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Timeline of Colombian history

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Timeline of Colombian history

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This is a timeline of Colombian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Colombia and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Colombia. See also the list of presidents of Colombia.

Millennia: 11th BC–9th BC · 3rd BC · 2nd BC–1st BC · 1st–2nd · 3rd Centuries: 20th BC · 19th BC · 18th BC · 17th BC · 16th BC · 15th BC · 14th BC · 13th BC · 12th BC · 11th BC · 10th BC · 9th BC · 8th BC · 7th BC · 6th BC · 5th BC · 4th BC · 3rd BC · 2nd BC · 1st BC

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Centuries: 1st · 2nd · 3rd · 4th · 5th · 6th · 7th · 8th · 9th · 10th · 11th · 12th · 13th · 14th · 15th · 16th · 17th · 18th · 19th · 20th

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1st century

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3rd century

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6th century

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7th century

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10th century

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15th century

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16th century

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20th century

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Year	Date	Event
1901		Colombian Geographer Francisco Javier Vergara y Velasco publishes the first complete cartographic charts of the country, the Atlas completo de geografía colombiana (1906–1910), through which he won the Charles Manoir price of the Paris Geographical Society.
		Manuelita became the first Colombian sugar mill to move from mule to steam powered mills
	23 February	Battle of Aguadulce
1902	24 October	The Thousand Days' War was a civil war fought in Colombia from 17 October 1899 to 21 November 1902, at first between the Liberal Party and the government led by the National Party, and later – after the Conservative Party had ousted the National Party – between the liberals and the conservative government. The peace treaty was signed on the plantation Neerlandia on 24 October 1902.
1903		Panama remained as a province of Colombia until this year, when – with backing from the United States in exchange for allowing the US to build the Panama Canal – it became independent (Separation of Panama from Colombia)
	22 January	The United States and the Republic of Colombia sign the Hay–Herrán Treaty
	26 October	The United States Navy patrol gunboat USS Nashville blocks Colombian attempts to suppress the Panamanian separatist movement
1904	16 June	Date of death of Manuel Uribe Ángel, known for his great contributions to the advances of the practice of medicine in Colombia and the Antioquia Department. He also served as President of the then Sovereign State of Antioquia
	7 August	Rafael Reyes is president of Colombia
	11 October	Creation of Postobón soft drinks company
1910		Colombian astronomer Julio Garavito Armero discovers the crater on the Moon's far side which is named after him (Garavito crater).
1910	7 August	Carlos Eugenio Restrepo is president of Colombia
1914	7 August	José Vicente Concha is president of Colombia
1915	9 May	Indigenous nasa leader Quintín Lame is arrested for attempting the creation of an indigenous independent republic
1918		Marco Fidel Suárez is president of Colombia
1926		Miguel Abadía Méndez is president of Colombia
1927		The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia is created
1928	6 December	The Banana massacre, in Spanish, Matanza de las bananeras or Masacre de las bananeras: A massacre of workers for the United Fruit Company that occurred in the town of Ciénaga near Santa Marta
1930		Enrique Olaya Herrera is president of Colombia
1932	1 September	The Colombia–Peru War
1934		Alfonso López Pumarejo is president of Colombia
1934		First census in Colombia. Population:8.700.000
1935	24 June	Argentine singer Carlos Gardel dies in a plane crash in Medellín
1938		Eduardo Santos Montejo is president of Colombia
1942		Alfonso López Pumarejo is president of Colombia for a second time
1945	29 April	Date of death of impressionist painter Andrés de Santa Maria
1945		Alberto Lleras Camargo is president of Colombia
1946		Mariano Ospina Pérez is president of Colombia
1948	9 April	Murder of politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. Bogotazo riots. Starts the bipartisan violence ("La Violencia")
1950		Laureano Gómez Castro is president of Colombia
