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

The publication of new data from the Observatory of Memory and Conflict reveals that political violence in Colombia originated before the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, challenging the traditional historical narrative. Evidence shows that victimizing acts, such as selective assassinations and massacres, began to increase from the mid-1940s, demonstrating that the armed conflict did not emerge spontaneously after this key event, but was instead the result of pre-existing structural tensions. The analysis contextualizes this early violence as a criminal response by landowners to attempts at agrarian reform and the occupation of unproductive lands by peasants. The legal counter-reform of 1944 empowered property owners, who used force to evict rural workers, generating social and political polarization that intensified with the persecution of the Gaitanista movement. This demonstrates that the roots of the conflict are deeply tied to disputes over land and the exclusion of subaltern sectors. This article is relevant to open data by illustrating how the systematic and transparent publication of historical data allows for the rewriting of collective memory by correcting dominant narrative biases. By making these primary sources accessible, it encourages public scrutiny of the methodology and validates the use of open data as a critical tool for understanding the underlying causes of violence, promoting greater transparency in the management of historical memory and accountability.

Source: blogs.elespectador.com
Published on 2025-12-02

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

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