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Power and Social Change in Colombia; The Cauca Valley*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Cole Blasier
Cole Blasier*
Affiliation:
Center for Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh
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Extract

The Cauca Valley in southwest Colombia offers a good closeup view of social change, the power struggle at the grass roots, and rural and urban problems in a country whose size and strategic location make her future a matter of special concern to those who seek to avoid violent solutions to Latin America's social problems.

Colombia would seem to have better prospects for evolutionary development than several Latin American countries with less enlightened leadership and fewer democratic traditions. But Colombia's ruling groups face formidable, sometimes seemingly insoluble economic and social problems. The economy has been wobbly for years, buffeted by fiscal crises, foreign exchange shortages, quickening inflation, and urban unemployment. Also, Colombia has suffered more than any other country in this hemisphere from a species of internal war referred to locally as the violencia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , July 1966 , pp. 386 - 410
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1966

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Footnotes

*

This article is based on research and interviews in Cali, Colombia where the author served as visiting professor of political science at the Universidad del Valle under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1963 and 1964.

References

l See Communism in Latin America. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives (Washington, 1965), p. 33 and passim.

2 Universidad del Valle, Censo Agropecuario del Valle del Cauca, 1959 (Cali, septiembre, 1963), p. 21.

3 Riley, Harold M., “Beef Production in Colombia” (Facilitad de Agronomía, Palmira, 1962), p. 64.Google Scholar (Mimeographed.)

4 José Américo Castillo, “Las relaciones hombre tierra en el panorama colombiano (1936-1963)” (unpublished Tesis de grado, Universidad del Valle, 1964), p. 103.

5 See, for example, José Francisco Montoya, “Problemas principales de la agricultura vallecaucana” (unpublished ms., May 1964). Income per capita in small plots in the north of the Valley, including the value of produce consumed from the farm itself, came to only $.84 a day (farms less than one hectare), and $1.09 a day (farms less than Sve hectares).

6 Censo Agropecuario, op. cit., Cuadro 5. About 58% of the land was in plots acceding 100 hectares.

7 Hirschman, Albert O., Journeys toward Progress (New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1963), pp. 155 ft.Google Scholar

8 Castillo, , “Las relaciones”, pp. 106 ff.Google Scholar

9 Román, Raimundo Emiliani, La replicación errónea de la Reforma Agrario (Bogotá, 1963).Google Scholar

10 Powelson, John P., “The Land-Grabbers of Cali,” The Reporter, January 16, 1964, p. 30.Google Scholar

11 Johnson, John J., Political Change in Latin America: the Emergence of the Middle Sectors (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1958).Google Scholar

12 Hagen, Everett E., “El cambio social en Colombia”, Chapter XV of On the Theory of Social Change (Bogotá, 1963).Google Scholar Professor Hagen found that in 1956 of the 44 large industrial firms in the Valle, 17 were founded by Antioqueños, 9 by persons of foreign origin, 8 by Vallecaucanos, 7 as branches of foreign firms, and remainder by other Colombians. See p. 64. The number of foreign-owned firms has increased sharply since 1956.

13 Taylor, Milton C. and Richman, Raymond L., Fiscal Survey of Colombia (Baltimore, 1965), p. 253.Google Scholar

14 Almarales, Andrés and Goenaga, Marina, Las luchas obreras y la legislación laboral (Cali, 1964), passim. Google Scholar

15 See, for example, Geithman, David T., Estudio de las rentas e ingresos del presupuesto del Municipio de Cali 1955-63 (Cali, 1964)Google Scholar and Presupuesto del Valle del Cauca 1964 (Cali, 1964).

16 Valle refers to the Departamento del Valle del Cauca. This Department occupies most but not all of the Valley of the Cauca River. The “Valley” refers to the Cauca Valley which includes Valle and parts of the Departments of Caldas and Cauca.

17 Colombia, País de Ciudades, Cali (Santiago de Cali, 1962), p. 6 of Chapter I by Alfonso Bonilla Aragón.

18 El Expreso (Cali daily newspaper), April 15, 1964, p. 1.

19 El Occidente (Cali daily newspaper) May 1, 1964, p. 1.

20 El Occidente. April 14, 1964, p. 2. Text of address by U.S. Consul S. Morey Bell.