Civilian Takes Over

Under the stained-glass dome of the Capitol in Bogota, a Liberal intellectual with a talent for adroit political compromise became President of Colombia last week, ending five years of military rule. The tricolored sash of office flashing across his starched shirt, Dr. Alberto Lleras Camargo, 52, stood stiffly through an enthusiastic 21-gun salute that shattered a Capitol window. He listened gravely to aging (69), ailing Conservative Senate President Laureano Gomez, who struggled to his feet to read the oath of office. Lleras Camargo answered, "I swear," and democracy was back in business.

No Champagne. There was no inaugural ball, not even a modest champagne reception. It was, said Lleras, a simple ceremony "to set an example of austerity." But foreign visitors (including a six-man U.S. delegation), well-braided generals and curbside crowds turned out to honor the architect of the new Colombian ideal of the "National Front."

A onetime journalist, university president, secretary-general of the Organization of American States and veteran of a previous tour as President (1945-46), Lleras got the National Front started by joining his Liberals with Laureano Gomez' Conservatives to aid a group of fed-up army officers bounce Dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla on May 10, 1957. Now Lleras rules under a pact that splits the Cabinet, Congress and local offices fifty-fifty between the two parties.

But the pact has not yet spread to the mountainous backlands, where bandits, peasants and landowners continue a bitter Conservative-Liberal war that has killed 200,000 Colombians in the past decade. In the week before inauguration day, two soldiers and 41 bandits died in battle. Lleras in his inaugural speech promised "vigorous pacification." He will have the help of the army, which has served as faithful caretaker, through a five-man junta, since Rojas Pinilla's ouster.

Huge Debts. The President's other big problem is an economy dragged downward by the Rojas regime's extravagance and the estimated $70 million sag in coffee income this year. The junta made a start by imposing what Colombian businessmen call "organized recession," including severe import restrictions on everything from toothpaste to typewriters. The cost of living is still climbing at a rate of 20% a year, and Lleras warns that if coffee prices are not stabilized, "this country may explode."

But in last week's joyous return to democracy, Colombians temporarily put aside the problems of their fertile, underdeveloped land. As their final official act, the junta members tactfully voted their own retirement from active service. In his first official act, Lleras Camargo decorated all five with the Cross of Boyaca, Colombia's highest medal.

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