1953	13 June	Gustavo Rojas Pinilla seized power by means of a coup d'état
1954	3 August	President Rojas Pinilla government gives women the right to vote
1954		Rojas Pinilla introduced the Television in Colombia
1955		Rojas Pinilla ordered a military offensive against rearmed peasants triggering a confrontation known as the "Guerra de Villarrica" (War of Villarrica) which took place in the central town of Villarrica in Tolima Department.^[15]
1956	24 June	the Liberal Party headed by Alberto Lleras Camargo and the Conservative Party headed by Laureano Gómez signed an accord on 24 June 1956 to begin the National Front (Colombia).
1958		Dr. Jorge Reynolds Pompo is credited with having helped in the design of the first successful internal pacemaker
1960		Creation of the first Natural protected area in Colombia, the Cueva de los Guacharos National park
1961	28 October	Hurricane Hattie moves over San Andrés island with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h), causing 1 death, 15 injuries, and $300,000 in damage (1961 USD, $2.1 million 2008 USD).
1962		Guillermo León Valencia is president of Colombia
1962	25 July	Luz Marina Zuluaga wins Miss Universe beauty contest
1964		The refractive surgery keratomileusis was developed by Ignacio Barraquer in Bogotá.
1964	May	Marquetalia Republic is overrun by the Colombian army (during what was termed "Operation Marquetalia")
1965	7 January	The National Liberation Army (Colombia) (ELN) guerrilla is created
1966		Carlos Lleras Restrepo is president of Colombia
1970		Misael Pastrana Borrero is president of Colombia
1972		Discovery of Ciudad Perdida archaeological place
1974		Alfonso López Michelsen is president of Colombia
1974		The Black Tuna Gang, a Miami-based Colombian marijuana-trafficking group was responsible for bringing in over 500 tons of marijuana over a 16-month period in the mid-1970s ("the marijuana bonanza").
1976	December	Starts the development of Cerrejón Coal mine. It is the largest mining operation in Colombia and among the largest open-pit coal mines in the world
1978		Julio César Turbay Ayala is president of Colombia
1980	27 February	Dominican embassy siege
1980	June	Serial killer Pedro López a.k.a. Monster of the Andes confessed to over 300 murders
1981		Homosexuality in Colombia is declared legal by the national government
1982		Belisario Betancur is elected president of Colombia
		Paramilitary group "Muerte a Secuestradores" (MAS) is formed
		Antioquian entrepreneur Felix Correa and his bank FURATENA get convicted for financial fraud causing a collapse in the national financial system
	1 September	Mother Teresa visits Colombia
	22 October^[16]	Gabriel García Márquez wins the Nobel Prize in literature
	26 October (formalized on 5 November)^[17]	Colombia resigns as host for the 1986 FIFA World Cup due to scarcity of public resources
1983		Pablo Escobar attends Colombian congress sessions as backup of congressman Jairo Ortega
		President Betancur announces Colombia has signed in the Non-Aligned Movement
		Businessman Roberto Soto steals 13.5 million dollars from the national budget with the help of a teleprinter machine
		General Prosecutor Carlos Jimenez declares that MAS group have underground relations of support with the National Army
		Guerrilla leader Manuel Marulanda announces to the press that the FARC guerrilla has grown to 28 main divisions, causing international concern
		1983 Guerrilla leader Jaime Bateman Cayon a.k.a. "El Flaco" dies in a plane crash near the Gulf of Urabá while traveling from Santa Marta to Panama
		Jumbo 747 airplane of Avianca airlines, in flight from Bogotá, crashes in Mejorana del campo, near Barajas airport in Madrid, Spain. 189 passengers die, including Art critic Marta Traba
	31 March	Popayán is partially destroyed by an earthquake during the traditional celebrations of Holy week
1984		Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla is shot to death by teenager hitmen hired by the Medellín Cartel. One of the hitmen, Byron de Jesus Velasquez, is captured
		President Betancur achieves a ceasefire with 80% of guerrilla forces in the country. In the case of FARC, this would be linked to the creation of the political movement Patriotic Union (Colombia) UP during the next year.
		Dissident guerrilla 19th of April Movement (M-19) attacks Florencia, Caquetá. Over 100 civilians dead
	10 March	Tranquilandia, a large cocaine processing laboratory located in the jungles of Caquetá, constructed for the Medellín Cartel is destroyed by units of the Colombian National Police, assisted by the DEA
1985		The Gorgona Island prison is dissolved and the island is declared National park
	10 January	Elkin Lucena performed the first successful In vitro fertilization, that allowed the birth of the first Latin American test tube baby (Carolina Mendez).
	23 May	Guerrilla leader Antonio Navarro is victim of a bomb that nearly killed him, and loses one leg
	July	Colombian cyclist Luis Herrera wins the Vuelta a España, first South American to win a Grand Tour
	16 September	Ceroxylon quindiuense is declared as the National tree by the national government
	6 November	M19 guerrilla attacks the supreme court in the Palace of Justice siege. The president of the Supreme Court of Colombia and many magistrates, employees and bystanders get killed. Over 100 fatal victims and undetermined number of missing persons. The army is accused of forced disappearance of civilians
	13 November	In the worst natural disaster in the history of Colombia, Armero city in Tolima department is destroyed due to a flood created by the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz volcano (Armero tragedy). Over 20.000 dead. Countless homes destroyed.
	14 December	Cardiologist Alberto Villegas performed the first heart transplant in Latin America to Antonio Yepes.^[18]
1986		Virgilio Barco is elected president of Colombia
		El Espectador newspaper director, Guillermo Cano is shot to death by hitmen
		Guerrilla leader Javier Delgado kills 150 fellow guerrilleros of the Ricardo Franco Group, in the Tacueyó massacre, because he suspected them to be infiltrated
	3 July	Pope John Paul II visits Bogotá and the remains of Armero tragedy
	9 August	Miguel "Happy" Lora wins the world boxing championship in the bantamweight division
	4 December	Campo Elías Delgado Morales, a Vietnam War veteran kills 28 persons (including his mother) and leaves 15 injured, in the Pozzetto restaurant massacre, presumably due to mental illness. The events are depicted in the 2006 movie Satanás.
1987		Guerrilla groups attack a military convoy in Caqueta breaking the 1984 truce. 42 soldiers dead and 27 injured
		Colombian Navy ship ARC Caldas sails in waters of Atlantic Ocean in dispute with Venezuela creating a serious diplomatic incident
	4 February	Drug dealer Carlos Lehder is captured in a farm near Medellín at 6:20 a.m. The same day at 5:20 p.m he is extradited and sent in a DEA turbocommander airplane to USA
	11 October	UP leaders Jaime Pardo Leal and Hector Abad are killed in La Mesa, Cundinamarca. Eventually this movement would be lose more than 3000 of their members due to violence
1988		Paramilitary groups commit massacres in Saiza, Mejor Esquina and Segovia, Antioquia
		General Prosecutor Carlos Mauro Hoyos is killed by hitmen
		The first election of city majors for popular vote
		Politicians Álvaro Gómez Hurtado and Andrés Pastrana are kidnapped by narcotrafficking related groups
		collapse of Stock market due to incarceration of financial managers Juan Ricardo Escobar and Guillermo Uribe Holguin
		Massacre of Trujillo, 107 victims. On 19 December 2006 Henry Loaiza-Ceballos was accused by Colombian authorities of being responsible for the massacre
		First Iberoamerican Theater Festival in Bogotá. 100.000 people attend to the closing act in Plaza de Bolívar
	21 March	Colombian Painter Dario Morales dies in Paris
	June	Serial killer Daniel Barbosa a.k.a. the Beast of the Andes confessed 72 murders
	18 August	Luis Carlos Galán, Politician and candidate to presidency is killed by hitmen in Soacha during a public speech
1989		Drug dealer Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha is killed in a military operation
		First reports of the presence of Coffee borer beetle in Colombian coffee crops
	27 November	Avianca Flight 203 airplane HK1803 explodes in the air with 107 people on board, few minutes after leaving El Dorado International Airport as a result of a bomb planted by the Medellín Cartel. No survivors
	6 December	7:30 a.m. The Security Administration Department building (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad DAS) and an important part of the commercial area of Paloquemao district in Bogotá are destroyed by a bomb, in what is considered the worst terrorist attack in Colombian history
1990		M19 Guerrilla leader Carlos Pizarro Leongómez is killed by hitmen when he was a presidential candidate
		César Gaviria is elected President of Colombia
		El Tiempo newspaper director Francisco Santos is kidnapped
		20 Emberá indigenous people are killed in the Caloto, Cauca massacre due to land ownership disagreements with local landlords
