Important Events in Colombia History

A. Read the following text about Colombia history and complete the activity
below.
a. What do you know about Colombian History?
b. Do you know how many parties Colombia had in 1950s?
c. What do you know about National Front?

Linda
I wrote a letter traveled to
last week París

Reading Text 1

Colombia – History

THE HISTORY OF COLOMBIA is characterized by the interaction of rival civilian

elites. The political elite, which overlaps with social and economic elites, has shown
a marked ability to retain the reins of power, effectively excluding other groups and
social institutions, such as the masses and the military, from significant participation

1 Imagen tomada de la página www.google.com.co/colombia+history

in or control over the political process. Members of the lower classes have found it
difficult, although not impossible, to challenge or join the established elite in the
political and economic spheres. Their subordination dates to the rigid colonial social
hierarchy that placed the Spanish-born above the native born. Elite control of the
military is the result of the "civilian mystique" that developed along with Colombian
independence. That mystique has successfully restricted the military to nonpolitical
functions, with three exceptions--1830, 1854, and 1953. Thus Colombia has a history
rare for Latin America in that the country has been dominated more by civilian than
by military rule. Because military forces have been denied political power, the civilian
elites have had only themselves, divided into rival groups, to contend with in the
political arena.

Elite members of the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party alternately competed
and cooperated with each other throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Often the nature of relations between the two parties depended on whether
moderates or extremists dominated the ruling party. During the periods when
moderate factions of both parties were in power, the parties were able to work
together in coalitions; when extremist factions prevailed, however, conflict often
resulted. During the competitive periods, one party usually sought to limit or eliminate
the rival party's participation in the political process, attempts that often resulted in
political violence. The most notorious of these periods were the War of a Thousand
Days (1899-1902) and the violence (1948-66). At the end of these civil wars, the elite
inaugurated the cooperative governments of the Period of Reconciliation (1903- 30)
and the National Front (1958-74), respectively, the former catalyzed by the Rafael
Reyes presidency (1904-09) and the latter by the Gustavo Rojas Pinilla dictatorship
(1953-57). The replacement of the discredited extremist factions by the more
conciliatory moderate factions in each case made it possible for the two parties to
share power and to achieve a consensus on what policies were appropriate for
Colombian society at the time.

Colombia's economic life has been based consistently on exports of primary goods,
especially coffee. In the sixteenth century, the conquistadors and early colonialists,
who often exploited Indian and slave labor, mined precious metals and gems for
export to Spain under a mercantile system that inhibited the development of
domestic industries. Throughout the pre-independence and post-independence
periods, agriculture on large landholdings, known as latifundios, became the
predominant mode of production for export crops such as sugar and tobacco. By the
1860s, coffee had emerged as the key export crop. At the turn of the century, tariffs
on coffee exports were the main source of government revenues, and profits from
the coffee trade were the major source of investment in the newly emerging industrial
sector that was beginning to produce basic consumer goods. Although the industrial
sector grew sufficiently to induce urbanization and economic modernization in the
first half of the twentieth century, industrial exports remained relatively minor
compared with coffee, which in the late 1980s still accounted for almost 60 percent
of all export earnings.
Economic modernization, supported by the coffee industry, became significant at the
turn of the century. Modernization brought social changes and growing demands
that produced various challenges to the dominant position of the traditional elite: the
populist movements of the 1940s and 1970s, the military dictatorship of the 1950s,
the rise of guerrilla activity in the 1960s through the 1980s, and the emergence of
drug traffickers as a major economic and social element in the 1970s and 1980s.
The increase in industrialization and the migration of peasants to the cities
accelerated the rate of urbanization and the formation of urban working and lower
classes. The heightened need for infrastructure, both within a given city and among
urban areas, spurred the growing involvement of the state in the economy, especially
during the reformist period in the 1930s and 1940s. By the 1980s, the state had
become an important investor in and manager of strategic sectors of the economy,
such as energy resources, transportation, and communications.

I. Complete the following map with information about the reading

Colombia History

Economic
Export
Political Elite
members

3.

1. 2
 Important facts

4. 6. 7.
5.

