Cardona
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instruments by which sectarian political violence is carried out. (Pabón Núñez in Alape 1985: 50-
51)
This multi-sided struggle in which the politicized Police were a key player would
continue through 1953 with growing intensity. In that year, the breakdown of order
reached such a point that both sides of political opinion began looking for a solution that
would allow peace to return, at least at the national level.
This solution came in the form of a military government. The assumption of
power by General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was welcomed by both parties to the extent that
Liberal commentators labeled it a “coup of opinion” (Valencia Tovar in Alape 1985: 59-
61). One of Rojas Pinilla’s first moves had to do with the reform of the public forces. He
focused on the police, incorporating the National Police into the armed forces as a “fourth
force,” under the purview of the Ministry of Defense and reporting directly to the Joint
Chiefs, of which he was the head. Rojas Pinilla also completely revamped the leadership
of the National Police, bringing in military officers and making the police hierarchy
match that of the army.
The impact of this reform was to be profound. The militarization of the Police
continues to this day, with the National Police still affiliated with the Ministry of
Defense. After Rojas Pinilla was ousted from power in 1957, in the early 1960s, one
additional, significant reform that took place under a civilian government, which was to
align the Municipal and Departmental Police under the Direction of the National Police
(Llorente 1999: 403). As part of that reform, the national government assumed
responsibility for paying the salaries of the subnational police, further increasing central
control over them. The cumulative effect of these institutional changes was to blur the
boundaries between police and army, a confusion that has resulted in a very active role
Convention