Assassination of Gaitán and the Bogotazo

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán was shot three times outside his law office on Carrera Séptima in central Bogotá at approximately 1:05 PM. He died shortly after. The assassin, Juan Roa Sierra, was seized by the crowd and lynched.

Within minutes, Bogotá erupted into one of the most destructive urban riots in Latin American history: the Bogotazo. An estimated 5,000 people were killed in the capital over several days. Key government buildings, churches, and commercial establishments were destroyed. The violence spread to other Colombian cities.

The assassination occurred while the Ninth Pan-American Conference was being held in Bogotá (attended by US Secretary of State George Marshall), establishing what would become the Organization of American States (OAS). A young Fidel Castro was in the city for a counter-conference and witnessed the events.

The Bogotazo was the opening act of La Violencia (1948–1958), and the single most consequential political event in 20th-century Colombian history.