1997 in Colombia

← 1996 1995 1994 1997 in Colombia → 1998 1999 2000
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	Other events of 1997 Timeline of Colombian history

Events of 1997 in Colombia.

Incumbents

• President: Ernesto Samper Pizano (1994–1998). ^[1]
• Vice President: Carlos Lemos Simmonds (1996–1998).^{[ citation needed ]}

Events

January

• 20 January – Emberá leader Joaquín Domicó, Emberá is killed.^{[ citation needed ]}

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.^{[ citation needed ]}

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.^{[ citation needed ]}

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.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 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.^{[ citation needed ]}

October

• 22 October – El Aro Massacre. ^[8]
• 26 October –
  • 1997 Colombian referendum.^{[ citation needed ]}
  • 1997 regional and municipal elections.^{[ citation needed ]}

November

• 5 November – Carlos Arturo Marulanda, Colombia's ambassador to the United Nations, resigns after questions arise around his relationship to right-wing paramilitaries.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 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.^{[ citation needed ]}

Uncertain

• The Mosque of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, the third-largest mosque in Latin America, completes construction in Maicao, La Guajira.^{[ citation needed ]}

Births

• 13 January – Luis Díaz, footballer.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 28 January – Alvaro Meléndez, footballer.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 2 December – Luis Suárez, footballer.^{[ citation needed ]}

Deaths

• 20 January – Joaquín Domicó, Emberá leader.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 20 March– Gerardo Bedoya, journalist.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 17 April – Hena Rodríguez, painter, educator, and first female Colombian sculptor (b. 1915).^{[ citation needed ]}
• 21 August – Misael Pastrana, lawyer and former Colombian president (b. 1923). ^[7]

References

1. "Ernesto Samper | Biography & Facts | Britannica". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2024-07-30. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
2. "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.
3. "1997 Human Rights Report: Colombia". 1997-2001.state.gov. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
4. 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.
5. "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.
6. "Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz » Masacre de Mapiripán". www.justiciaypazcolombia.com (in Spanish). 15 July 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
7. 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.
8. "Masacre de El Aro". Rutas del Conflicto (in Spanish). 2 October 2019. Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
9. "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