A Dictator's Bad Memory

A former dictator faced the music last week in Colombia, and it was not a pretty tune. On trial by Colombia's Senate and charged with using the presidency for personal enrichment was General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, 58, deposed in 1957 by a popular revolution. If the Senate decides that Rojas is guilty, it can deprive him of "civil rights," e.g., the right to vote, and it can remand him to the Supreme Court for trial on criminal charges. If the charges stick, Rojas may find himself behind prison bars.

Pompous, martial and arrogant as President, Rojas in the prisoner's dock was gaunt and meek. Gone was the suntan he got last month from a gunboat Caribbean cruise that the government gave him after he foolishly tried a coup. Once when the presiding officer demanded that the former strongman rise when spoken to, he protested that he deserved "reverence" as an ex-President. Afterward he was humble. Respectfully, he addressed his accusers as "Honorable Senators"; the senators referred to him simply as "the accused."

Senator Carlos Lleras Restrepo shot 63 questions at Rojas in 60 minutes. Rojas made stumbling replies. The general was unable to show that a company he formed to carry out his moneymaking deals while President had ever paid taxes or kept books. When asked how come his personal fortune grew so fast when he was President, Rojas replied: "Gifts from Colombians and foreigners."

One inquisitive Senator wanted to know why Rojas had opened a checking account in a big Bogota bank and, without depositing a centavo, had written a check for 76,000 pesos. Rojas' memory, notoriously poor during most of the questioning, failed again. "I don't remember any details about this draft," he said. "This is the first time I've received any information about it."

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