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Colombia Instituting the Coalition Government
When Lleras Camargo took office in August 1958, he
faced not
only the problems of rivalry between Liberals and
Conservatives but
also factional controversies within the two parties. He
succeeded,
however, in demonstrating that the National Front program
could
point the way to a restoration of constitutional
government. His
administration adopted vigorous measures to reduce
banditry and
rural violence.
Lleras Camargo introduced an austerity program to
improve
economic conditions, with the result that in 1958 Colombia
recorded
its most favorable balance of trade in twenty years. The
government
cut imports, stabilized the peso (for value of the
peso--see Glossary),
and established the National Planning
Department. It
handled labor troubles with firmness. The Lleras Camargo
government
also instituted a series of programs to improve the living
conditions of the masses, including expansion of the water
supply,
sewers, housing, and education. An agrarian reform law
passed in
1961 provided for a new agency, the Colombian Institute of
Agrarian
Reform (Instituto Colombiano de Reforma Agraria--Incora).
Lleras
Camargo's government made only limited progress in land
reform,
however, in the face of opposition from Liberals, who
denounced the
plan as inadequate, and from Conservatives, who called it
communistic and revolutionary
(see Agriculture
, ch. 3).
Nevertheless, at the end of his term in 1962, despite a
difficult
political situation, Lleras Camargo had done much to
stabilize the
economy, stimulate increased output of industrial and
agricultural
products, and bring the people a renewed confidence in the
future.
Although he was strongly opposed by Gómez and his
supporters
among the reactionary Conservatives, Valencia became the
next
official Conservative candidate of the National Front and
was
elected for the 1962-66 presidential term. Only half the
eligible
citizens voted, but Valencia received more than 62 percent
of the
votes, which perhaps confirmed the voters' belief in the
principle
of alternating the presidency between the two leading
parties.
Valencia took only modest steps to continue the programs
initiated
by his predecessor. He ignored, for example, the National
Planning
Department and failed to fill vacancies as they occurred.
Incora's
land reform program also ran into opposition from large
landholders. In addition, Valencia's finance minister,
Carlos Sanz,
devalued the peso and proposed new taxes, thereby arousing
the
hostility of Congress.
Declining economic conditions contributed to growing
social
unrest. Increasing prices, the printing of growing
quantities of
paper money, and a drop in the price of coffee affected
the economy
adversely and contributed to increased inflation. Drains
on the
economy were generated by contraband trade with
neighboring
countries. The equivalent of some US$64 million in foreign
loans
promised in 1964 had been withheld, and the government was
faced
with a serious deficit. Rumors of plots against the
government
circulated, students protesting high prices rioted in
Bogotá, and
kidnappings occurred frequently. Valencia declared a state
of siege
in May 1965 and, having lost additional congressional
support, was
forced to rule by decree. The war minister, General
Alberto Ruiz
Novoa, succeeded in reducing civil disorders; Ruiz was
dismissed in
January 1965, however, after he openly criticized the
president and
made it known that he considered himself a leader who
might bring
order out of the confusion that plagued the nation.
In mid-1965 the state of siege enabled Valencia and his
new
finance minister, Joaquín Vallejo, to enact reforms by
decree. They
raised taxes, collected delinquent taxes, limited imports,
and
applied other austerity measures. The United States and
international lending agencies then agreed to make loans
to
Colombia with the understanding that the government would
take
vigorous action to improve its financial situation.
Inflation
leveled off, and rumors of plots to remove the president
died down.
Data as of December 1988
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