Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (President Gaitan)



Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (January 23, 1903 – September 17, 1977) was a politician and a leader of a populist movement in Colombia, and member of the Liberal Party.

Gaitán was from a poor background, but worked through universities in Colombia and Italy to attain a degree in law, and become a professor at the National University of Colombia. From there he became a popular leader of the left-wing movement, gaining nationwide popularity following a banana workers' strike in Magdalena in 1928, in which strikers were fired upon by the army. It is speculated that he would likely have been elected President had he not been assassinated.