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The scene of flame and ruin from the riot-torn city of Bogota as mobs wreak vengeance for

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the killing of Jorge Gaitán, idolized leader of the Liberal Party.

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Eyewitness reports now say that student followers of Gaitán began the trouble by seizing his

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assassin from the police and beating him to death.

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The radio station was seized for a few hours and the population was urged to break into

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hardware stores, seize any weapons and take power from the conservative government.

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Already angered by the government's expenditure of five million dollars on the Pan-American

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Conference, the destitute and bitter part of the population swept into the downtown

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area to loot and burn, to turn lovely Bogota into a shambles.

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Fifteen hundred prisoners were freed from the justice building, most of them thieves

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and murderers who added their talents to the bloodlust of the mob.

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The army did not regain full control for four days.

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Scenes like these were common as civilians fled from rebel snipers and government troops

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mopped up block by block.

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Everyone found on the streets was suspected of participation in the rioting and not all

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prisoners were treated as gently as thieves.

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Eyewitnesses tell of brutal slaughter by troops as well as rebels and reports indicate that

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the official toll of three hundred dead may be well below the actual count.

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The Colombian government charges that communists were responsible for this death and destruction

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and points to the burning of government records in the looted capital building as evidence

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of planning and direction.

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But neutral observers report that the communists probably participated only after the violence

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was underway, using their favorite tactics to organize an existing situation.

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The situation brought about by widespread poverty and dissatisfaction rooted in the

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tangled politics of an unstable economy.

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And the fighting has only made conditions worse, with Bogota's food supply rationed

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and a long task of rebuilding ahead.