With Supporters Like This Guy...

Jhon Jairo Velasquez, one-time cartel assassin
turned right-wing political campaigner.

Jhon Jairo Velásquez, known as Popeye, was probably Pablo Escobar's top assassin, who confessed to personally murdering some 250 people - so he's not the sort of guy whose endorsement most political candidates want.

But Popeye, who was released in August 2014 after 23 years in prison, has gone full throttle in favor of right-wing presidential candidate Iván Duque in the voting to be held on Sunday.

Or, rather than supporting Duque, Popeye has been lashing out against Gustavo Petro, the leftist candidate, ex-Bogotá mayor and ex-M19 guerrilla leader, who has the second largest support in most polls.

'We will combat the Petro collectives with everything,' Popeye tweeted last week. 'Evil rats, Petristas communist ones; Associates of the FARC (guerrillas), Nicolas Maduro and (Colombian president) Juan Manuel Santos.

'I can be killed by a bullet,but not by fear,' Popeye added.

Why a one-time assassin for a narcotics kingpin, who still hangs out with narcos, would campaign for a law-and-order candidate is a mystery. After all, Escobar's Medellin cartel fought bloody battles against the police and military.

Or, for those who believe in conspiracies, perhaps there's more here than meets the eyes. Is Popeye actually in the pay of another candidate, such as Petro himself, who wants Popeye to sully Duque's name by associating with him?

The Medellin Cartel did sometimes ally itself with right-wing paramilitaries, so perhaps popeye has some lingering loyalties. Or perhaps Popeye, who reportedly now leads tours in Medellin, genuinely hates left-wing politicians such as Gustavo Petro, the ex-mayor of Bogotá and leader of the M-19 guerrillas who is one of the leading candidates for president. Popeye certainly spends lots of ink denouncing communism.

In recent tweets, Popeye sounded like he was preparing a civil war, discussing storing arms and weapons in people's houses. But Popeye's tweets really triggered alarms when he promised that 'My rifle will do the talking'. His critics have asked prosecutors to investigate whether that constitutes an illegal threat.

Like Escobar's son Juan Pablo, who allegedly has continued making drug money deals from his home in Argentina, Popeye can't seem to leave his vicious Medellin Cartel habits behind.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Convoluted Case of Álvaro Gómez

Alvaro Gomez Hurtado.

Álvaro Gómez Hurtado was like a comet across Colombian journalism and politics during the 1980s and '90s.

The son of ex-president Laureano Gómez, Alvaro worked for his father's newspaper and other publications as well as serving as Bogotá city councilman, in both houses of Congress and as minister and ambassador in various nations. A leading member of the Conservative Party, he ran three times unsuccessfully for president. In 1998 he was kidnapped by the M-19 Guerrilla group, who were demanding the convening of a Constitutional Convention. The guerrillas achieved their goal, and Gómez Hurtado served in that convention.

Gómez then became an academic, helping to found two universities. But he may have signed his own death warrant by becoming a furious critic of Pres. Ernesto Samper, who was embroiled in a scandal over drug cartel financing of his presidential campaign, known as the Proceso 8000.

"The regime must be overthrown," Gómez said in at least one interview.

In Novemember, 1995, as he left a university, Gómez was gunned down.

His assassination has never been solved. Pres. Samper, guerrilla groups, paramilitaries drug cartels and others have all been suspects in the killing.

Ignacio Londoño Zabala, today an attorney with ties to criminal gang leaders, may have played a role

Ignacio Londoño

in the assassination.

And now, Londoño's assassination may guarantee that the mystery will never be solved.

Londoño, an attorney and local politician in Valle del Cauca with ties to drug cartel leaders, was gunned down the other day in Cartago, Valle del Cauca, where he was a candidate for mayor.

Londoño had given two of his bodyguards the weekend off and sent the third to do a chore in Bogotá. Londoño was in his office when someone shot thru the window, killing him.

Londoño was allegedly linked to the Proceso 8000 as well as various drug cartel leaders. Investigators wanted him to testify about Gómez's killing.

