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Decades:	1970s; 1980s; 1990s; 2000s; 2010s;
See also:	Other events of 1997; Timeline of Colombian history;

Events of 1997 in Colombia.

Incumbents

President: Ernesto Samper Pizano (1994–1998).^[1]
Vice President: Carlos Lemos Simmonds (1996–1998).^{[citation needed]}

Events

January

20 January – Emberá leader Joaquín Domicó, Emberá is killed.^{[citation needed]}

February

11 February – 800,000 workers, many in the public sector, participate in a walk out over President Ernesto Samper's economic policies of austerity and privatization.^[2]

March

16 March – Three car bombs, two in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander and one in Saravena, Arauca, are detonated by the National Liberation Army (ELN). The bomb in Cúcuta kills an 18-month-old and injures four others. The bomb in Saravena kills four and wounds five others.^[3]

April

21 April – The 47th Vuelta a Colombia begins in Bucaramanga, Santander.^{[citation needed]}

May

14 May – Doris Adriana Niño dies after meeting with vallenato singer Diomedes Díaz. Her body is found on the side of the rode in Boyacá and it is determined she died of a cocaine overdose. Díaz later went on trial and was, controversially, deemed innocent of her death.^[4]
20 May – The 27th President of Colombia Virgilio Barco Vargas dies in Bogotá, after suffering from Cancer and Alzheimer's.^{[citation needed]}

June

June 14 – 60 soldiers kidnapped by the Southern Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People's Army (FARC-EP) in the 1996 attack on Las Delicias military nine months earlier are released through the Colombian Red Cross and the Catholic Church Cartagena del Chairá, Caquetá.^[5]

July

15–20 July – Mapiripán massacre: Around 30 to 49 people are killed with chainsaws and machetes by the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) in collaboration with units of the Colombian National Army.^[6]

August

7 August – The Ministry of Culture is established.^{[citation needed]}
21 August – The 23rd President of Colombia Misael Pastrana dies at the age of 73 in Bogotá. He served as president from 1970 to 1974.^[7]

September

10 September – The Colombia national football team defeats Venezuela's 1–0 at the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez in Barranquilla. This solidifies their qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.^{[citation needed]}

October

22 October – El Aro Massacre.^[8]
26 October –
- 1997 Colombian referendum.^{[citation needed]}
- 1997 regional and municipal elections.^{[citation needed]}

November

5 November – Carlos Arturo Marulanda, Colombia's ambassador to the United Nations, resigns after questions arise around his relationship to right-wing paramilitaries.^{[citation needed]}
11-12 November – San José del Guaviare massacre: Members of the Centauros Bloc of the AUC murder 11 people in San José del Guaviare.^[9]

December

30 December – The Antonio Escobar Camargo bridge between Zambrano, Bolívar and Plato, Magdalena, the longest viaduct in the country, opens.^{[citation needed]}

Uncertain

The Mosque of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, the third-largest mosque in Latin America, completes construction in Maicao, La Guajira.^{[citation needed]}

Births

13 January – Luis Díaz, footballer.^{[citation needed]}
28 January – Alvaro Meléndez, footballer.^{[citation needed]}
2 December – Luis Suárez, footballer.^{[citation needed]}

Deaths

20 January – Joaquín Domicó, Emberá leader.^{[citation needed]}
20 March– Gerardo Bedoya, journalist.^{[citation needed]}
17 April – Hena Rodríguez, painter, educator, and first female Colombian sculptor (b. 1915).^{[citation needed]}
21 August – Misael Pastrana, lawyer and former Colombian president (b. 1923).^[7]

References

^ "Ernesto Samper | Biography & Facts | Britannica". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2024-07-30. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
^ "Colombian workers strike to fight austerity, increase wages, 1997". Global Nonviolent Action Database. Swarthmore College. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
^ "1997 Human Rights Report: Colombia". 1997-2001.state.gov. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
^ Perez, Laura Camila Vargas (24 September 2021). "¿Quién fue Doris Adriana Niño en la vida de Diomedes Díaz?" [Who was Doris Adriana Niño in the life of Diomedes Díaz?]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
^ "Condenan a jefes de las Farc por toma guerrillera" [FARC leaders sentenced for guerrilla takeover]. Ejército Nacional de Colombia (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
^ "Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz » Masacre de Mapiripán". www.justiciaypazcolombia.com (in Spanish). 15 July 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b Jean Schemo, Diana (23 August 1997). "Misael Pastrana Borrero, 74, President of Colombia in the 70's". The New York Times. p. 10. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
^ "Masacre de El Aro". Rutas del Conflicto (in Spanish). 2 October 2019. Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
^ "Masacre de San José del Guaviare 1997". Rutas del Conflicto (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 September 2024.