Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
 Jorge Eliécer Gaitán    (politician) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 23 January 1903 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 9 April 1948 (Age 45) Bogotá, Colombia | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Colombian | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | National University of Colombia, Sapienza University of Rome | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | Gloria Gaitán | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Victim of | • assassination • CIA | ||||||||||||||||||||
Colombian presidential candidate assassinated by the CIA in 1948
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Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala was a left-wing Colombian politician and leader of the Liberal Party. He was mayor of Bogotá from 1936–37, the national Education Minister from 1940–41, and the Labor Minister from 1943–44. 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).
Assassination
Gaitán was killed by the CIA in Operation Pantomime (Spanish: Operación Pantomima), operation undertaken by the government of the United States with the intention of assassinating presidential candidate Gaitán in 1948 as a way to curb communist and leftwing influence in the region.[1]
The confession of a man identified as John Mepples Espirito was filmed during the course of the investigation that the Cuban police made of him when he was arrested on the island when he was carrying out intelligence operations for the CIA with a view to overthrowing the Cuban revolutionary government.[1]
During his interrogation, Espirito claims that the US had tried and failed at either bribing or blackmailing Gaitán. Espirito says that he then traveled to Colombia as part of a team of US agents, who eventually contacted and used Colombian Juan Roa Sierra to assassinate Gaitán on April 9, 1948.[2]