Londoño lying murdered on a Cartogo street.

The Londoño killing is itself the subject of mystery, which will likely never be resolved. Was he killed because of his campaign for mayor? Because of his possible declarations in Gómez's assassination? Because of his links to drug cartel leaders?

The Gómez-Londoño saga is yet another example of the intersection of politics and violence, which so often ends in impunity.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Plaza Gets its Name Back

Plaza Las Nieves -  or Plaza Eduardo Umaña Mendoza

The patch of cement across Ave. Septima from Iglesia Las Nieves is commonly known as Plaza Las Nieves, after the church. 

But the official name of this haunt of pigeons, alcoholics and skateboarders is Plaza Eduardo Umaña Mendoza, named after a radical leftist attorney assassinated by right-wing killers in April 1998.

Today, several posters celebrating Umaña appeared on the wall of the ETB building. Why today? I have no idea, since it's not the anniversary of his birth or death.

Born in 1946, Umaña Mendoza defended victims of the Union Patriotica assassinations, fought against privatization of the ETB phone company and other state-owned enterprises (the plaza adjoins ETB's building, which is probably why the plaza was given his name), and even Abimael Guzmán Reinoso, leader of the notorious Peruvian terrorist group Sendero Luminoso. Umaña traveled across Rurope denouncing human rights abuses in Colombia. 

'It's a lie that Colombia has a general impunity.
(Rather), there is impunity for those on top and
repression for those on the bottom.'

Umaña also studied the 1948 assassination of populist leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitán, and argued that the United States' Central Intelligence Agency was behind the crime - despite the lack of any evidence I know of. Umaña's own assassination has been tied to right-wing paramilitaries.

For a man who was likely an atheist, it would be tough knowing that his plaza is popularly associated with a Catholic Church. And, a man dedicated to defending society's humblest would certainly feel saddened seeing some of those people wandering drunk about his plaza.

A group of alcoholics sits on the the plaza below Umaña's posters.

'The rights of peoples and human rights are two separate battles which meet each other.'

Feeding pigeons on the plaza.

The plaza's centerpiece is this long-suffering statue of Francisco Jose de Caldas.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

And If Galán Had Lived?

Luis Carlos Galán's assassination 25 years ago this past Sunday was one of many such political killings during the 1980s and '90s - but is still the most iconic.

The charismatic, incorruptible Galán would almost surely have won the 1990 presidential election. But an assassin's bullet killed him on the evening of August 18, 1989 while campaigning in Soacha. Galán's death and his popularity shared a common cause: His uncompromising opposition to the corrupting influence of the drug trade.

Galán was shot by an assassin who fired upward from his hiding place beneath the speaker's stage. Cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar and right-wing paramilitaries had planned the killing, but a quarter-century later investigators continue looking into corrupt collaboration by Galán's security detail.

What if the assassination had failed? Most likely the assassins would have tried again - they had already tried and failed once before, after all. And Escobar later bombed a passenger airline out of the sky in a failed attempt to kill Galán's successor, Cesar Gaviria. Gaviria, who would go on to win the presidency, had not taken the flight.

But if Galán HAD become president, history could have taken different turns. Galán's support of the practice of extraditing Colombian drug traffickers for trial and imprisonment in the United States - the punishment they most feared - could have made Colombia's drug war even more bloody and violent than it in fact was. But it might have been shorter, as well.

On the other hand, one of the signal events of recent Colombian history, the 1991 constitutional convention

Security guards scramble Aug. 18, 1989 in the
plaza of Soacha after Galán was gunned down.

which produced the humanist Constitution in force today, might not have happened at all. That's because it was Galán's assassination which motivated the convention's organization.

On the other hand, a President Galán's strong moral compass might have reduced the cynicism and disillusionment with politics which many Colombians continue to feel today. At least, that could have been true if Galán had become a successful president. That was far from assured, since, according to at least one opinion, his lack of willingness to compromise had earlier made him a terrible minister of education.

