La Violencia - Development

Development

La Violencia occurred among the paramilitary forces of the Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Communist Party, who organized as armed self-defense groups and as guerrilla military units. Each combatant party to the civil warfare fought against the paramilitary forces of the Colombian Conservative Party, and, occasionally, against each other.

The reigning chaos and the lack of security in rural areas during the years of La Violencia caused an estimated millions of people to abandon their homes and properties. Media and news services failed to cover events accurately for fear of revenge attacks. The lack of public order and civil authority prevented victims from laying charges against perpetrators. Documented evidence from these years is rare and fragmented.

The vast majority of the Colombian population at time was Catholic. Much of the press released during the conflict reported that Church authorities supported the Conservative Party. Although unproven, several priests were accused of openly encouraging murder of the political opposition during Mass, including the Santa Rosa de Osos Bishop Miguel Ángel Builes. No formal charges were ever presented and no official statements were made by the Vatican or the Board of Bishops. These events were recounted in the 1950 book Lo que el cielo no perdona ("What heaven can't forgive"), written by the secretary to Builes, Father Fidel Blandon. Eduardo Caballero Calderón also recounted these events in his 1952 book El Cristo de Espaldas (Backwards Christ). After releasing the book, Blandon resigned from his position and assumed a fake identity as Antonio Gutiérrez. However, he was eventually identified and legally charged and prosecuted.

As a result of the violence, there were no liberal candidates for the presidency, congress, or any public corporations in the 1950 elections. The press accused the government of pogroms against the opposition. Censorship and reprisals were common against journalists, writers, and directors of news services, causing many members of the media to flee the country. These included the director of Crítica magazine Jorge Zalamea fleeing to Buenos Aires, Luis Vidales to Chile, Antonio Garcia to La Paz, and Gerardo Molina to Paris.