The 1948 Bogotazo: Rage That Split Colombia

In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack the Bogotazo — the explosive riot that tore through Bogotá on April 9, 1948, after the assassination of Liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. They trace Gaitán's rise as a populist voice for the poor, the political tensions of the era, and the chaotic hours that followed his murder: mobs burning downtown buildings, streetcars overturned, and a city in flames. They explore the role of the Cold War and the Pan-American Conference happening in the city, the disputed theories about who killed Gaitán and why, and the immediate aftermath — the start of La Violencia, the bipartisan bloodshed that would shape Colombia for decades. The conversation also touches on how the Bogotazo destroyed the historic center, the fate of the would-be assassin Juan Roa Sierra, and the lasting memory of Gaitán as a symbol of unmet hopes. It's a raw, human story of a single afternoon that changed a nation's course.

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