Rojas Pinilla, Gustavo (1900–1975)

Colombian dictator and president 1953–57. His administration was oppressive and highly corrupt, and his attempts at fiscal reforms failed.

Rojas was head of the armed forces that ousted President Laureano Gómez in the 1953 coup – the first such military intervention of the century.

In 1957, he was deposed by a military junta backed by both liberals and conservatives and he was forced into exile. He subsequently organized the Acción Nacional Popular (ANAPO; National Popular Alliance), along with his daughter, María Eugenia Rojas de Moreno, who was a senator. The party gained widespread popular support from the poor. In 1970, he ran unsuccessfully for president, and ill health forced him to retire in 1973.