	22 March	UP leader politician Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa is killed by hitmen
1991		Rafael Pardo is the first civilian to be designated as minister of defense
		Minister of economy Rudolph Hommes announced the new aperture politic for international trade inspirited in the Russian perestroika and the creation of the National bank for international trade Bancomex
		Starts the first concessions for mobile telephony
	January	Journalist Diana Turbay is killed while kept kidnapped in a farm near Sabaneta
	January	Drug dealers Fabio, Juan David and Jorge Luis Ochoa Vázquez (The Ochoa brothers) and Pablo Escobar surrender themselves to the authorities
	17 February	Opening of the national assembly for reform to the 1886 national constitution (Constituent Assembly of Colombia)
1992		The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia is created, with Gustavo de Greiff designated as the first Attorney General
		Noemí Sanín is the new minister of foreign affairs. She is the first woman to be designed as a minister in Colombia
		The collapse of the national electricity generation system causes massive power blackouts all over the country with an average of 18 hours/day without electricity from March 1992 to April 1993
		Fernando Botero presents a collection of 31 sculptures in an outdoors exhibition in the Champs-Élysées in Paris
	20 July	Pablo Escobar escapes from the Cathedral Prison
	15 November	Villatina Massacre
1993		Massive celebration of the winning of Colombian soccer team in a play against Argentine team in Buenos Aires with final score 5–0. Riots all over the country.
		The national government achieves commercial treaties with Venezuela, Mexico and Ecuador
	14 January	Galeras volcano eruption killed nine people, including six scientists who had descended into the volcano's crater to sample gases.
	November	Bomb explodes on 15th Avenue of Bogotá, near the intersection with 93rd Street (in front of Centro 93 mall). 10 people die, over 100 injured
	2 December	Pablo Escobar dies in combats with the police
1994		Ernesto Samper is elected president of Colombia
		8000 Process scandal of Cali Cartel narcotrafficking money investment in the Samper electoral campaign starts with the public broadcasting of tapes from telephonic conversations among Minister Alberto Giraldo and drug dealers Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela
		Former president César Gaviria is designated as OEA general secretary
		A team of 10 people steals 24.075.000.000 pesos from the Republic Bank in Valledupar in the biggest bank robbery in the Colombian history
		Paez river flood in Cauca department kills hundreds of people and destroys villages in a length of 40 km
	11 February	CONVIVIR (Spanish for to coexist) program of cooperative neighbourhood watch groups is created by a decree of Colombia's Ministry of Defense
	20 May	Manuel Elkin Patarroyo received the Prince of Asturias Awards by his technical and scientific research in the development of synthetic malaria vaccine
	2 July	Due to the poor performance of the national soccer team in the USA soccer World Cup, an angry soccer aficionado shot to death soccer player Andrés Escobar
1995		76-year-old conservative politician Álvaro Gómez Hurtado is murdered by hitmen
	January	Plane crash in Marialabaja, Bolívar Department. 52 dead, only survivor 9-year-old girl Erika Delgado
	February	Luciano Pavarotti gives a concert in Bogotá
	9 June	Drug dealers Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela (The Rodriguez Brothers) are captured in a police operation
	30 November	Start operations of rapid transit rail system Metro de Medellín
	20 December	Plane crash near Cali airport. American Airlines plane with 163 occupants. 4 survivors
1996		Antioquia governor Álvaro Uribe orders the capture of the German citizens Werner and Michela Mauss, suspected of being FARC collaborators
		March of protest of 90.000 cocaleros (coca leaf illegal farmers) from Guaviare Department and Putumayo Department ended with 12 cocaleros dead. Army soldiers accused of brutality
		Guerrilla attack to the military base "Las Delicias" in Putumayo. 29 soldiers dead, 20 injured, 60 kidnapped
	26 June	La Gabarra Massacre
	24 July	Hurricane Cesar moves westward across the southern Caribbean and crosses over extreme northern Colombia and the San Andres archipelago. Cesar kills 11 people in Colombia due to flooding and mudslides.^[19]
	November	Aterciopelados band ranks number 1 in the MTV network, becoming the most successful Colombian rock band
1997		"Miti-Miti" corruption scandal, involving Minister of communications Saulo Arboleda and minister of mining and energy Rodrigo Villamizar accused of obtaining illegal profit of 100 fm radio concessions
