The trouble started before Secretary of State William Rogers arrived. In Bogotá, thousands of Colombian students boycotted classes to protest his 17-day tour through eight Latin American nations. Others blocked the main highway from midtown Bogotá to the airport. By the time Rogers arrived, however, most of the students had been dispersed by police, and the official motorcade zipped into the capital without incident.
As Richard Nixon has reason to remember from his 1958 experience in Caracas, Latin American student protests against visiting U.S. dignitaries are nothing new. Nonetheless, the Bogotá protests symbolized the continent's coolness toward Rogers' tour.
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