La Violencia no inició con el asesinato de Gaitán | Blogs El Espectador

This article proposes a fundamental rethinking of Colombian historiography by presenting evidence that partisan “Violence” began before the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. The data show an increase in victimization starting in 1944, challenging the traditional narrative that places the onset of the conflict in 1948. This revision is crucial because it shifts the focus from a single event to a structural process, forcing a reevaluation of the temporal roots and underlying causes of the national armed conflict. The main cause identified is not merely political polarization, but the tension stemming from agrarian reform. The counter-reform of 1944 strengthened landowners, who responded with organized violence against peasants seeking land. By incorporating these historical records, the text demonstrates how disputes over land tenure generated the first massacres and targeted killings, establishing a pattern of violence that preceded and laid the groundwork for the subsequent conflict. The relevance to the open data field lies in the validation of methodologies that transform scattered historical data into coherent narrative evidence. The systematic organization of this information by the National Center for Historical Memory illustrates how open access and analytical rigor in data can correct established discourses. This reinforces the importance of open data not merely as statistics, but as indispensable tools for historical truth, transitional justice, and a more accurate understanding of social reality.

Source: blogs.elespectador.com
Published on 2025-11-16

La Violencia no inició con el asesinato de Gaitán | Blogs El Espectador

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