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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
During the first six decades of Colombia's existence as an independent nation, it experienced five major revolutions (1839-42, 1854, 1859-62, 1876-77, 1885-86) as well as innumerable uprisings confined to specific regions or localities. Although only one of these major revolutions was successful in its objective of overthrowing the government, all of them were destructive of lives and property and seriously disrupted plans for economic develpoment. None of them, however, had such devastating effects as the War of the Thousand Days (1899-1902). This vain struggle by Liberal revolutionaries to overthrow a Conservative-dominated government began only after years of debate among Liberals on the wisdom of attempting to attain political power by force and in defiance of the wishes of the party's top leaders. The events that culminated in the outbreak of the revolution will be traced in the following pages.
1 See Beyer, Robert C., “The Colombian Coffee Industry: Origins and Major Trends, 1740–1940” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1947), 132–141,Google Scholar and McGreevey, William Paul, An Economic History of Colombia, 1845–1930 (Cambridge, England, 1971), 87–88, 175–176.Google Scholar
2 On the revolution of 1885, see Palacio, Julio H., La guerra del 85 (Bogotá, 1936),Google Scholar and Briceño, Pedro Sicard, Páginas para la historia militar de Colombia: Guerra civil de 1885 (Bogotá, 1925).Google Scholar Soto, Foción, Memorias sobre el movimiento de resistencia a la dictadura de Rafael Núñez, 1884–1885 (2 vols., Bogotá, 1913),Google Scholar is by a Liberal participant. The place of publication of all works to be cited hereafter is Bogotá unless otherwise noted.
3 See, e.g., Gabriel González Gaitán to Aquileo Parra, Dec. 24, 1884, and Santiago Pérez to Parra, May 28, 1885, both in the Correspondencia de Aquileo Parra, in the possession of Horacio Rodríguez Plata, Bogotá, and Soto, , Memorias, 1, 203–214.Google Scholar
4 For an English translation of the constitution, see Gibson, William Marion, The Constitutions of Colombia (Durham, N.C., 1948), 306–349.Google Scholar
5 Muñoz, Gustavo Otero, Un hombre y una época: La vida azarosa de Rafael Núñez (1951), 299–327.Google Scholar Holguín was elected designado for a two-year term on July 26, 1888, and was re-elected on July 27,1890.
6 Ibid., 250ff.
7 Beyer, , “Coffee,” 114–115.Google Scholar
8 McGreevey, , History, 196.Google Scholar
9 Beyer, , “Coffee,” 118–119.Google Scholar See also Roldán, Dario Bustamante, “Efectos económicos del papel moneda durante la Regeneración,” Cuadernos Colombianos, 1, No. 4 (1974), 606–623.Google Scholar
10 Holguín, Jorge Franco, Evolución de las instituciones financieras en Colombia (Mexico City, 1966), 28–30.Google Scholar
11 García, Guillermo Torres, Historia de la moneda en Colombia (1945), 208–214 Google Scholar; Roldán, Bustamante, “Papel moneda,” 562–572.Google Scholar
12 F[rancis] Petre, Loraine, The Republic of Colombia (London, 1906), 305.Google Scholar
13 García, Torres, Moneda, 265.Google Scholar The “clandestine” emission of over nine million pesos without Congressional authorization provoked a major scandal in 1894. In the same year the National Bank was liquidated and became a section of the ministry of the treasury. By August 1898 31.4 million pesos had been issued with legal authorization (ibid., 253–254, 265).
14 McGreevey, William Paul, “The Economic Development of Colombia” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1965), 60.Google Scholar
15 Great Britain, Foreign Office, Report on the Agricultural Condition of Colombia, Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance, Annual Series, No. 446 (London, 1888), 17–18.
16 Urrutia, Miguel and Arrubla, Mario, eds., Compendio de estadísticas históricas de Colombia (1970), 87 Google Scholar; Roldán, Bustamante, “Papel moneda,” 649–652, 657.Google Scholar
17 Circular from the Liberal Center, May 2, 1891, Parra Copybook, in the Archivo Parra, Academia Colombiana de Historia, Bogotá (henceforth to be cited as AP).
