Colombia, 1958 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an attempted military coup in Colombia on 2 May 1958, during the transitional military junta that governed after the fall of dictator General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in May 1957 and before the inauguration of the first National Front president. The five-man military junta led by General Gabriel Paris was overseeing the transition to the power-sharing National Front agreed between the Liberal and Conservative parties, with elections held in 1958 that brought Liberal Alberto Lleras Camargo to the presidency in August. The transition was contested by Rojas Pinilla loyalists and by officers uneasy at the return to civilian rule, and any coup attempt in early May 1958 came within that turbulence.
It did not derail the handover: the junta completed the transition, Lleras Camargo took office, and the National Front's alternating civilian governments held for the next sixteen years.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
10005021958- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-100-1958-05-02
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The transitional military junta survived and completed the handover to the elected National Front government in August 1958.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Powell and Thyne
New York Times
Washington Post
Globe and Mail
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →