COLOMBIA: The Institution

Old Laureano Gómez rode a wheelchair to thepolls in Colombia last week-and rode away from the election arevitalized political strongman. Less than five years ago, RightistGómez was ousted by military coup from power as a hated dictator; onlysix months ago he returned from banishment in Spain. But when he puthis leadership of the Conservative Party into the balance against theparty’s other factions in the voting, the strong-willed ex-dictator,now 69 and weakened by a series of four heart attacks, easily won. “Heis,” Colombians explained with a shrug, “an institution.”

Fifty-Fifty for Peace. Colombia’s Conservatives and Liberals went to theelections to pick a Congress, the first after nine years ofdictatorship and state of siege. They voted under a very special set ofground rules devised by Laureano Gómez and Liberal Leader AlbertoLleras Camargo. Because Colombian political strife runs readily tobloodshed, the parties agreed to split the seats in Congress exactlyhalf and half.

Conservative voters chose among three slates of Conservative candidates;the Liberals had an official slate plus some splinter candidates. Toabet this peacekeeping measure, the ruling military junta firmly bannedthe sale of liquor for three days, brought out tanks and troops inbattle dress. Colombia counted it a historically peaceful poll. Joked amember of the junta: “Maybe we ought to have an election every Sunday.”

The prestigious Lleras Camargo slate of Liberals won all of that party’s50% share of 80 Senate and 148 Chamber of Deputies seats. The totalvote—1,800,000 for all Liberals, v. 1,400,000 for allConservatives—clearly showed Lleras’ party to be Colombia’s biggest.In the intra-Conservative election, Laureano Gómez’ chief opponent wasmoderate-minded Guillermo Len Valencia, who played a bold role last May in dethroning Military Dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (the man who toppled Gómez in 1953). Of the Conservatives’ 40 Senate seats, the Gómez group won (depending on the final count) between 26 and 29, the Valencia group 7to 10. Of the Conservatives’ 74 Chamber seats, Gómez won 45 to 50,Valencia 13 to 18. Gómez, Lleras Camargo and León Valencia were allelected to the Senate.

Next President? Defeat of his faction was a blow to León Valencia. Lastyear, seeking to amplify the parties’ fifty-fifty nonaggressionprinciple to include the presidency, Lleras Camargo and an anti-Gómezfaction of the Conservatives agreed upon León Valencia as a singlecandidate for the presidential election set for May 4. But Gómez, onhis return from Spain, forced Lleras to reopen the question and agreethat unless León Valencia won the approval of a majority of the newCongress, he would no longer be the joint candidate. Now León Valenciais bitter. “If I had not entered the battle against Rojas Pinilla’sdictatorship last year,” he said last week, “Gómez would still be inBarcelona.” He thereupon announced that if Lleras Camargo and Gómezname some other Conservative as the bipartisan candidate, he himselfwill also run and thus again open the door to dangerous strife andrivalry.

But if either Lleras Camargo or Gómez had a replacement candidate inmind, the name remained his own secret.