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Colombia Opposition to the National Front
Despite the constitutional amendment stipulating that
only the
PL and PC were authorized to participate in elections,
dissident
groups opposing the National Front arrangement formed
"movements"
to challenge the establishment by presenting candidates
under the
Liberal and Conservative labels. In 1959 Liberal
dissidents formed
the Liberal Recovery Movement (Movimiento de Recuperación
Liberal)-
-subsequently renamed the Liberal Revolutionary Movement
(Movimiento Revolucionario Liberal--MRL)--under the
leadership of
Alfonso López Michelsen, son of ex-President López
Pumarejo. The
more serious challenge to the National Front arrangement
came from
the populist National Popular Alliance (Alianza Nacional
Popular--
Anapo), which was founded in 1961 by Rojas Pinilla after
his return
from exile. The potential popular support for these
dissident
movements was manifest in the congressional elections of
1964, when
70 percent of the voters failed to cast ballots and 10
percent
voted against Valencia's candidates. Congressional
victories by
Anapo and MRL reduced Valencia's support in the
legislature to a
narrow majority.
During the mid-1960s, the embers of la violencia
were
dying out, but guerrilla activity was increasing. In 1964
the
National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación
Nacional--ELN) was
formed by students who were disenchanted with the
pro-Soviet
Communist Party of Colombia (Partido Comunista de
Colombia--PCC)
and inspired by the Cuban Revolution. The ELN gained its
greatest
notoriety when Father Camilo Torres, a Roman Catholic
priest,
joined the guerrilla group in 1966 and was killed in an
armed
conflict with government forces shortly thereafter. In
1966 another
guerrilla movement--the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia
(Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia--FARC)--began
operating and was officially designated as a branch of the
PCC
(see Guerrilla and Terrorist Groups
, ch. 5).
Carlos Lleras Restrepo, the third president under the
National
Front, proved to be an effective leader. He was opposed in
the 1966
election by the Liberal Anapo candidate, who won almost 30
percent
of the vote. Aided by an especially competent group of
cabinet
members, Lleras Restrepo enacted a number of reforms
during his
tenure in office. He swiftly announced the creation of a
series of
presidential task forces to draw up national development
plans,
which included the establishment of exchange controls to
combat the
mounting foreign exchange difficulties; an increased state
role in
economic development; and funding for new housing,
infrastructure,
and industrial development projects. These proposals drew
support
from international lending agencies, which helped ease the
fiscal
problems that had beset the Valencia administration.
The effectiveness of the government was increased by
the
sweeping constitutional reforms of December 1968, which
abolished
the requirement of a two-thirds majority for Congress to
pass major
bills and gave greater authority to the executive in
economic
decision making. In addition, the reforms provided for the
gradual
phasing out of the National Front arrangement during the
coming
decade. Having discarded major obstacles that had
stalemated
previous National Front administrations, Lleras Restrepo
built on
the efforts of Lleras Camargo in economic and social
reform. The
government revised tax laws and rationalized tax
collection through
more rigid enforcement. Wage and price controls helped
stabilize
the currency, and inflation was held to a moderate 7
percent per
year. The Lleras Restrepo administration improved the
balance of
payments situation through a program of export
diversification,
through which exports other than coffee more than doubled
between
1966 and 1970. The government reorganized the Ministry of
Agriculture and gave it increased resources to finance
investments
in the agricultural sector. Incora intensified agrarian
reform
efforts and issued more than 60,000 land titles to tenants
and
sharecroppers in 1968 and 1969 alone. The creation of the
Andean
Common Market in 1969 further stimulated economic
expansion through
the integration of the economies of Colombia and its
neighbors
(see Foreign Economic Relations
, ch. 3).
The policies of the Lleras Restrepo administration
resulted in
an increased rate of economic growth. Nevertheless, an
explosive
population increase continued to add some 200,000 young
Colombians
to the labor force each year, and the problems of poverty
and
unemployment persisted. A system of family planning was
launched,
in spite of considerable church opposition, in an attempt
to slow
the population growth that was largely nullifying the
economic
gains.
Unrest in the late 1960s assumed a more urban and more
nearly
class-oriented base as rural and interparty violence
receded. Rural
disorders declined markedly as a consequence of optimism
on the
economic front and the capture of some of the most
prominent
guerrilla leaders. In 1968, however, a new guerrilla
group--the
Popular Liberation Army (Ejército Popular de
Liberación--EPL)--was
formed as the armed branch of the Communist Party of
Colombia--
Marxist-Leninist (Partido Comunista de Colombia--MarxistaLeninista --PCC-ML), a pro-Chinese group. In December 1968
Lleras
Restrepo lifted the state of siege that had been imposed
under
Valencia in 1965. Sporadic incidents of violence occurred,
however,
especially among dissident students and labor union
members, and
the government reinstated its emergency powers on several
occasions.
Dissidence within the PL was lessened through the
reintegration
of the MRL and its leader, López Michelsen, who came to
play a
valuable role in the Lleras Restrepo government. In the
1968,
congressional elections, those elements of both the PL and
PC that
supported the National Front arrangement gained a strong
majority
in the legislature. Voter apathy persisted, however, and
less than
40 percent of eligible voters participated.
Under the banner of Anapo, Rojas Pinilla continued his
appeal
to the urban masses and the peasantry, promising solutions
to the
problems of unemployment and inflation and advocating free
education and health care for the poor. Anapo challenged
the
National Front by presenting Rojas Pinilla as a
Conservative
candidate for the presidency in 1970. The election took
place in an
atmosphere of escalating violence, and the public received
with
widespread skepticism the official announcement that the
Conservative candidate of the National Front, Misael
Pastrana
Borrero, had won by a narrow margin of 65,000 votes. The
outpouring
of support for Rojas Pinilla indicated significant voter
dissatisfaction with the National Front's response to
Colombia's
persistent social and economic problems.
Data as of December 1988
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