The El Palacio De Justicia is a gigantic building which houses the Supreme Court of Colombia and it has a rather gruesome history. The first one was built several blocks from the current location in the 20s but was torched 27 years later during El Bogotazo. El Bogotazo a series of riots in response to a political assassination that marked the beginning of a period known as La Violencia, which was basically a decade of incredibly disgusting violence: rape, torture, mutilation, you name it.
It was rebuilt in the Plaza de Bolivar and in 1985 it was seized by a band of guerrillas demanding that President Belisario Betancur come and stand trial. The military responded agressively after the President's refusal and the conflict left 120 dead, including all 35 guerrillas and 11 of 25 Supreme Court Justices. The building burned down as well, suspiciously taking with it all the extradition case files for major drug mafia leaders, although no links have been substantiated between the organizations. It's sort of eerie visiting the place now, there's no trace of the violence, but it happened.
1 comment:
La violencia was a really scary thing. It always made me nervous that I was living among people who had some hidden capacity for horror. It was a liberal/conservative split. They tamed it but you never know....
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