WIDESPREAD DISORDERS IN COLOMBIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91T01172R000300290019-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2006
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: July 2, 1951
• Content Type: IM

Approved For Release 2006/11/07: CIA-RDP91T01172R000
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Dissemination Authorized
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR,
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
2 July 1951
Copy No. 14
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
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Me Change In Class.
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Mass. Chaang;d To: TS S C
Auth.: HR 70.2
Lff F1
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Approved For Release 2006/11/07: CIA-RDP91T01172R000300290019-5
 Approved For Release 2006/11/07: CIA-RDP91T01172R000300290019-5
VOW
Intelligence Memorandum
Subject: Widespread Disorders in Colombia
Lawlessness has become progressively more widespread in Colombia
in the past three years. Despite strong government efforts to con-
trol the situation, there are no signs that law and order will be
restored in the near future. Lawlessness seems to have resulted
primarily from the bitterness of the political controversy between
the Liberal and Conservative parties; the Colombian Communist
Party as such has not been a contributing factor.
Continuance of the present,state of affairs will seriously
impair the stability of the present government -- which has been
more cooperative with the US in matters concerning the UN police
action in Korea than any other Latin American country. Furthermore,
the recent extension of disorders to the Department of Choco, which
borders on the poorly-patrolled frontier of the sparsely-settled
eastern section of Panama, jeopardizes the security of the Panama
Canal.
Disorders have reached such proportions that the Conservative
administration's police and army frequently fight losing battles
with outlaw bands having tenuous Liberal Party affiliation. From
time to time the police or the outlaws attack small rural settle-
ments either to obtain provisions or to retaliate against some aid
given to the other; in addition, the employment of physical violence
in Conservative intra-party feuds has become so widespread that one
faction is identified with the intention to gain control of the
party by this method. Unsettled conditions, which in early 1950
were generally restricted to the thinly populated eastern section
of Colombia, now extend to the rest of the country except for the
few cities and five scattered departments out of a total of fifteen.
Disrespect for law and order seems to have begun at the time
of the Bogota riot in April l9.8 when the assassination of the
popular leader Gaitan led to widespread rioting and looting. These
illegal activities were regarded as primarily political and those
involved were in large measure not punished. The attitude that
political motivation excuses illegal actions has subsequently
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become widespread among the people. It has been strengthened by
(a) the President's disregard for legal impediments to the attain-
ment of his political objectives,'and (b) the political bitterness
that began with Gaitan's.assassination and was subsequently
aggravated when the Conservative Party, which came to power after
almost 20 years in the opposition, dismissed virtually all govern-
ment employees of Liberal Party affiliation, including the railway
workers and, to some extent, the members of the armed forces.
Although some Communists may be adding slightly to the
disturbances in the departments of Tolima and Cundinamarca, neither
of the two most important Communist leaders, Gilberto Vieira White
nor Augusto Duran, has shown any interest in organizing or even
encouraging Communist participation. A further indication of
limited Communist involvement is the fact that, during 1951, the
strongly anti-Communist administration has arrested no Communists
for inciting disorders.
Approved For Release 2006/11/07: CIA-RDP91T01172R000300290019-5