 After a quick visit to Venezuela and Panama, in April 1948 Castro traveled to the city of Bogotá, Colombia, with a Cuban student group sponsored by the government of Argentine President Juan Perón, whose anti-imperialist politics impressed Castro. There, the assassination of popular leftist leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala led to widespread rioting that came to be known as the Bogotazo. Leaving 3000 dead, the riots revolved around clashes between the governing Conservatives – backed by the army – and leftist Liberals with support from socialists. Along with his fellow Cuban visitors, Castro joined the Liberal cause by stealing guns from a police station, but subsequent police investigations concluded that neither Castro nor any of the other Cubans had been involved in the killings.