	April	Salvatore Mancuso and Carlos Castaño conformed what they called the "Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia" (AUC) United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
	15 April	Drug dealer Phanor Arizabaleta-Arzayus, member of the Cali Cartel is captured at a road checkpoint
	15 July	Mapiripán Massacre
	September	Carlos Castaño in a press interview admits responsibility for the Mapiripán Massacre. AUC is listed by the US Department of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
	October	Bird (sculpture by Fernando Botero) was destroyed by a terrorist attack in downtown Medellín. About 17 people died. Several body parts remained unidentified. The remains of the sculpture are displayed in San Antonio Square as a memorial for the victims
1998		Andrés Pastrana is elected as president of Colombia
		Gloria Zea, director of the national Modern Art Museum organizes one of the largest art exhibits in Colombia "Arte y Violencia en Colombia" as a commemoration of 50th anniversary of the start of the bipartisan violence La Violencia
		Fernando Botero donates 100 of his works and 60 pieces of his private art collection (19th and 20th centuries) to the Antioquia Museum
	20 June	Plan Colombia (Treaty signed with USA for support in War on Drugs) is officially unveiled by President Pastrana
	7 November	President Pastrana granted to the FARC guerrilla a 42,000 km2 (16,200 sq mi) safe haven meant to serve as a confidence building measure, centered around the San Vicente del Caguán settlement
1999		Betty la fea soap opera a.k.a. Ugly Betty reach the highest levels of rating and the script is sold to different producers in several countries
	19 January	The 1999 Armenia earthquake devastates Armenia, Colombia. Over 2000 dead, 3000 missing persons and a quarter million people homeless
	14 April	ELN guerrilla kidnap Fokker airplane with 41 occupants in Bolívar department
	22 April	Serial killer Luis Garavito is found guilty of the murder of 138 boys. (The total number of victims according with Garavito confessions off-record is estimated up to 300 boys and an undetermined number of adults)
	30 May	Mass kidnapping of 70 people in La Maria church in Cali
	13 August	Comedian Jaime Garzón is murdered by hitmen
	13 November	Strong waves from Hurricane Lenny affect the Guajira Peninsula of Colombia, flooding 1,200 homes and businesses along the northern coastline. In addition, winds and rains from the hurricane causes severe crop damage in the country.^[20] The hurricane kills two in Colombia.^[21] (to 16 November)
	29 November	Date of death of Colombian essayist and historian Germán Arciniegas
2000		First Olympic gold medal in Colombian history, earned by María Isabel Urrutia in weightlifting
	30 March	A car bomb parked in front of the mayor's office in Cachipay (Cundinamarca Department) detonated, causing injuries to nineteen and deaths to four
	11 April	ELN bombs damage 4 meetinghouses of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church); bridge attack kills 1, injures 20.^[22]
	15 May	A woman was killed by a time bomb fastened to her neck by FARC guerrilla; 1 bomb disposal specialist died trying to deactivate the bomb and other 3 were wounded.^[23] The 2007 movie PVC-1 is based in this incident
	June	The sport of Precolumbian origin; Turmequé or tejo is declared as the National sport by the Colombian congress
	30 August	USA president Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea visit Cartagena de Indias
	4 September	A 70 kilograms of R1 explosive bomb exploded in Barrancabermeja's commercial district, injuring four policemen, two security guards and two civilians. The intended target was apparently the National Customs and Tax Directorate (DIAN).^[24]
	October	Macayepo massacre in Montes de María
	15 October	A bomb went off in Cali outside a rehabilitation center in the Obrero neighborhood. Two children were killed and thirty other injured. An explosive device went off in a Christian church in Cali, killing two and injuring fifteen.^[25]
	14 November	A guerrilla group gave a homeless man a package that, unbeknownst to him, was filled with explosives. The package exploded as he walked through the banking sector of Cali, killing him and wounding four others. The package reportedly contained 500 grams of ammonium nitrate fuel oil.^[26]
	4 December	Politician Fernando Araújo Perdomo is kidnapped by the Farc guerrilla
	18 December	Opening of the mass transportation system Transmilenio in Bogotá

