The Cast of Incredible Suspects
There was no shortage of people who hated the Colombian lawyer and Liberal Party's Presidential candidate for the pending elections in 1950, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala. He had enemies on both left and right of the political spectrum and therefore a wide range of suspects in conspiracies to kill him. He was assassinated on April 9th 1948 and chaos followed along with a very unfortunate legacy. Violence (Bogotazo) erupted over the next ten hours and the assassination contributed to a culture of violence that sadly continues to this day.

Unsurprisingly, Gaitán's political opponents were suspected and blamed as conspiracy theories took root. After all, the conservative President Mariano Ospina Pérez was not only an implacable opponent, but his policies, especially the land-seizures, were vigorously opposed by Gaitán. Ospina and his party certainly had much to gain from Gaitán's death, as they were as unpopular as Gaitán was the opposite. He looked a shoe-in to win the Presidency in 1950, which meant not oly r4eversal of conservative policies, but radical liberalism.

Ospina, meanwhile, had previously placed the country on a collision course with his harsh and controversial land seizure policies. Gaitán was an outspoken critic of this policy. There was no love lost between the men who would have contested the next election, but for the assassination. Instead the country was engulfed in violence and the Liberal Party refused to contest the next election, resulting in a deeply unpopular government clinging to power until the army decided to act.

The Cuban Conspiracy
Ospina was an obvious suspect, but he was not short of a conspiracy theory or two or three of his own either. His most outlandish was supported by Colombia's General Secretary, Rafael Azula Barrera. They not only blamed communists, but claimed that future Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruz and another Cuban Rafael del Piño were responsible for the assassiation. This was based on del Piño having been in the company of Juan Roa Sierra just 90 minutes before the deluded 26 year-old was alleged to have assassinated Gaitán.

Castro too was nearby and was even accused of being the gunman later, but there was a huge flaw in this hypothesis. A Cuban delegation, including Castro, was due to meet Gaitán that very afternoon. Two meetings were occurring in Bogotá at that time. The first was the Pan-American Conference. US Secretary of State George Marshall attended to lead the fight against communism. It lasted from March to May and saw the transition of the Pan-American Union into the Organisation of American States. It continued despite the assasination and Bogotazo too.

The Cubans Organise
The other was the Latin American Youth Congress that was organised to protest against the Pan-American Conference. The Cuban delegation to the Youth Congress, which Castro organised was due to meet Gaitán the afternoon of his assassination. They knew of the powerful oratory of Gaitán and his immense popularity to the very constuency they wanted to reach. They had met him two days earlier and agreed to meet again on April 9th. Castro later said that they wanted to discuss his expected keynote address to the Youth Congress.

The Congress was funded by the controversial Argentinian, General Juan Perón, then President of Argentina. Unlike the Pan-American Conference, it recognised the mood of the Colombian people following the assassination of Gaitán. Despite organising the Congress Castro was among those who took the streets to protest the assassination and its aftermath. Castro saw the power of ordinary people when aroused to anger first hand. It had a profound influence on him and his future revolutionary tactics.

In 1948 Castro had no reason to hate Gaitán, who stood for ideals that even a left-leaning nationalist would have admired. Castro had met Gaitán two days before his assassination and arranged to meet him again on April 9th, but Gaitán an assassin intervened. The Youth Congress was more likely to succeed with Gaitán than without him, so why would its organiser want the likely star orator silenced before he could spaek? Castro may have been or become many things as time passed, but the conspiracy theories involving him in the assassination of Gaitán are fanciful at best.