5000 Pesos Organization of American States

Colombia's 1998 coinage came at a particularly turbulent moment domestically — the country was mid-escalation in its armed conflict, and the peso was under sustained pressure that would force a full currency overhaul within two years. The 5000-peso coin itself was a high-denomination circulating piece by Colombian standards of the time, issued partly to reduce reliance on banknotes in everyday transactions.

The OAS commemorative element marks the hemispheric body's founding in Bogotá in 1948, a fact worth noting given that Colombia had a particular claim to that anniversary. The 1948 Bogotazo — the riots following Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination — erupted during the very conference at which the OAS charter was signed.