Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Volume V, Microfiche Supplement, American Republics

CO–10. Memorandum from the Officer in Charge of Colombian Affairs (Gerberich) to the Deputy Director of the Office of South American Affairs (Sanders)¹

Washington, May 12, 1958

SUBJECT

• Post Mortem on the May 2 Revolt and the May 4 elections.²

In its latest Weeka³ our Embassy states that the Colombian Government was lucky to dispose of the revolt as successfully as it did. Practically all of the Military Police in Bogotá and considerable elements of the National Police, including their commanders, were involved. The latter had set up road blocks leading into the center of the town, but loyal troops from Usaquen barracks rolled them up and disarmed the police early in the day.

When the pilot of the charter plane abandoned Rojas in Bermuda and flew back to New York, the revolt was, moreover, deprived of the leader it had planned to rally around. The rebels were unable to use the radio stations which they captured, as the civilian technicians were stopped at the road blocks and prevented from going to work. Thus there was little rabble-rousing over the airwaves.

Col. Hernando Forero, the leader of the revolt, who is in asylum in the Salvadoran Embassy, has all sorts of charges of brutality and murder pending against him, including the dumping of guerrilla prisoners out of an airplane, the personal murder of a civilian and the murder of guerrilla prisoners in Tolima. The Embassy does not believe the government will give him a safe conduct.

While Lleras Camargo polled only about 2–1/2 million votes because of Conservative abstentions and apathy on the part of many of both parties who looked upon his election as a foregone conclusion, his victory in some quarters was most surprising. Antioquia, once the stronghold of the Conservative Party, was carried by him by a vote of 9 to 1. The Departments of Boyacá and Santander, where Alzatista and Rojista strength was greatest in the congressional election, went to Lleras with comfortable margins (in Santander his majority was over 65,000 votes). In Valle, however, Leyva got a much better vote than was expected; our Consul at Cali reports that in some districts Lleras voters were kept away from the polls by force. Sample returns from such areas are:

Ansermanueva - Leyva		7,000	Lleras	49
Argelia	″	2,592	″	5
El Cairo	″	2.117	″	1

Our Consul remarks, and I believe seriously, that the pro-Lleras voters are now marked for death.

Nevertheless the Junta and Army gave a splendid demonstration to have an orderly election. With the Army out in force and troops stationed at polling places, it wasn’t necessary to suspend voting in a single municipality. Perhaps the surest proof that the election was generally fair is the fact that Leyva is convinced on the basis of his 585,000 votes that he made a good showing and he has decided to remain in Colombia and continue as active leader of the dissident Conservative faction. He hopes to make a serious attempt to combine this faction with the Valencistas on the basis of their common opposition to Laureano Gomez. The Embassy reports that Secretary Dulles’ message of congratulation to Lleras received excellent press coverage. So did similar messages from Ambassador Cabot and former Ambassador Spruille Braden.

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 721.00/5–1258. Confidential. Addressed also to Andrew B. Wardlaw, Officer in Charge of North Coast Affairs in the Office of South American Affairs.
2. The Embassy in Bogotá transmitted a post-mortem analysis of the uprising of May 2 against the Military Junta of Government and a report on the presidential elections of May 4 in despatch 893, May 9, 1958, not printed. (721. 00(W)/5–958)
3. Reference is to despatch 893, Joint Weeka 19.