The Assassination of Gaitán: Public Life and Urban Violence in Colombia

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

The Assassination of Gaitan Public Life and Urban Violence in Colombia Herbert Braun The University of Wisconsin Press Published 1985 The University of Wisconsin Press 114 North Murray Street Madison, Wisconsin 53715 The University of Wisconsin Press, Ltd. 1 Gower Street London WC1E 6HA, England Copyright © 1985 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System All rights reserved First printing Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Braun, Herbert, 1948The assassination of Gaitan. Bibliography: pp. 257-271. Includes index. 1. Bogota (Colombia)-History. 2. Riots-ColombiaBogota . 3. Gaitan, Jorge Eliecer, 1902-1948Assassination . 4. Colombia-Politics and government1930 -1946. 5. Colombia-Politics and government1946 -1974. I. Title. F2291.B6B73 1985 986.1'063.1'0924 85-40362 ISBN 0-299-10360-9 v Colombia is divided, so to speak, into two nations: Bogotanos and provincials , the latter being the victims of the former.... For it is here [in Bogota] that the politicians have always hatched the wars that we provincials have had to fight for them to further their fortunes, while they stay here enjoying themselves, chatting delightfully among enemies. Rafael Uribe Uribe (1898) Liberal general, politician, and intellectual [To] Bogota ... gentle, insular, and Mediterranean city, has fallen the task, since colonial times, of forming a nation around her, guiding it, defining its destiny, maintaining it united and compact ... and of being at all times the ancestral home to which comeColombiansfrom the most remote placesof the country in search of a culture, a great national prestige, the fulfillment of an ambitious dream, or, simply, a comfortable and tranquil existence under the shelter of her hospitality. Rafael Azula Barrera (1956) Conservative politician and intellectual ...