1997 in Colombia
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Incumbents
- President: Ernesto Samper Pizano (1994–1998).[1]
- Vice President: Carlos Lemos Simmonds (1996–1998).
Events
January
February
- 11 February – 800,000 workers, many in the public sector, participate in a walk out over President Ernesto Samper's economic policies of austerity and privatization.[2]
March
- 16 March – Three car bombs, two in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander and one in Saravena, Arauca, are detonated by the National Liberation Army (ELN). The bomb in Cúcuta kills an 18-month-old and injures four others. The bomb in Saravena kills four and wounds five others.[3]
April
- 21 April – The 47th Vuelta a Colombia begins in Bucaramanga, Santander.
May
- 14 May – Doris Adriana Niño dies after meeting with vallenato singer Diomedes Díaz. Her body is found on the side of the rode in Boyacá and it is determined she died of a cocaine overdose. Díaz later went on trial and was, controversially, deemed innocent of her death.[4]
- 20 May – The 27th President of Colombia Virgilio Barco Vargas dies in Bogotá, after suffering from Cancer and Alzheimer's.
June
- June 14 – 60 soldiers kidnapped by the Southern Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People's Army (FARC-EP) in the 1996 attack on Las Delicias military nine months earlier are released through the Colombian Red Cross and the Catholic Church Cartagena del Chairá, Caquetá.[5]
July
- 15–20 July – Mapiripán massacre: Around 30 to 49 people are killed with chainsaws and machetes by the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) in collaboration with units of the Colombian National Army.[6]
August
- 7 August – The Ministry of Culture is established.
- 21 August – The 23rd President of Colombia Misael Pastrana dies at the age of 73 in Bogotá. He served as president from 1970 to 1974.[7]
September
- 10 September – The Colombia national football team defeats Venezuela's 1–0 at the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez in Barranquilla. This solidifies their qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
October
- 22 October – El Aro Massacre.[8]
- 26 October –
- 1997 Colombian referendum.
- 1997 regional and municipal elections.
November
- 5 November – Carlos Arturo Marulanda, Colombia's ambassador to the United Nations, resigns after questions arise around his relationship to right-wing paramilitaries.
- 11-12 November – San José del Guaviare massacre: Members of the Centauros Bloc of the AUC murder 11 people in San José del Guaviare.[9]
December
- 30 December – The Antonio Escobar Camargo bridge between Zambrano, Bolívar and Plato, Magdalena, the longest viaduct in the country, opens.
Uncertain
- The Mosque of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, the third-largest mosque in Latin America, completes construction in Maicao, La Guajira.
Births
- 13 January – Luis Díaz, footballer.
- 28 January – Alvaro Meléndez, footballer.
- 2 December – Luis Suárez, footballer.
Deaths
- 20 January – Joaquín Domicó, Emberá leader.
- 20 March– Gerardo Bedoya, journalist.
- 17 April – Hena Rodríguez, painter, educator, and first female Colombian sculptor (b. 1915).
- 21 August – Misael Pastrana, lawyer and former Colombian president (b. 1923).[7]
References
- ^ "Ernesto Samper | Biography & Facts | Britannica". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2024-07-30. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
- ^ "Colombian workers strike to fight austerity, increase wages, 1997". Global Nonviolent Action Database. Swarthmore College. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "1997 Human Rights Report: Colombia". 1997-2001.state.gov. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
- ^ Perez, Laura Camila Vargas (24 September 2021). "¿Quién fue Doris Adriana Niño en la vida de Diomedes Díaz?" [Who was Doris Adriana Niño in the life of Diomedes Díaz?]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
- ^ "Condenan a jefes de las Farc por toma guerrillera" [FARC leaders sentenced for guerrilla takeover]. Ejército Nacional de Colombia (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz » Masacre de Mapiripán". www.justiciaypazcolombia.com (in Spanish). 15 July 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
- ^ a b Jean Schemo, Diana (23 August 1997). "Misael Pastrana Borrero, 74, President of Colombia in the 70's". The New York Times. p. 10. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
- ^ "Masacre de El Aro". Rutas del Conflicto (in Spanish). 2 October 2019. Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
- ^ "Masacre de San José del Guaviare 1997". Rutas del Conflicto (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 September 2024.
External links
- Media related to 1997 in Colombia at Wikimedia Commons
- Human Rights Watch World Report 1998: Colombia
- U.S. Department of State: Colombia Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997