Jorge Eliecer Gaitán
| Jorge Eliécer Gaitán | |
|---|---|
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| 5th Minister of Labour, Health and Social Welfare of Colombia | |
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In office October 8, 1943 – March 6, 1944 |
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| President | Alfonso López Pumarejo |
| Preceded by | Abelardo Forero Benavides |
| Succeeded by | Moisés Prieto |
| 16th Minister of National Education of Colombia | |
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In office February 1, 1940 – February 15, 1941 |
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| President | Eduardo Santos Montejo |
| Preceded by | Alfonso Araújo Gaviria |
| Succeeded by | Guillermo Nannetti Cárdenas |
| 746th Mayor of Bogotá | |
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In office June 1936 – March 1937 |
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| Preceded by | Francisco José Arévalo |
| Succeeded by | Gonzalo Restrepo Jaramillo |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala January 23, 1903 Cucunubá or Manta,Cundinamarca, Colombia |
| Died | April 9, 1948 (aged 45) Bogotá, D.C., Colombia |
| Nationality | Colombian |
| Political party | Colombian Liberal Party |
| Spouse(s) | Amparo Jaramillo Jaramillo (1936-1948) |
| Alma mater |
National University of Colombia (LL.D.) Sapienza University of Rome (J.D.) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| La Violencia |
|---|
 |
| Prelude |
| Murder of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán |
| El Bogotazo |
| Political Parties |
| Liberal Party |
| Conservative Party |
| Colombian Communist Party |
| Presidents of Colombia |
| Mariano Ospina Pérez |
| Laureano Gómez |
| Gustavo Rojas Pinilla |
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala (January 23, 1903 – April 9, 1948) was a politician, a leader of a populist movement in Colombia, a former Education Minister (1940) and Labor Minister (1943–1944), mayor of Bogotá (1936) and one of the most charismatic leaders of the Liberal Party.
He was assassinated during his second presidential campaign in 1948, setting off the Bogotazo and leading to a violent period of political unrest in Colombian history known as La Violencia (approx. 1948 to 1958).
Gaitán's family was from a poor background and their son entered formal education when he was twelve years old. His mother was his teacher before he entered a formal school, he attended elementary school in Facatativá. He later had to face social tensions in the Colegio Simón Araújo school, considered as an institution for wealthier members of the Colombian Liberal Party. Gaitán attended this school until his junior year, then he moved to the Colegio Martín Restrepo Mejía and graduated in 1919.
He attained a degree in law (1924) and later became a professor in the National University of Colombia. In 1926 he completed a doctorate in jurisprudence in Italy at the Royal University of Rome. While attending, the chair of his department, Professor Enrico Ferri, appreciated the innovative ideas of Gaitán and incorporated some of his work into a volume on Criminology.
Gaitán was active in local politics in the early 1920s, when he was part of a protest movement against president Marco Fidel Suárez.
Gaitán increased his nationwide popularity following a banana workers' strike in Magdalena in 1928.
After U.S. officials in Colombia, along with United Fruit representatives, portrayed the worker's strike as "communist" with "subversive tendency", in telegrams to the U.S. Secretary of State, the government of the United States of America threatened to invade with the U.S. Marine Corps if the Colombian government did not act to protect United Fruit’s interests. Strikers were fired upon by the army on the orders of the United Fruit Company, resulting in numerous deaths.
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