But if Galán had been an effective president, the consequences could have been limitless. A stronger, respected and less corrupt state could have reined in the cocaine economy and weakened the guerrillas. The right-wing paramilitaries which rose up in response to the guerrillas might never have appeared at all. Perhaps the failed 1998 negotiations with the FARC would have gone differently - or not been needed at all. In a more secure, successful Colombia, the election of hard-line Pres. Alvaro Uribe, with all its consequences in corruption and human rights violations, might not have taken place.

But I'm dubious about all of this. Unless you believe in the 'Great Man' theory of human history, there are broader forces which determine events. Colombia was able to beat back the cocaine cartels and waken the guerrillas not because of any one leader, but because of changes such as the end of the Cold War, which enabled the United States to direct money and attention toward other issues, such as Colombia's crisis.

Galán might have been an excellent, honorable president. And, today's Colombia might be better thanks to him. But I doubt he could have fundamentally changed the nation's course.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

15 Years Without Jaime Garzón

A huge mural of Garzón along Calle 26, near where he was shot.

On August 13, 1999, comedian and journalist Jaime Garzon was driving to work near Corferias when he was gunned down. The case shocked Colombians, who had become immured to the assassination of politicians, but not of beloved comedians.

A portrait in flowers of Jaime Garzon in front of
Bogotá's Planetarium.

The apparent gunmen were caught. But, 15 years later, the investigation into who was behind it continues. Most suspect a conspiracy involving right-wing groups like the notorious paramilitaries. But a military general was arrested recently accused of having collaborated with the paramilitaries. During the 15 years since the assassination, seven people associated with the killing, including witnesses and investigators, have themselves been assassinated, according to El Tiempo.

Garzón also acted as a mediator between the government and guerrillas. His talents would be useful today, as the government and the FARC negotiate peace in Havana Cuba.

Jaime Garzon: 1960 to 1999.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Still a Dangerous Business

Journalism is still a dangerous business in Colombia.

It's no longer like the days of Pablo Escobar, when journalists were assassinated and driven into exile with terrifying frequency. But, whether it's because of the continuing activity of illegal, violent groups, or Colombia's still high level of societal violence, Colombian journalists seem to run more risks than their compatriots overseas.

Today, the government announced that it had uncovered a plan to assassinate two investigators with the Nuevo Arco Iris human rights NGO and an independent journalist. The would-be attack allegedly came from right-wing paramilitary organizations. One of the targeted investigators is a demobilized guerrilla, and the three men had uncovered links between politicians and paramilitary organizations in the 2011 elections.
Two weeks ago gunmen attacked Ricardo Calderón, head of investigations for Semana magazine, who escaped unhurt. Last week, pamphlets distributed in the city of Valledupar threatened eight journalists. The threats apparently came from groups opposed to the restitution of land stolen by guerrilla and paramilitary groups. And on May 12 in the city of Cali a hitman shot to death Alberto Lázaro del Valle, director of Radio Planeta, as he was leaving work. However, according to news reports Lázaro del Valle was likely targeted for personal reasons.

As frightening as all this news is, the encouraging part is that this flurry of threats and violence has not triggered a wave of journalists fleeing the country, as happened in past eras. Apparently, now, there is a general feeling that the forces of law have the upper hand.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Who Killed Jorge Eliecer Gaitán?

People walk past the spot where Jorge Eliecer Gaitan was assassinated in 1948 in downtown Bogotá.

On April 9, 1948 a little bit after mid-day, charismatic politician Jorge Eliecer Gaitán walked out of his office on Carrera Septima near Jimenez and was fatally shot on the sidewalk.

In the 65 years since, Gaitán's assassination has been called one of the great mysteries of Colombian history, the subject of conspiracy theories involving rival politicians, the CIA, the USSR, Cuba and even Nazis.

Except that there's actually little mystery here.

Immediately after the assassination, the enraged crowd turned on the alleged gunman, Juan Roa Sierra, murdered him and dragged him thru the streets. No gun was ever recovered, nor, of course, any confession from Roa.

