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| 1969, May 26 |
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| Signing of the agreements to establish ANDEAN INTEGRATION among Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. | 1 |
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| 1970, April 26 |
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| Misael Pastrana Borrero was declared victor in the presidential election. The result was contested by former president Rojas Pinilla but was confirmed after a recount (July 15). After the elections, supporters of Rojas Pinilla, claiming electoral fraud, launched the April 19 Movement (M-19), which kidnapped several prominent leaders. | 2 |
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| 1974, April 21 |
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| Electoral competition was restored in the presidential election won by Alfonso López Michelsen of the Liberal Party. | 3 |
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| 1975 |
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| Cocaine emerged as an important Colombian export. Centered around the Medellín and Cali cartels, Colombia became a major processing center for cocaine by the mid-1970s. By the 1980s this industry generated $6 billion annually, contributing to massive government and banking corruption and expanding violence, but also providing some relief to an economy beset by the declining coffee industry and massive foreign debt. | 4 |
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| 1977, Sept. 14 |
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| A coalition of urban poor, workers, peasants, and students launched the first nationwide civic strike, protesting government policies. In the repression that followed, 50 people were killed and thousands arrested. | 5 |
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| 1978, Jan |
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| Congress granted the police and the military a “license to kill” in dealing with violence and drug traffickers. | 6 |
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| June 4 |
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| Liberal Julio César Turbay Ayala was elected president. He reimposed a state of siege. | 7 |
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