The Murder of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan

Jorge Eliécer Gaitan was a Colombian politician and lawyer. He was the mayor of Bogota in 1936 and presidential candidate of Colombia in 1946. In this occasion, he didn´t win the elections but he was a popular politician among the people.

In the morning of April the 9th of 1948, he was metting with his friends in his office at the center of Bogota. At noon, they left the building and they went to Continental Hotel that was near there. In the entrance of the building, a man shot to Gaitan, his name was Juan Roa Sierra.

After Gaitan´s death, Bogota was in chaos for a few days because the people that followed Gaitan took the streets to protest. This date is remembered as “El Bogotázo”