Adding to the sense of mystery in later years was the fact that that same afternoon Gaitan had had a meeting scheduled with a young leftist from Cuba named Fidel Castro.

In the decades since, some have suggested that it seemed too convenient to pin the murder on Roa, a mentally ill ne'er-do-well who was not around to defend himself.

But there is lots of circumstantial evidence connecting Roa to the crime. And, more significantly, no real evidence for any other theory.

Immediately after the shooting, police tried to protect Roa from the angry crowd by pushing him into an adjoining pharmacy. Before the terrified pharmacy owner pushed Roa back out, a customer reportedly asked Roa why he'd shot Gaitan - to which Roa gave some justication. That sounds like a sort of confession to me. Then there's the simple fact that the crowd went after Roa and not someone else. Witnesses to the assassination evidently believed they'd seen Roa shoot Gaitan.

After the shooting, the Colombian government hired Scotland Yard to investigate, apparently because they wanted the opinion of an unbiased, respected experts. The Scotland Yard investigators concluded that Roa, who had fantasies about his own grandeur, had visited Gaitan's office several times during the weeks before the killing. Supposedly, Roa had asked Gaitan for employment and been refused, giving him a motive for revenge. And Scotland Yard also documented that Roa had purchased a gun and ammunition during the days before the murder.

That's a long way from proving that Roa did it. But he did have the weapon and something of a motive, as well as a disturbed mind capable of carrying out the crime.

Gaitán's tomb at his home-museum.
(He is buried standing up.)

Others have argued that Roa might have killed Gaitan, but on the orders of a rival politician or other mysterious actor. This seems highly unlikely to me. After all, who, planning to kill someone, would hire an unstable, mentally ill man to do it?

The Roa-as-killer theory is far from proven. But, somebody shot Gaitan, and the competing theories have nothing to go on. In fact, the lack of evidence for them seems very telling. If a rival political party had really hired a policeman to shoot Gaitan, using Roa as a decoy, wouldn't you expect a deathbed confession made, a secret memo revealed, a tell-tale expense account discovered? If the CIA had been involved, wouldn't some old CIA official or a declassified document have spilled the beans by now? If the USSR had been behind the assassination, wouldn't some defector have spilled the beans, or a Western spy sent home some damning evidence? Why hasn't Wikileaks released a file describing the CIA's nefarious plotting?

But none of that's happened, suggesting to me that the truth about Gaitan's assassination is the boring one - a

Flags above La Septima near El Teatro Gaitán
carry his profile.

crazy man did it for his own unknowable motives.

That, of course, is a very unsatisfying version of events for a signal event in Colombian history, which changed the country's course. Gaitan's assassination triggered the Bogotazo riots, which killed thousands of people and destroyed much of the city, including its streetcar system. Soon after, came the decade of La violencia, a vicious civil war between the Liberal and Conservative political parties.

Gaitan had been a congressman, minister of education and mayor of Bogotá, always known for his fiery nationalist rhetoric denouncing the 'oligarchy'. If Gaitan had lived, he might very well have been elected president, and Colombia's history would have been different. But exactly how different, and in what ways, we'll never know.

Today's El Tiempo has a story suggesting rival politicians were behind Gaitán's assassination, supported by a supposed death bed confession, reported third-hand. And another detailing doubts about Roa's authorship.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Jaime Pardo Leal: A Lesson for Today

A graffiti in Bogotá's Central Cemetery promises: 'Jaime Pardo, we promise victory.'

Today is the 25th anniversary of the assassination of leftist politician Jaime Pardo Leal. He's a little-remembered figure, except in leftist circles, but his killing and its consequences contain important lessons for Colombia's peace efforts today.

Jaime Pardo Leal's tomb in Bogotá's Central Cemetery.
His funeral and burial were carried out amidst
rioting and chaos. 

Pardo Leal was the presidential candidate for the far-left Union Patriotica (U.P.) political party, which many remember as the political arm of the FARC guerrillas. Pardo Leal's assassination, on a country road in Cundinamarca Oct. 11, 1987, was the most prominent of the killings of hundreds of Union Patriótica members by right-wing forces. It is widely believed that many of the killings, often termed a 'genocide,' were carried out by a collaboration between paramilitaries and Colombia's military.

