 After a quick visit to Venezuela and Panama , in April 1948 Castro traveled to the city of Bogotá , Colombia , with a Cuban student group sponsored by the government of Argentine President Juan Perón , whose anti @-@ imperialist politics impressed Castro . There , the assassination of popular leftist leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala led to widespread rioting that came to be known as the <unk> . Leaving 3000 dead , the riots revolved around clashes between the governing Conservatives – backed by the army – and leftist Liberals with support from socialists . Along with his fellow Cuban visitors , Castro joined the Liberal cause by stealing guns from a police station , but subsequent police investigations concluded that neither Castro nor any of the other Cubans had been involved in the killings . 
