A series of assassinations and terrorist attacks in 1988 and 1989 increased popular demands for political and constitutional reform , as the country 's existing political institutions were seen as broken in the face of the wave of extreme violence . 1989 witnessed the assassination of 12 judicial officers , the assassination of Liberal presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán on August 18 in Soacha , the bombing of the '' El Espectador '' newspaper 's offices in Bogotá on September 2 , the in-flight explosion of Avianca Flight 203 on November 27 and the bombing of the DAS headquarters on December 6 causing the death of 70 people . In 1990 , two other presidential candidates were assassinated - Bernardo Jaramillo of the Patriotic Union ( UP ) was killed March 22 , 1990 , and Carlos Pizarro of the AD M-19 was shot on April 26 , 1990 . The August 1989 assassination of Luis Carlos Galán , who was the early favourite to win the 1990 elections , shocked public opinion in Colombia and led , seven days later , to a ' silent march ' ( '' Marcha del silencio '' ) organized by university students in Bogotá . The organizers ' original objective was to express their rejection of indiscriminate violence , which had claimed the lives of an average of 11 people per day in 1988
Avianca Flight 203
Avianca Flight 203
Colombian Constitution of 1991