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Colombia Dismantling the Coalition Apparatus
Pastrana was the last president to be elected under the
provisions of the National Front. In 1970 the government
began to
dismantle the structure of the National Front in
accordance with
the 1968 constitutional amendments. The parity provision
for
elective legislative bodies and the exclusion of
nontraditional
parties from participation in elections no longer applied
on the
local level. These changes also went into effect on the
national
level in 1974, in time for the election of Pastrana's
successor.
The liberalization of the political system in effect
undercut
support for the bipartisan movements that had challenged
the
traditional parties during the National Front. Although
Anapo
declared itself an official party in 1971, it declined in
popularity and electoral strength. Marķa Eugenia
Rojas--the Anapo
candidate in the 1974 presidential election--received less
than 10
percent of the vote. After General Rojas Pinilla's death
in 1975,
the party continued to lose strength, eventually allying
itself
with other marginal movements that, by themselves, drew
insignificant results at the polls
(see Minor Third Parties
, ch.
4).
Pastrana termed his administration the "Social Front"
and
followed most of the policies of his predecessor. In two
areas of
economic policy, however, he differed: land reform and the
status
of the construction sector. Pastrana's proposals for land
reform
included promises of redistribution; however, the large
landowners
objected to the government's proposal to base taxation on
potential
rather than actual income from the land. In the course of
negotiations between the agricultural interests and the
different
party factions, productivity replaced redistribution as a
priority.
The government granted major concessions to the large
agriculturists concerning the bases for assessing income
and real
estate taxes. It also guaranteed that new sources of
credit be made
available for modernizing the agricultural sector along
capitalintensive lines.
In industrial policy, Pastrana selected construction as
the
"leading sector." The administration advocated public
investment in
construction projects as the engine of growth for the
economy
because it created employment and increased income and, by
extension, increased demand for domestically produced
items.
Pastrana also encouraged private investment in the leading
sector
through the establishment of the Units of Constant
Purchasing Power
(Unidades de Poder Adquisitivo Constante--UPAC), a system
by which
an investment not only accrued interest but also was
adjusted for
inflation. The UPAC system of adjusting for inflation
extended to
many elements of the economy, including life insurance,
wages, and
prices. The combination of the UPAC system and the huge
investment
in construction overstimulated the economy and fueled
inflation,
which reached 27 percent by 1974.
Guerrilla activity continued during the Pastrana
administration. In 1972 another guerrilla group--the 19th
of April
Movement (Movimiento 19 de Abril--M-19)--emerged. The M-19
took its
name from the date on which Rojas Pinilla was narrowly
and, in
their minds, fraudulently, defeated by Pastrana. Although
the M-19
claimed to be the armed branch of Anapo, the Rojas Pinilla
organization disavowed any connection to the guerrilla
group.
Data as of December 1988
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