In Colombia in the 1930s and 40s, both Liberal and Conservative politicians increasingly made claims about the opposition that contributed to the creation of a discursive framework for the perpetrators of eliminationist political violence during La Violencia (1946-1964), a period when militants in both parties committed brutal assassinations and massacres against defenseless civilians, leaving nearly 200,000 dead. As in other cases of eliminationist political violence in the twentieth century, the rhetoric on the eve of La Violencia relied on conspiracy theories that attached perceived domestic enemies to international cabals bent on destroying la patria. Liberals were depicted as being part of an worldwide Judeo-Masonic plot against Christianity, while Conservatives were presented as soldiers in a Nazi-Falangist conspiracy against democracy and progress. Many party members believed these conspiracy theories because they were grafted onto a pre-existing nationalistic tropes concerning the two parties, dating from the nineteenth century, and because the politicians had professionalized, presenting themselves as experts deserving respect because of their specialized knowledge based on advanced study, travel abroad, and the proper use of Spanish.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-07222005-085639 |
| Date | 26 July 2005 |
| Creators | Williford, Thomas J. |
| Contributors | Carlos Jauregui, J. Leon Helguera, Jane Landers, Marshall Eakin, Helmut W. Smith |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07222005-085639/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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