Evening star., 1948-04-10
Bogoto
,(Continued From First Page.)

Bogota station. 1t came over a
channel set up for transmission
of news of the Pan American
Conference to foreign news or
gans and was addressed to the
Associated Press and other
agencies)
Last night the Conservatives re-
occupied a radio station the insur-
gents had held. Other government
forces firing from the towers of the
cathedral killed IA persons on Car
rera Septima street.
Delegates Leave Capitol.
Delegates to the Ninth Pan Amer
lean Conference in the Capitol left
the building when the rioting start
ed. Newspapermen still inside were
endangered when parts of the struc-
ture were set aflre.
The building remained in the
hands of the rebels.
Late last night Gen. Armando
Revoredo, chief of the Peruvian
delegation to the conference, offered
Lima as replacement site for the
parley.
Revoredo made his offer to Sec
retary Marshall. Delegates were re-
ported ready to meet today to con-
slider the situation and possibly de-
eide whether to continue here, post
pone the conference or accept the
Peruvian offer.
,.., UNITED States Ambassador
Beaulac told the State Depart
ment he had been informed by
Liberal representative that the
conference would not continue as
long as Conservatives remained
in power In Colombia.
(The representative assured the
Ambassador that conference dele
cations and foreigners would not
be molested)
AL members of the Chilean, Peru
Wan, Mexican, Bolivian and Uru-
guayan delegations have been ac-
counted for, though scattered
through the city
Top-ranking diplomats of 81 ma
tions are in Bogota for the confer
ence, which opened March 80. The
delegates have discussed commu-
nism in the Western Hemisphere,
among other problems.
Bogota had the appearance Of
War-blitzed city as mobs INDUCED
in an orgy of burning and looting.
The main business district was a
shambles. Estimates of the dam
age ran into millions of dollars.
Late last night. near the United
States Embassy, Colombians were
firing from behind great piles of
loot.
Americans and other aliens took
refuge in the Embassy. No food
had been reported available in the
building since early yesterday.
Dynamite explosions were heard
in the vicinity of the Embassy as
rioters tried to blow open doors of
other buildings.
Two leaders Of Ospina Perez's gov
ernment we're slain. The rebels
claimed Foreign Minister Laureano
Gomez, a Conservative leader and
head of the Colombian delegation to
the Pan American Conference, was
killed. He later was reported safe in
the United States Embassy.
The mobs killed Jose Antonio
Montalvo, Minister of Mines and
Petroleum, and Guillermo Leon Va
lencia, a Conservative Party leader.
Police and troops have been di-
vided by the revolt. Some support
the Conservatives, others the Lib
erals. Still others, regardless of
political leanings, are endeavoring
to restore order in the city.
The rioting was touched of by
the assassination of Jorge Eliecer
Gaitan, Liberal Party presidential
candidate for 1850.
Gaitan was shot by an unknown
assailant. He died in a hospital
operating room an hour later.
The man believed to have shot
him was killed by the demonstra-
tors. His body was dragged before
the presidential palace and torn to
pieces.
An insurgent radio bnoadcast said
DR.. Dario Echandia. veteran Liberal
and president of the revolutionary
junta, had managed to see Ospina
Perez in the Presidential Palace and
was trying to encourage him to
resign.
An earlier broadcast said Echandia
had taken over as President pending
the arrival from New York of Vice
| President Eduardo Santos, also a