Four men were convicted of gunning down Pardo Leal, but the masterminds behind it remain unidentified. Pardo Leal's relatives recently asked for the case to be reopened.

The killings destroyed the U.P. and ended the FARC's tentative move into politics. More than a decade passed before the government and FARC sat down to negotiate in the Caguan, which came to nothing. Today, with peace talks starting up again, the UP genocide and Pardo Leal's killing provide important lessons about both respect for human rights and the not to bring peace to Colombia.

'Our battle is not in vain' Juventud Communista. Graffiti on a tomb near the grave of Pardo Leal and other communist leaders.

Pardo Leal is remembered for several moving quotes, most of them about death:

"What is life worth when it seems like death? Life is to be lived, felt. That justifies our visit to this Earth.'

'Some of us are threatened with death for our loyalty from the time when we were young, to the fatherland, the people, the workers and the cause of socialism.'

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Pablo Escobar, Still Making News

Pablo Escobar dead on a Medellin rooftop.

Almost two decades after a hit squad shot him to death on a Medellin rooftop, cocaine king Pablo Escobar still makes news.

This time, it's the aftermath of one of Escobar's most notorious crimes: the 1989 assassination in south Bogotá of Liberal party presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan, a fierce critic of corruption and narcotrafficking.

Luis Carlos Galan

According to prosecutors, drug traffickers, the DAS secret police and rival Liberal Party Politician Alberto Santofimio all conspired to kill Galan. Yesterday, Santofimio, who had been Minister of Justice and a long-time senator himself, as well as a contender to be the Liberal party's presidential candidate, was sent to prison for 23 years for helping plan the killing.

Galan's tomb, in Bogotá's
Central Cemetery.

The court ruling reminds Colombians of a nightmarish time when Escobar and other drug lords held the nation under siege, carrying out bombings, kidnappings and assassinations across the country. In fact, during that same campaign, four presidential candidates were assassinated, and Escobar also bombed a passenger plane in a failed attempt to kill the eventual winner, Galan's replacement Cesar Gaviria. (Gaviria had been tipped off and did not board the flight.)

Escobar and Santofimio having fun together.

The sentencing also demonstrates how accepted Escobar and other drug lords were by Colombia's political and business elite. Santofimio was implicated in part by a photo showing him and Escobar partying together on a boat on Escobar's estate. And Escobar even got himself elected senator and took a seat in Congress. In contrast, Galan was exceptional in denouncing  the drug cartel leaders. Apparently, Santofimio wanted Galan out of the way so that he could himself run for president. Santofimio was also convicted on the strength of testimony by one of Escobar's paid assassins, now imprisoned, nicknamed Popeye.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Remembering Jaime Garzon

People admire decorated shoeshine boxes representing Garzon's work.

Garzon and his quacking co-star. 

Journalist, comedian and peace activist Jaime Garzon is being memorialized this weekend on Plaza Bolívar. Aug. 13 was the 12th anniversary of his assassination near Corferias in central Bogotá, apparently by right-wing paramilitaries.

The most famous character created by Garzon was a shoeshiner who interviewed and challenged the nation's most important personalities. Undoubtedly, that made enemies for Garzon.

Despite Colombia's great violence at the time, the murder of this mostly-apolitical humorist shocked the nation. According to testimony by ex-paramilitaries, AUC leader Carlos Castaño had order the killing.

A tent on Plaza Bolívar memorializes Jaime Garzon, 12 years after his assassination.

12 years of impunity.

Simon Bolívar's statue seen thru a shoeshine box's handle. 

One has to give one's life for a cause.

Garzon looks a lot like Che Guevara. 

A creative shoeshine box, behind barbed wire. 

Nearby, an evangelical group announced the end of the world.

A mural in the National University celebrates Garzon.

Statue of Jaime Garzon outside Corferias, near the spot where he was assassinated. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours