Era of Violence

Eloisa Arenas

Violence Repairs Broken Dreams
Most people say the violence era begun with "el bogotazo" and the assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. But in really started in 1928 when workers from all over the coast begun a stirke against the American company "United Fruit". People at the Caribbean coast, an especially at Santa Marta. workers were mad because they considered that their salary was very low, their working conditions bad and they requested social assurance. In response of this, the company owners decided not only, not to listen to their workers, but also to use the militia force against them. By then, they killed about 3000 people between 1928 and 1929. In 1929 a young liberal man came into the region and stood up for the people by showing arguments that proved that the Colombian government used illegally their army against the people to protect a foreign company. Since then, this young man became not only a defendant of the people of Colombia and a lawyer against foreign companies, but also the most popular and successful liberal leader that Colombia has ever had. But in 1948, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan was killed by a Schizophrenic young man. His fans, filled of angry, became with a revolution. They asalted and destroyed everything, killed the one who killed their leader first, by kicking him, and then burned everything they could. This is what we call "el bogotazo".

the next video, is about the death of Jorge Eliecer gaitan and its effects. I'm sorry I couldn't find it in English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsFbH8k571Q

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