A BRIEF HISTORY OF COLOMBIA
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conflict known as La Violencia, certain bishops and priests openly supported the
Conservative Party and issued condemnations of Liberalism from the pulpit.
The parties were vertically-organized and members were expected to not only
vote, but to also attend political rallies, participate in armed gangs at election
time, and join the partisan armies during the various civil wars. Decades of
shared struggle led families and communities to develop an unwavering
devotion to one party, and a "hereditary hatred" for the opposite party. By the
mid-nineteenth century, different regions were already leaning towards one
party or the other: the Caribbean coast was overwhelmingly Liberal, while
Antioquia and the highlands along the border with Ecuador were mostly
Conservative. The rest of the country was more or less evenly divided between
the two parties, but few towns were divided; most were dominated by a single
party, the trim on the whitewashed houses either being red (for the Liberals) or
blue (for the Conservatives).
The new republic immediately had to confront social and economic challenges.
The government contracted a huge loan with London banks; since no economic
miracle appeared to increase revenues, servicing the debt became the major
government expense and only the most rudimentary bureaucracy and army
were maintained-infrastructure improvements were few, and other public
services were mainly left to the Church. There was one positive development: as
in other Latin American republics, a gradual dismantling of the institution of
slavery ended with outright abolition in 1850, without serious opposition or
widespread civil war. At the same time, efforts to improve public education
sparked acrimonious debate between the two parties — Liberals wanted to
introduce progressive methods and books while Conservatives demanded that
the Catholic Church run the schools. Land reform also caused deep divisions: in
the 1860s, a Liberal government took over underused Church lands for
redistribution to landless peasants, despite fierce opposition from Conservatives
and the clergy. The government's need for revenue, however, led to the sale of