The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1949-11-26

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And now an old and familiar
trouple spot is giving the Stale
Department plenty to WORRY
about again ~ the Republic q
Colombia. where a presidential
election IS to be held tomorrow
The latest political troubles in
Colombia viii bear close watch
ing. For several weeks martial
law has prevailed in that stra-
tegic country. The people are
caught in the middle of fierce
political contest between the
ruling Conservative Party and
the Liberal Party which hello
sway for wears until about 1916
and now is trying to make {
comeback. There has been riotins
and bloodshed. The Liberals have
leclared a boycott Of tomorrow's
election and have Withdrawn
their candidate for presideni
from the race. That leaves only
the Conservative ticket.
History in Colombia seems tc
have a habit of repeating. Yester-
day 90 men-the elite of the Lib
sral Party and their badyguards
were walking IN a group in the
outskirts of the capital, Bogota.
The group included the man the
Liberals wanted to run for presi-
lent before they dropped out of
the race, Dario Echanua, ami
his two brothers. Dario Echandia
is the Liberal Party Chief. Also
in the party were various Lib
eral members o. the Colombian
Congress, including the president
of the senate. In some way not
fully explained, the Liberals
tangled with a patrol of military
police. Shots were fired, and
Oar 10 Echandia the Liberal
party leaders, reported to have
narrowly escaped being hit.
three others in his party were
killed, including one of his broth
ers.
Funeral services for the slain
brother of the Liberal Party
chief will be held tomorrow
even as the election is in progress
and there have been predic-
tions of serious trouble at that
time. The Liberals may turn the
funeral into a huge political
demonstration, thus defying the
government order which forbids
political and other meetings dur
ing the current state o. siege.
In this connection, it is enlight-
ening to 60 back a little more
than a year and a half and recall
the riots that flared after the
assassination of Dario Echandia's
predecessor as head of the Lib
eral Party, Jorge Gaitan. The
riots, in which more than 1900
Celombians were reported to
have lost their lives, took fplace
in April, l948, while the inter
American Conference was in ses-
sion in Bogota. Gaitan, who head
ed the Liberal Party, was some
thing of national heRo-7a spell
binding orator and a crusader for
the common man. He was shot
down by an unidentified killer,
who was seized Immediately and
! killed The Staying Of Gaitan
touched off the frioting that broke
up the Inter American Confer
ence and plunged the city OF
Bogota into Anarchy and chaos,
The President of Colombia blafn-
ed the Communists, saying they
had exploited the murder OF
Gaitan for their own purposes
and had organized the reign oi
terror that followed. The chief
American delegate to the Inter
American Conference, General
Marshall, then Secretary of State,
implied the same thing, saying
the riots were caused by the
same elements which had pro-
voked similar prediction dis
tubanceS in Italy and France
Two alleged Soviet agents were
grounded up by Colombian police
and q short time later Colombia
broke off diplomatic relations
with Russia.
Whatever may happen this
time, we can be sure that the
United States Government will
be keeuly Interested From Co
lornbia to the vital Panama
Canal, its only two hours flying
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