18 In his recent dissertation, Charles Bergquist indicates a link between the coffee-based economic revival and the Liberal party, but the data he provides does not show clearly whether coffee growers were more likely to be Liberals than Conservatives. See Bergquist, Charles Wylie, “Coffee and Conflict in Colombia, 1886-1904: Origins and Outcome of the War of the Thousand Days,” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, 1973),esp.49, 90, 127–128.Google Scholar
19 Correo Nacional, Jan. 19, 1891; Rivas, Medardo, Los trabajadores de tierra caliente (1946), 276.Google Scholar
20 La Crónica, July 22, 1897.
21 Uribe, Rafael Uribe, Discursos parlamentarios: Congreso Nacional de 1896 (1897), 195.Google Scholar
22 El Espectador (Medellín), Jan. 13, 1888; El Republicano, Mav 4, 1896.
23 La Prensa, Jan. 8, 1888.
24 Events in the National-Conservative camp can be traced in Vergara, José Ramón, Escrutinio histórico: Rafael Núñez (1939), 384–400 Google Scholar; Correo Nacional, March 9, June 22, Sept. 22, 1891; La Prensa, March 17, July 15, 1891.
25 Circular, April 14, 1891, Parra Copybook (AP). The formation of the Center had resulted from a meeting attended by delegates from the various departments.
26 Circular to departmental directories, Oct. 13, 1891, Parra Copybook (AP). The Liberals’ hope of collaborating with the Velistas was probably responsible for their apparent failure even to consider the nomination of Liberal candidates for the presidency and vice presidency.
27 Parra to Fidel Cano, Nov. 18,1891, Parra Copybook (AP).
28 Circular to departmental centers, Dec. 19, 1891, Parra Copybook (AP), and Circular to Liberal electors, Jan. 1, 1892, ibid. The latter was printed in El Relator, Jan. 11, 1892. To be eligible to vote for presidential electors, a citizen had to be literate or had to have an annual income of 500 pesos or own immovable property worth 1500 pesos.
29 La Unidad ( Tunja ), March 11,1892.
30 Salvador Camacho Roldán to Belisario Zamorano, Jan. 18, 1892, and to Rafael Uribe Uribe, Jan. 26, 1892, Parra Copybook (AP). The original of the latter is in the Archivo Uribe Uribe, Academia Colombiana de Historia, Bogotá (henceforth to be cited as AUU). See also Camacho Roldán to Uribe Uribe, Dec. 8,1891, ibid.
31 El Relator, March 31, April 19,1892.
32 El Espectador, June 4, 1892. Liberals also won two seats in the departmental assembly of Antioquia, as well as control of several municipal councils in that department (ibid., June 11, June 18,1892).
33 Piñeres, Eduardo Rodríguez, Diez años de política liberal, 1892–1902 (1945), 7–10.Google Scholar
34 Camacho Roldán to Uribe Uribe, Aug. 11,1892 (AAU).
35 El Relator, Feb. 27,1893.
36 [ Holguín, Luis María], Informe que presenta el subsecretario encargado del Ministerio de Gobierno de Colombia al Congreso Constitucional de 1894 (1894), vi-xGoogle Scholar; El Rayo X, Feb. 6, Feb. 13, 1899; Uribe, Arturo Escobar, El Indio Uribe (O la lucha por la libertad en el siglo XIX) (1952), 27–29.Google Scholar The government’s crackdown may also have been due to lingering tension after serious rioting in Bogotá in January 1893 in which 49 workers and 1 policeman were reportedly killed. Although the rioting was declared to be non-political, a state of siege was imposed in the capital, and Liberal newspapers were closed. The spark that touched off the disturbances was a series of articles in a Catholic magazine extremely critical of the working classes. See [Holguín], Informe, v-vi; Colombia Cristiana, Dec. 14, Dec. 21, Dec. 28, 1893, Jan 4,1893; Correo Nacional, Feb. 1, 1893.
