A year ago, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán fell to the pavement on Bogotá's Carrera Séptima, dead of an assassin's bullets. The death of Liberal Firebrand Gaitán touched off the bloody riots that Colombians now call el bogotanazo. To forestall possible trouble on the April 9 anniversary, Conservative President Mariano Ospina Pérez forbade mass meetings that day. Liberal leaders promptly called the faithful to memorial services on April 8.
All through the sunny morning, delegations heaped wreaths on the spot where Gaitán fell. Then, in a 30-block-long procession, they streamed toward the green lawns...
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