La Violencia (Colombia)
A decade of intense partisan civil war between Liberals and Conservatives in Colombia (1948–1958) that killed an estimated 200,000–300,000 people and displaced approximately 2 million peasants. Triggered by the assassination of populist leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on April 9, 1948 and the subsequent Bogotazo uprising.
La Violencia was primarily a rural phenomenon, driven by partisan hatreds, land disputes, and local feuds. It ended with the National Front (Frente Nacional) power-sharing agreement of 1958, but the exclusion of the left from that arrangement directly contributed to the formation of guerrilla movements (FARC, ELN, EPL) in the 1960s, setting the stage for Colombia’s subsequent decades of armed conflict.
Referenced by
- sourcesThe Assassination of Gaitán: Public Life and Urban Violence in Colombia
- sourcesGaitanismo, Left Liberalism, and Popular Mobilization in Colombia
- sourcesEvil Hour in Colombia
- sourcesBetween Legitimacy and Violence: A History of Colombia, 1875–2002
- sourcesBlood and Fire: La Violencia in Antioquia, Colombia, 1946–1953
- peopleJorge Eliécer Gaitán
- eventsAssassination of Gaitán and the Bogotazo
- eventsLa Violencia