37 Piñeres, Rodríguez, Diez años, 25–27 Google Scholar; Correo Nacional, April 29-May 2, 1895.
38 See El Autonomista, Dec. 6,1898, and La Crónica, Dec. 9,1898.
39 Caballero, Lucas, Memorias de la guerra de los mil días (1939), 21–22 Google Scholar; Piñeres, Rodríguez, Diez años, 29.Google Scholar
40 On Uribe Uribe’s early life, see Salazar, Fernando Galvis, Uribe Uribe (Medellín, 1962), 7–69.Google Scholar
41 Piñeres, Rodríguez, Diez años, 9–10 Google Scholar; [ Urueta, Carlos Adolfo, ed.], Historia de la guerra: Documentos militares y políticos relativos a las campañas del General Rafael Uribe Uribe (2d ed., 1914), xii-xiii.Google Scholar
42 El Espectador, March 14, March 25,1896.
43 El Republicano, April 22, May 15,1896; El Espectador, May 7,1896.
44 El Republicano, April 25,1896.
45 El Espectador, May 7, May 20,1896.
46 Rivadeneira Vargas, Antonio José, \Don Santiago Pérez: Biografía de un carácter (1966), 185.Google Scholar
47 For Conservative dissatisfaction with the Regeneration, see “Motivos de Disidencia” (January 1896), which appears in Delgado, Luis Martínez, Historia de un cambio de gobierno: Estudio crítico-histórico de la caída del gobierno del Doctor Manuel Antonio Sanclemente (1958), 15–25.Google Scholar
48 Vergara, , Escrutinio, 457–463.Google Scholar
49 José C. Borda to Parra, March 30, 1897 (AP), and open letter from Parra to Liberals, Sept. 30, 1897, ibid. See also Piñeres, Rodríguez, Diez años, 42–50.Google Scholar
50 Convención Nacional Eleccionaria del Partido Liberal, 1897 (1897), 21–22.
51 General Directory of the Liberal Party to Pedro A. Lara, June 20, 1898 (AP). According to Piñeres, Eduardo Rodríguez, Hechos y comentarios: Nova et vetera (1956), 242,Google Scholar only three delegates refused to approve the war authorization.
52 Parra to Juan Evangelista Manrique, March 3, [ 1900? ] ( AP).
53 Convención, 25–28. See also El Espectador, Oct. 3,1897.
54 La Crónica, Nov. 30,1897.
55 Ibid., Dec. 23, 1897; El Mago, Dec. 12, Dec. 19, Dec. 27, 1897.
56 See Parra to Jacobo Sánchez, April 14, 1898, and to Julio A. Vengoechea, May 6, 1898 (AP).
57 On Reyes’ early life, see Lemaitre, Eduardo, Reyes: El Reconstructor (2d ed., 1953), 16–113.Google Scholar The electoral activities of both the Historical Conservatives and the Nationalists can be followed in the “Revistas políticas” of Carlos Martínez Silva, a leader of the Conservative opposition, which are printed in Silva, Carlos Martínez, Obras completas, ed. by Delgado, Luis Martínez, 2 (1934).Google Scholar See also El Progreso, Oct. 15, Nov. 4, 1897, and El Nacionalista, Dec. 8,1897.
58 According to article 127 of the constitution, anyone (other than the president himself) who had acted as chief executive within the six months immediately preceding a presidential election was ineligible for the presidency. Caro, therefore, would have had to resign by August 2, 1897, in order to run for president in the election to be decided on February 1 of the following year. In late July 1897, he announced that he would not be a presidential candidate (El Progreso, July 30, Aug. 1,1897).
59 See La Crónica, Dec. 8, Dec. 10,1897, and El Espectador, Dec. 10,1897.
60 La Crónica, Dec. 7,1897.
61 El Nacionalista, July 6,1898.
62 Ibid., Jan. 22, 1898; Silva, Martínez, Obras, 2, 267–268.Google Scholar
63 Silva, Martínez, Obras, 2, 348, 354–362.Google Scholar
64 El Espectador, Oct. 12,1898.
65 Silva, Martínez, Obras, 2, 379–384 Google Scholar; Delgado, Martínez, Cambio, 94–97.Google Scholar See also a statement by Parra, Nov. 10,1898 (AP).
66 Silva, Martínez, Obras, 2, 386–388.Google Scholar
67 See a document in Uribe Uribe’s handwriting, AP, stating the conditions under which he was to go abroad. These were laid down at a meeting of party leaders on Feb. 24,1897.
68 The grievances of the party leadership are set forth in two documents, AP: “Informe, de las relaciones que el Director del Partido Liberal ha mantenido con el Doctor Rafael Uribe Uribe,” August 1898, and “Extracto del Informe sobre las relaciones del Director del Partido Liberal con el Dr. Rafael Uribe U.”, Sept. 15, 1898. The latter is printed in Piñeres, Rodríguez, Diez años, 65–77.Google Scholar
69 An extract from the printed version of the speech appears in Salazar, Galvis, Uribe Uribe, 92–93.Google Scholar
70 Confidential letter from the General Direction of the Liberal Party, Sept. 12, 1898 (AUU).
71 El Autonomista, Nov. 23, 1898.
72 Ibid.
73 Ibid., Sept. 28, Oct. 2,1898.
74 Ibid., Oct. 7, Dec. 7,1898.
75 Ibid., Oct. 6,1898.
76 Ibid., Nov. 2,1898.
77 J. de J. Sánchez to Uribe Uribe, Aug. 28, 1898 (AUU).
78 Andrés Santos to Uribe Uribe, Oct. 22,1898 (AUU).
79 Parra to departmental directors, Oct. 3,1898 (AP).
80 Parra to departmental directors, Oct. 4, 1898 (AP). See also a defense of Parra’s conduct as party director signed by 13 members of the Advisory Council in El Espectador, Dec. 7, 1898.
81 General Direction of the Liberal Party to Carlos J. Delgado, Oct. 13,1898 (AP).
82 Ibid.
83 Communication of the General Direction of the Liberal Party, Dec. 20, 1898 (AP).
84 Parra had begun to consider retirement from his post at least as early as November 1898. See Documentos relativos a la separación del Dr. Aquileo Parra de la Dirección nacional del Partido Liberal (1899).
85 El Rayo X, April 3,1899.
86 Ibid., April 14,1899; El Autonomista, June 24,1899.
87 Salazar, Galvis, Uribe Uribe, 105–106.Google Scholar
88 El Autonomista, March 26, June 18,1899.
89 Ibid., July 27,1899.
90 La Crónica, Sept. 20,1899.
91 Parra to Juan Evangelista Manrique, Sept. 14, 1899, Archivo Manrique, Academia Colombiana de Historia, Bogotá (henceforth to be cited as AM). According to a letter from Diego Mendoza Pérez to Venancio Rueda, Sept. 11, 1899 (AP), the committee was to have been a device to allay the anxiety of party contributors who were reluctant to see their money handled by persons not in Parra’s confidence. Manrique did not approve of Parra’s conditions (Manrique to Parra, Sept. 14,1899, AM).
92 Manrique to Pablo Arosemena, Sept. 24,1899 (AM).
93 The funds in question totalled £19, 295 (Manrique to Foción Soto, June 18, 1899, AM). As late as December there had been no reply from Soto (Parra to “Eleuterio” [Soto], Dec. 21,1899, AM).
94 Salazar, Galvis, Uribe Uribe, 118–125.Google Scholar
95 Tamayo, Joaquín, La revolución de 1899 (2d ed., 1940), 55ff.Google Scholar There appears to be no satisfactory explanation as to why Villar moved up the starting date of the revolution. He may have been influenced by the fact that early in October Uribe Uribe had sent him a telegram, published on October 8 in the Autonomista, declaring that the government and the public believed that the revolution had been scheduled to begin on October 20 and asking him to deny the rumor ( Salazar, Galvis, Uribe Uribe, 118, 125).Google Scholar Since Villar was evidently unwilling to postpone the revolution, he may have felt obliged to advance the starting date in order to retain the element of surprise. One writer states that Gomez Pinzón decided to act after the government garrison suddenly evacuated Socorro (J[osé] M[aría] Vesga, y Avila, , La guerra de tres años [1914], 20–22).Google Scholar See also Bergquist, , “Conflict,” 238–241.Google Scholar
96 Manrique’s rough minutes of the meeting can be found in AM. See also Caballero, , Memorias, 26.Google Scholar
97 La Crónica, Oct. 17,1899.
98 Vargas Santos to the provisional directory, Oct. 19,1899 (AM).
99 Parra to Manrique, Dec. 19, 1899 (AM). See also Parra to Manrique, Dec. 11, [1899?] (AP).
100 McGreevey, “Development,” 60 and Table II-G.
101 Beyer, , “Coffee,” 113.Google Scholar
102 Ibid., 130–131.
103 La Crónica, July 22,1897.
104 Ibid., July 12, Oct. 15,1899.
105 Ibid., Aug. 11,1899.
106 Morales, Eusebio A., “The Political and Economic Situation of Colombia,” North American Review, 175, No. 2 (September 1902), 360.Google Scholar
107 Tamayo, , Revolución, 40–41.Google Scholar
108 Bergquist, , “Conflict,” 197.Google Scholar
109 Urrutia, and Arrubla, , Estadísticas, 210–211.Google Scholar
110 Bergquist, , “Conflict,” 239.Google Scholar
111 See Vesga, y Avila, , Guerra, 37–45 Google Scholar; [Urueta], Documentos, xxvff.; La guerra en el Tolima, 1899-1903: Apuntes, documentos y relaciones de la campaña recopilados por “El Comercio” de Bogotá (1904), xii-xv.
112 Salazar, Galvis, Uribe Uribe, 116–117 Google Scholar; Bergquist, , “Conflict,” 217–219.Google Scholar
113 Vesga, y Avila, , Guerra, 215–217.Google Scholar
114 Burggraaff, Winfield J., “Venezuelan Regionalism and the Rise of Táchira,” The Americas, 25, No. 2 (October 1968), 169–172. For social and political ties between Tachirenses and Santandereanos, see ibid., 168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
115 Porras, Belisario, Memorias de las campañas del Istmo, 1900 (Panama, 1922), v-viiiGoogle Scholar; Rougier, Antoine, Les Recentes Guerres Civiles de la Colombie et du Vénézuéla (Paris, 1904), 3–4.Google Scholar
116 Manrique to Soto, June 18,1899 (AM).
117 La Crónica, July 30, 1898; El Autonomista, July 30, 1898. Uribe Uribe was released on August 17 (El Autonomista, Aug. 19,1899).
118 According to Lucas Caballero, the Venezuelans had taken the arms which the Colombians had hidden in Santander, leaving the latter with only 60 rifles just before the revolution began ( Caballero, , Memorias, 26).Google Scholar Vesga y Avila reports that on October 17 Gómez Pinzón and his men used arms that had been buried on his hacienda ( Vesga, y Avila, , Guerra, 22).Google Scholar
119 Rougier, , Guerres, 46–47.Google Scholar The story of Venezuelan efforts on behalf of Colombian Liberals and of the relations of the Colombian government with Castro’s political foes can be gleaned from ibid., 46–57; Urueta, , Documentos, 204–219 Google Scholar; Invasiones de Colombia a . Venezuela en 1901, 1902 y 1903 (Caracas, 1903); and Picón-Salas, Mariano, Los Días de Cipriano Castro (Caracas, 1958), 95–105.Google Scholar
120 General Direction to the Liberal Party to Hermógenes Wilson, Domnino Castro, et al, Oct. 13,1898 (AP). See also Luis E. Uribe to Parra, Dec. 4, 1898, ibid.
121 Vicente Parra R. to Parra, Nov. 10, 1898 (AP). This letter is printed in Piñeres, Rodríguez, Diez años, 116–124.Google Scholar On the ambiguous role of Santos, who became minister of war in August 1899, in the period just before October 17, see Salazar, Galvis, Oribe Uribe, 112–114.Google Scholar
122 See General Direction of the Liberal Party to Carlos J. Delgado, Oct. 13, 1898 (AP), and documents in AM showing the military organization of Liberals, together with the weapons and ammunition they possessed, in some provinces of Cundinamarca in 1897.
123 See Santos, Gabriel Vargas, La razón de mi dicho: Relación documentada para la historia de la revolución colombiana de 1899 a 1902 (1904).Google Scholar
124 On Uribe Uribe’s post-war attitude, see El Porvenir, Feb. 7, Feb. 12, 1903.