Jorge Eliécer Gaitán

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán was born on January 23, 1903, in Bogotá into a humble family. Earning his doctorate in jurisprudence from the Royal University of Rome under Enrico Ferri, Gaitán became Colombia's greatest criminal defense lawyer and populist political orator, exposing the 1928 Banana Massacre in a historic congressional investigation.

Mobilizing millions under the slogan 'I am not a man, I am a people!', Gaitán championed working-class economic justice against the oligarchic elites. On April 9, 1948, as the undisputed frontrunner for the presidency, he was shot down on Carrera Séptima in downtown Bogotá. The ensuing Bogotazo destroyed central Bogotá, unleashing decades of partisan violence known as La Violencia. His home is now the Casa Museo Gaitán.