La Violencia no inició con el asesinato de Gaitán | Blogs El Espectador
The article presents a fundamental reinterpretation of the Colombian armed conflict by demonstrating, through new data from the Memory and Conflict Observatory, that the period known as “La Violencia” began before the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in 1948. Evidence indicates that victimizing events, including selective assassinations and massacres, began to increase significantly from 1944 onward. This chronological correction not only adjusts traditional historiography but also establishes that structured violence was already underway, driven by repression against the Liberal movement and by peasant resistance to social inequality. The primary driver of this escalation is attributed to tensions over land tenure. Following the hope generated by the 1936 Land Law (Law 200), which promised agrarian reform, the subsequent counter-reform of 1944 empowered large landowners. These elites responded with direct violence against peasants who occupied unproductive lands, giving rise to the first acts of systematic cruelty. The article argues that this agrarian conflict and preexisting political polarization created the necessary conditions for violence, thereby decoupling its origins from the symbolic trigger of Gaitán’s assassination. This revision is crucial for the field of open data, as it validates the power of transparency and the systematic organization of historical data in reconstructing the truth. The publication of open datasets by the National Center for Historical Memory enables the questioning of established narratives and offers a more accurate understanding of social dynamics. By democratizing access to this information, it facilitates an informed public debate and strengthens accountability, demonstrating how open data can transform our interpretation of history and support conflict resolution.
Source: blogs.elespectador.comPublished on 2024-05-18
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