Reading Comprehension

II. Complete the sentences with a suitable word.

1. Colombia is characterized by the interaction of ______________________.

2. The political parties were: _______________________________________.
3. The main economic products were: _______________________________.
4. The period among 1958-74 is known as ___________________________.
5. In the 1970s emerged _________________________________________.

B. I. Read the following text about Colombian political division and complete the map.

Reading Text 2

Colombia - Consolidation of Political Divisions

 2

The ideological split dividing the political elite began in 1810 and became solidified
by 1850 after the official establishment of the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal--PL) and
the Conservative Party (Partido Conservador--PC), the two parties that continued to
dominate Colombian politics in the 1980s. The Liberals were anticolonial and wanted
to transform New Granada into a modern nation. Those joining the PL primarily came
from the more recently created and ascending classes and included merchants
advocating free trade, manufacturers and artisans anxious to increase demand for
their products, some small landowners and agriculturists endorsing a liberalization
of state monopolies on crops such as tobacco, and slaves seeking their freedom.
The Liberals also sought lessened executive power; separation of church and state;
freedom of press, education, religion, and business; and elimination of the death
penalty.

The Conservatives wanted to preserve the Spanish colonial legacy of Roman

Catholicism and authoritarianism. They favored prolonging colonial structures and
institutions, upholding the alliance between church and state, continuing slavery, and
defending the authoritarian form of government that would eliminate what they saw
as excesses of freedom. The PC grouped together slave owners, the Roman
Catholic hierarchy, and large landholders. farmers were divided between the two
parties, their loyalties following those of their employers or patrons--often the PC.

Colombia - The Federalists

2 Imagen tomada de www.google.com.co/frente+nacional.

 3

Although divided, the PL soon achieved electoral victories. In the election of 1853,
General José María Obando, who had led the revolutionary forces in the 1840 civil
war and who was supported by the draconianos and the army, was elected and
inaugurated as president. Congress remained in the hands of the golgotas. In May
of the same year, Congress adopted the constitution of 1853, which had been written
under López. A liberal document, it had significant provisions defining the separation
of church and state and freedom of worship and establishing male suffrage. The new
constitution also mandated the direct election of the president, members of
Congress, magistrates, and governors, and it granted extensive autonomy to the
departments.

Despite the victory that the constitution represented for the Liberals, tensions grew
between golgota and draconiano forces. When the draconianos found Obando to
be compromising with the golgotas, General José María Melo led a coup in April
1854, declared himself dictator, and dissolved Congress. Melo's rule, the only
military dictatorship in the nineteenth century, lasted only eight months because he
proved unable to consolidate the interests of the draconianos; he was deposed by
an alliance of golgotas and Conservatives.

In 1857 PC candidate Mariano Ospina Rodríguez was elected president. The next
year, his administration adopted a new constitution, which renamed the country the
Grenadine Confederation, replaced the vice president with three designates elected
by Congress, and set the presidential term at four years. With the draconiano faction
disappearing as a political force, the golgotas took over the PL in opposition to the
Conservative Ospina. General Mosquera, the former president and the governor of
the department of Cauca, emerged as the most important Liberal figure. A strong
advocate of federalism, Mosquera threatened the secession of Cauca in the face of
the centralization undertaken by the Conservatives. Mosquera, the golgotas, and
their supporters declared a civil war in 1860, resulting in an almost complete
obstruction of government.

3 Imagen tomada de www.google.com.co/los federalista

In February 1863, a Liberal-only government convention met in Rionegro and
enacted the constitution of 1863, which was to last until 1886. The Rionegro
constitution renamed the nation the United States of Colombia. All powers not given
to the central government were reserved for the states, including the right to engage
in the commerce of arms and ammunition. The constitution contained fully defined
individual liberties and guarantees as nearly absolute as possible, leaving the federal
authority with little room to regulate society. The constitution also guaranteed
Colombians the right to profess any religion.

