.

Rojas Pinilla ruled the country during a time of political and economic crisis during La Violencia and had a very dictatorial style of ruling. Early on, Pinilla was very popular with Colombians due to his initial actions, such as granting amnesty to Communist and Liberal guerillas. However, during later years of ruling, Pinilla became unpopular due to actions such not allowing free elections thus leading to his overthrowing by a three-man military junta that convinced Gustavo Rojas Pinilla to step down from power early in the morning of May 10th, 1957.

1953
June 13th, 1953 July 10th, 1953 October 14th, 1953
 * Gustavo Rojas Pinilla leads a coup against Laureano Gómez and seizes power, temporarily putting La Violencia to a halt. Being the first president to do so since José Manuel Marroquín in 1900.
 * Gustavo Rojas Pinilla adds the National Police to the Ministry of War, as the fourth component of the General Command of the Military Forces, by decree 1814 of July 10, 1953.24.
 * The National Administrative Department of Statistics is formed by Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. Which is responsible for conducting National Population and Housing censuses.

1954
February 4th, 1954
 * Increase in income tax from 5 or 6 percent to 14 percent.

June 13th, 1954
 * Television introduced to Colombia by Gustavo Rojas Pinilla.

August 3rd, 1954
 * Gustavo Rojas Pinilla gives women the right to vote

September 14th, 1954
 * Gustavo Rojas Pinilla declares all activities of the Colombian Communist Party illegal.

1955
June 9th, 1955 December 6th, 1955
 * On the second week of June, Gustavo Rojas Pinilla ordered a military offensive against peasants in Villarrica, Tolima between the Colombian army and armed peasants, triggering the Villarrica War. Possibly displacing around 100,000 Colombians.
 * Rojas Pinilla builds a water reservoir for the Wayuu community in Riohacha.

1956
June 24th, 1956 August 7th, 1956
 * The Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Conservative Party sign a peace accord, forming the National Front.
 * An explosion in Cali, Colombia occurred when seven army ammunition trucks loaded with 1053 boxes of dynamite exploded and killed over 1300 civilians.

1957
May 10th, 1957
 * When Gustavo Rojas Pinilla secured the amendment to ban free elections, he was starting to become less popular over time. On May 10th, 1957, he was overthrown by the Colombian Military Junta, convincing him to step down from power, and was put in Exile. Thus ending the 4-year military dictatorship in Colombia.

Rise and Fall of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla’s Regime
Pinilla started as a military general early on during his career and was involved in many wars during Colombian history, including Colombia-Peru War, Korean War, and La Violencia, which was started by the assassination of Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, leading to riots in Bogotá, and the Liberal Party having no presidential candidate to run in the 1949 Colombian presidential election. Later on, he led a coup against the unpopular president of the time, Laureano Gómez and seized power due to his popularity. Early during his presidency he was generally liked by the people and was a major contributor to women’s rights, he also brought over the  television to Colombians and granted an amnesty to Liberal and Communist Guerillas, although many did not demobilize. Rojas Pinilla also established a national radio station which consisted of mostly Catholic propaganda. Thousands of radios were distributed but they only tuned to the government-controlled station, Radio Sutatenza. Rojas Pinilla also established a gun permit system. However as La Violencia pursued, and the economy started to struggle, Gustavo Rojas Pinilla started to become very unpopular with Colombians. The Colombian Military Junta took over the government with the backing of the Liberal and Conservative parties and the citizens, forcing him to step down as the president. However, the dictatorship of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla is notable for being more tame than other dictatorships in Latin America, such as the regimes of Pinochet and Nicolas Maduro. Rojas Pinilla was also a major contributor towards the modernization of Colombia, and was highly against communism and the Colombian Communist Party.



Foreign Relations
Gustavo Rojas sought to stimulate investment by signing a pact with the United States, which allowed foreign companies to take 100% of their profits out of the country.