21st century

More information Year, Date ...

Year	Date	Event
2001		The stock markets of Cali, Medellín and Bogotá are fused into a single entity: Bolsa de Valores de Colombia
		Singer Shakira Mebarak wins a Grammy Award for her MTV unplugged
	24 April	the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations published the findings of its investigation into IRA activities in Colombia
	4 May	A car bomb kills four and injures 32 in a luxury hotel in Cali. No group claims the attack.^[27]
	17 May	A car bomb kills 20 and injures at least 50 in a park in Medellín.^[28]
	11 July	Soccer tournament Copa America 2001 was held in Colombia (to 29 July)
	11 August	Arrest of the Irish Colombia Three charged with training FARC rebels in bomb-making
	23 August	In a series of attacks near Medellín, 10 bombs kill one and injure 39 others.^[29] At least 15 members of terrorist group ELN die when the explosives they were carrying detonate.^[30]
	29 September	Politician Consuelo Araújo is murdered while being kidnapped by FARC guerrilla
2002	25 January	A bomb kills a child and four police officers and injures 28 people in Bogotá. Rebel group FARC is blamed
	30 January	A car bomb kills five and injures 40 in the city of Florencia in the department of Caquetá
	21 February	President Pastrana ended the peace talks and ordered the armed forces to start retaking the FARC-EP controlled zone of San Vicente del Caguan
	24 February	Oxygen Green Party Politician Ingrid Betancourt is kiddnapped by FARC guerrilla
	March	President Uribe decided to appoint Marta Lucía Ramírez as Minister of Defense becoming the second woman in Latin America to ever hold this title, after Michelle Bachelet
	7 April	Two bombs explode in the restaurant district of Villavicencio, killing twelve and injuring 70. FARC is the prime suspect for the attack.^[31]
	11 April	Two police officers and a girl are killed by a bomb concealed in the corpse of a peasant (Pedro Nel Camacho) apparently executed by the FARC guerrilla with such purpose ^[32]
	12 April	12 politicians in Valle del Cauca are kidnapped using a hoax antibomb operative, starting the Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis
	12 April	A rocket explodes near the studios of RCN TV in Bogotá.^[33]
	14 April	During an assassination attempt of then-presidential candidate Álvaro Uribe Vélez a bomb kills two and injures 20 in Barranquilla. Rebel group FARC is blamed.
	2 May	Bojaya massacre in Chocó Department. A bomb destroys the local church. 117 dead, 114 injured.
	26 May	Cali bishop Isaias Duarte is murdered by hitmen
	7 August	Álvaro Uribe is elected president of Colombia
	7 August	Four rounds of mortars are fired against the Presidential Palace in Bogotá during the inauguration ceremony of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez. 13 people, mostly homeless, die and 50 are wounded. FARC is blamed.^[34]
	24 November	Guerrilla leader alias Simon Trinidad is extradited to USA
	13 December	A bomb destroys 30th floor of the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Bogotá. 37 people injured.^[35]
2003	16 January	A car bomb kills four and injures 27 at a shopping mall in Medellín. The attack is believed to be a retaliation of FARC for the arrest of 53 of its members in the preceding days
	7 February	2003 El Nogal Club bombing. Car bomb kills 36 and injures more than 200 at the El Nogal social club in Bogotá; FARC rebels are blamed
	14 February	A bomb kills 18 and wounds 37 in Neiva, destroying 70 homes. Amongst the dead are the chief prosecutor in Neiva and the chief of police. FARC is blamed for the attack.^[36]
	5 March	A car bomb kills six and injures 68 in a covered parking lot in Cúcuta. Rebel group ELN is blamed for the attack.^[37]
	May	A group of Colombian Army soldiers, part of a Counter-terrorism unit, while cleaning up after an ambush by guerillas makes the surprising discovery of several tubs buried in the jungle which hold US$16.75 million in cash. They decide to keep the money for themselves, leading to their capture and trial. These events are depicted in the 2006 movie A Ton of Luck
	8 May	A bomb kills three in an attack against a water treatment plant in Cali.
	24 August	Six die and 28 are wounded when a bomb explodes in a riverboat in the town of Puerto Rico. Rebel group FARC is blamed.^[38]
	11 September	A bomb strapped to a horse kills eight and injures 15 in the village of Chita, Boyacá. The attack is blamed on FARC, as the same technique had been used in the past.^[39]
	29 September	A motorcycle packed with explosives kills ten and injures 54 in downtown Florencia, Caquetá. Rebel group FARC is blamed.^[40]
	8 October	A car bomb kills six and injures eleven in downtown Bogotá.^[41]
	15 November	A grenade attack from a motorcycle kills two and injures seventy in the Bogotá Beer Company, a popular pub in Bogotá. Two FARC members were captured.
	December	Biologist Raul Cuero wins NASA Technology Award for his research in removal of radionuclides such as uranium, using Martian simulated soil
2004	15 March	Date of death of popular salsa dancer Amparo Arrebato
	1 May	Ecuadorian government placed further stringent visa restrictions on Colombians seeking to enter Ecuador
	22 May	A bomb exploded in a crowded tavern/discothèque at 11:00 pm Saturday night killing six (some reports indicate seven) and wounding eighty-two. The bomb was packed in a small suitcase and left in the bathroom by suspected Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels. It is believed the bombing was part of a FARC campaign marking the organizations 40th anniversary.