The Rionegro constitution brought little peace to the country. After its enactment and
before the next constitutional change, Liberals and Conservatives engaged in some
forty local conflicts and several major military struggles. Contention persisted,
moreover, between the moderate Liberals in the executive branch and the radical
Liberals in the legislature; the latter went so far as to enact a measure prohibiting
the central authority from suppressing a revolt against the government of any state
or in any way interfering in state affairs. In 1867 the radical Liberals also executed a
coup against Mosquera, leading to his imprisonment, trial before the Senate, and
exile from the country.

With the fall of Mosquera and the entrenchment of radical Liberals in power,
Conservatives found it increasingly difficult to accept the Rionegro constitution.
Eventually Conservatives in Tolima and Antioquia took up arms, initiating another
civil conflict in 1876. The Liberal national government put down the rebellion, but
only with difficulty.

Colombia - THE NATIONAL FRONT, 1958-74

The National Front agreement to share power between Liberals and Conservatives
was a constructive effort to assuage the interparty strife and distrust that had
contributed to both the violence and the collapse of the democratic system. Its
inauguration marked the beginning of a gradual decline in the level of confrontation.

4 Imagen tomada de www.google.com.co/frente+nacional

 Nevertheless, the necessity of securing bipartisan support for any policy or action
produced several difficulties--most notably, stalemate and inaction in the
governmental process, voter apathy, and the exacerbation of factionalism within the
two parties--that were to plague National Front administrations.

Consolidation of National Front

Political Divisions characteristics
Liberal Party
characteristics

Conservative Federalists
1. 6.
partycharacteristics characteristics

5.
2. 3.
.

4.
Reading Understanding

II. Answer true (T) or false (F) according to the above text

1. The political elite began in 1810 and became solidified by 1850 _________
2. The Liberals were anticolonial and wanted to transform New Granada into a
modern nation______.
3. The Conservatives didn´t want to preserve the Spanish colonial legacy of
Roman Catholicism and authoritarianism ________.
4. General José María Obando led the revolutionary forces in the 1840 _____.
5. In February 1873, a Liberal-only government convention met in Rionegro
______.
6. The National Front agreement to share power between Militars and
merchants ________.

B. The simple past tense.

Michael drove the car very fast.

Peter won the horse race last week.

We use the simple past for an action that

started in the past and finished in the past,
often with a time expression.
Regular verbs add ed or d to the base form in
the affirmative form.
discover ………… discovered
believe…………... believed
Irregular verbs have a special form
Come……came. Know….knew

PRACTICE I

1. Complete the following sentences with the past of the verb in brackets.

Example: The Rionegro constitution brought (bring) little peace to the country.

a. Colombia only _______ (have) two political parties.

 b. Mariano Ospina Rodríguez ___________(adopt) a new constitution.
c. A Liberal government convention _______(meet) in Rionegro.in 1863
d. Liberal and Conservative parties ____________ (form) the National Front.
e. Conservative party ___________ (want) to preserve the Spanish colonial.
f. The Rionegro constitution ___________ (rename) the nation the United
States of Colombia.
g. The new constitution also __________ (establish) the direct election of the
president, members of Congress.
h. The illicit narcotics industry _____________(emerge) In the 1970s.
i. Liberal party __________ (achieve) electoral victories. In the election of 1853.
j. Liberal party primarily __________(come) from the more recently created and
ascending classes.

We use did not or didn’t and the base

form for negative sentences and did for
the question form.

Examples

The two political parties didn’t establish the Rionegro constitution.

Mariano Ospina didn’t participate in the civil war.

Did the conservative and the liberal parties form the National Front?

PRACTICE II

I. Change into negative form the following sentences.

a. The two political parties formed the National Front in 1958 to 1974

____________________________________________________________.

b. Congress adopted the constitution of 1853.

____________________________________________________________

c. The golgotas took over the PL in opposition to the Conservative Ospina.

____________________________________________________________.
 d. Colombia exported coffee, sugar, and tobacco.

____________________________________________________________.

e. The political elite began in 1810 and became solidified by 1850.

____________________________________________________________.

Interrogative Form : Yes/No questions

We use did and the base for to make questions

Examples:

Did the Rionegro Constitution renamed the country? Yes, It did.

Did the liberal party separate the Church and the State? Yes, they did.

Did Conservative party participate in the Rionegro convention? No, they did not.