A Man of Principle

Leon Maria Lozano, a humble bookseller in Tulua, faces discrimination from liberals and the town. Gertrudis Potes intervenes to secure him a job as a market cheese seller, giving him a foothold in local life. This alliance marks the start of his rise within Conservative circles.

On the presidential election day, Lozano learns that the Conservatives have won. Gertrudis Potes fears reprisal and hopes the victory is temporary. The outcome reshapes his status in the town and the dynamics between factions.

Two years pass and news spreads of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination across the country. Liberal institutions close fearing violence, and the town senses a rising revolutionary mood. Lozano understands that politics will become a battlefield.

Lozano and fellow conservatives arm themselves as protests threaten the church and local authority. That night he uses dynamite to deter the protesters before they can burn the church. The next day, the town regards him as a hero, solidifying his influence.

With the new reputation, Lozano begins to build power and win support from the Conservative party in the capital. He moves from outcast to a symbol of order in a town gripped by upheaval. Liberal resistance remains, but Lozano is now a protected figure.

By 1950, liberals are out of power and a conservative mayor is installed. Lozano becomes an assassin, leading a private army whose henchmen are known as The Birds. The campaign of murder and intimidation targets liberal leaders and other opponents.

One of Lozano's early hits is a Pajaro attack on the local jail to free imprisoned conservatives who will join his private force. The mayor watches from his car and is frightened by Lozano's brazen defiance of authority. Lozano insists the operation serves the conservative cause.

The Conservative Party invites Lozano to Bogotá to demonstrate their full backing for his mission. Around this time, Lozano's daughter is enrolled in a prestigious boarding school, pulling Lozano further into a public image of power.

Liberal fears intensify as Gertrudis Potes coins Lozano's nickname 'El Cóndor'. The alias becomes a symbol of the rising threat and Lozano's ruthless reach.

Criticism from a journalist incites one of Lozano's Birds to travel to the journalist's office and shoot him. This attack demonstrates the reach of the Condor's violence and the suppression of dissent.

Lozano is poisoned with a cheese fritter but survives, and the village erupts in celebration that night. In his triumph, he orders the murder of the musicians who had celebrated, showing the ruthless turn of his regime.

Lozano's rule becomes absolute as he punishes opponents and imagines himself pursued by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. His paranoia deepens as dissent grows among conservatives and liberals alike.

A massacre in Recreo near Tulua, where women are raped and killed, shatters Lozano's aura of invincibility. Although not directly implicated, he is blamed amid a wave of public anger and fear.

As President Gustavo Rojas Pinilla loses power, Lozano loses political protection and is sent to Pereira for protection and a pension. The town grapples with the end of The Violence and debates future order.

Hearing the Four Horsemen again in Pereira, Lozano dies soon after in the street, alone and killed by an assassin's bullet. His death marks the end of a violent ascent and the town's nightmare.