	4 August	A bomb exploded at a bridge in Medellín moments before a parade of antique cars was scheduled to cross it, as the closing event at the annual Festival of the Flowers. 35 people injured.
	29 October	A bomb exploded near a bus stop along Bogotá's Transmilenio bus system route. A taxi passing by was caught in the blast resulting in the death of the driver and a passenger. 30 surrounded houses destroyed
	22 November	USA president George W. Bush visits Cartagena de Indias
	28 November	A bomb exploded beside the mayor's office in the Rafael Uribe district of Bogotá
	30 November	Three people were killed and eight wounded when a fragment grenade was left at a supermarket checkout counter
	13 December	Rodrigo Granda affair. FARC guerrilla leader Rodrigo Granda, was captured by individual Venezuelan officials in Caracas, Venezuela, and transferred to Cúcuta, Colombia (a departmental capital on the two nations' common border), where he was arrested by the Colombian authorities on 14 December, generating a diplomatic crisis with Venezuelan government.
	30 December	Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia (RTVC) replaced the liquidated Instituto Nacional de Radio y Televisión (Inravisión) as the government-run radio and television broadcasting service
2005	January	Colombian justice adopts the adversarial system
	1 February	FARC attacks the Iscuande marine base in Narino Department with homemade rockets, killing 15 soldiers and injuring 25.^[42]
	3 February	A bridge was blown up in Putumayo Department, killing eight soldiers and a civilian.^[42]
	6 April	An ambush in Arauca state, near Venezuela, kills 17 soldiers.^[43]
	24 June	FARC attacks military positions in the location of Puerto Asís in the Putumayo department, killing 25 and wounding 20 in a single operation.^[44]
	27 October	The islands of San Andrés and Providencia are evacuated due to Hurricane Beta (2005).^[45] Hours later, a hurricane watch was issued.^[46]
	27 December	FARC launches a massive attack in the remote village of San Marino in the Chocó Department, killing at least six police officers along with the temporary abduction of some thirty, before they were released by the guerrillas on 20 December due to military pressure.^[47]
	28 December	FARC rebels ambush troops near Vista Hermosa, Meta, killing 28.^[48]
2006	28 May	Álvaro Uribe is re-elected for a second presidential term
	31 July	16 soldiers die in an ambush in Tibú and a car bomb kills one and injures 22 in Bogotá. Both attacks are blamed on FARC.^[49]
	4 August	A car bomb kills five outside a police station in Cali. FARC suspected responsible.^[50]
	19 October	A car bomb explodes in a military college in northern Bogotá.^[51]
	9 November	The Supreme Court ordered the detention of three congressmen implicated in the signature of an illegal agreement with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia at Santa Fe de Ralito starting the Colombian parapolitics scandal
	December	First Narco submarines of Colombian origin seized by the U.S. Coast Guard, authorities dubbed it Bigfoot because they had heard rumors that such things existed, but nobody had actually seen one.^[52]
	10 December	Paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso surrenders to the Colombian authorities
2007	5 January	kidnapped politician Fernando Araújo Perdomo escaped from his captors after a Colombian National Army military operation in the Montes de María mountains. Araújo spent several days in hiding without food or water until eventually finding help.
	1 March	Ten injured in a car bomb blast in Neiva, capital of Huila; rebel group FARC is believed responsible. The action is suspected to be an assassination attempt on Neiva's mayor.^[53]
	3 March	A bomb kills four police officers and one civilian in the city of Neiva, as they attempt to deactivate it
	16 March	A bomb kills 16 and injures 16 in Buenaventura. Authorities blame FARC.^[54]
	7 April	The first Colombian satellite, Libertad I is launched in orbit from Baikonur cosmodrome
	28 April	Kidnapped police officer Jhon Frank Pinchao escapes from the FARC guerrilla spending near a month lost in the jungle
	May	Virginia Vallejo, media personality and former lover of Pablo Escobar, published her memoir Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), where she accused several Colombian presidents of involvement with drug traffickers
	28 June	Murder of the politicians kidnapped in the Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis causes national outrage
	7 September	Colombian coffee achieves Protected designation of origin status granted by the European Union^[55]
	13 December	International Court of Justice of The Hague concluded the long-time dispute with the Republic of Nicaragua over the San Andrés y Providencia Islands in favor of Colombian sovereignty over the San Andres Archipelago, ratifying the Esguerra-Bárcenas treaty.^[56] signed between 1928 and 1930^[57]
2008	10 January	Former vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas and former congresswoman Consuelo González are freed after nearly six years in captivity
	1 March	The Colombian military attacks a FARC camp inside Ecuador's territory. Several guerrilla casualties including guerrilla leader Raul Reyes starting the 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis
	3 March	Iván Ríos, a member of the FARC Central High Command was killed by his security chief "Rojas".
	26 March	Guerrilla commander Manuel Marulanda Vélez dies
	18 May	Guerrilla leader Elda Neyis Mosquera alias "Karina" surrenders herself to the military forces
	2 July	Under a Colombian military operation called Operation Jaque, the FARC was tricked by the Colombian Government into releasing 15 hostages to Colombian Intelligence agents, including Ingrid Betancourt, U.S military contractors, and Colombian soldiers and police officers
	15 August	Ituango, Antioquia. Seven people were killed and more than 50 wounded when a bomb detonated in a small town
	21 August	Colombia has chosen the European DVB-T standard for Digital terrestrial television
	30 October	Accusations of Colombian army soldiers involved with criminal bands with the purpose of luring unsuspecting unemployed or homeless people into isolated areas where they were murdered and the scenes were staged as combats against guerrilla in order to enhance their achievements and get performance-related payments, were investigated. The events, known as the 'false positives' scandal, led to the resignation of Commander-in-chief, general Mario Montoya.^[58] As of 2012, 3,350 such cases had been investigated in all parts of the country and verdicts had been reached in 170 cases.^[59]
	12 November	Riots broke out in the municipalities of Pasto, Tumaco, Popayán and later spread all over the country after the collapse of several pyramid schemes. Thousands of victims had invested their money in pyramids that promised them extraordinary interest rates. The lack of regulation laws allowed those pyramids to grow excessively during several years. Finally, after the riots the Colombian government was forced to declare the country in economical emergency in order to seize and stop those schemes. Several of the pyramid's managers were arrested and are being prosecuted for the crime of "illegal massive money reception".^[60]
	22 November	Colombia and Canada signed a new $1.14 billion dollar bilateral trade agreement (the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement) at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.
2009	8 January	Colombian drug lord and head of the Caqueta cartel Leonidas Vargas is murdered inside a hospital. his brother(Héctor Fabio Vargas) and his girlfriend (Colombian actress Liliana Andrea Lozano) were tortured and murdered^[61] in Pradera, Colombia.^[62]
	8 January	Recognition of same-sex unions in Colombia is achieved by rule of the Constitutional Court
	11 January	Reports of mass murders of Awá (kwaiker) indigenous people by FARC guerrilla
	February	Colombia has extended its existing tobacco control regulations by a smoking ban requiring all indoor work places and public places be immediately smoke-free, prohibiting tobacco advertising, promotions and sponsorship
	February	the fossils of 28 individual Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever discovered, were announced to have been found in the coal mines of Cerrejón in La Guajira, Colombia.^[63]
	March	The Álvarez incest case was uncovered when 59-year-old Arcedio Álvarez was arrested in Mariquita, Colombia, accused of sexually abusing his now 30-year-old daughter Alba Nidia Álvarez since the age of 9.^[64] The daughter also gave birth to 11 children, three of whom died.^[65]
	March	the Colombian government enacted a mandate to introduce E85 flexible-fuel vehicles
	15 March	Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo gets ranked in the Forbes list of world billionaires.^[66]
	April	The Colombian armed forces launched Strategic Leap,^[67] an offensive in borders areas where the FARC's forces has still a strong military presence, especially in Arauca, near the Venezuelan border.^[68]
	April	Colombian drug lord Daniel Rendón Herrera alias Don "Mario" is captured while hiding in a jungle.^[69]
	13 May	Vallenato composer and troubadour Rafael Escalona dies due to heart failure.^[70]
	14 May	During his visit to Colombia, the Czech Republic Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek negotiated a possible sale of Aero L-159 Alca combat aircraft with Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.^[71]^[72]
	June	Clara Guerrero wins Women's World Championship World Ranking Masters
	July 2009	The Colombian government claimed that AT4 anti-tank rockets manufactured by Saab Bofors Dynamics of Sweden, which were later purchased by Venezuela were being used by the FARC. In response, President Chavez ordered most staff members of the embassy in Colombia to return to Venezuela, including the ambassador. Only the "lowest functionaries" were left to staff the embassy.^[73]
	18 July	Ricardo Londoño, Colombia's first Formula One driver is murdered in the north Colombian Córdoba Department.
	8 August	Cuban artist Tania Bruguera sets a controversial performance in the National University of Colombia (Bogotá branch), included consumption of cocaine^[74] provided by the artist to the attendants.^[75]^[76]
	30 August	President Álvaro Uribe had contracted the AH1N1 flu virus, becoming the second head of state to do so (the first being Óscar Arias).^[77]
	11 September	A group of eradicators of Coca crops near the village of La Gabarra, Municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander is attacked by guerrilla forces with a donkey with bombs attached to it. 2 people deceased^[78]

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