78 A BRIEF HISTORY OF COLOMBIA
finally ended, leaving an estimated 200,000 dead. The National Front
governments also instituted ambitious social programs: the education system
improved, increasing Colombia's literacy rate to a respectable level, and a mild
land reform law was instituted. Many programs were supported by the U.S.
government through the Alliance for Progress, which provided funding and
Peace Corp volunteers in an effort to improve the lot of ordinary Colombians
(while at the same time trying to prevent "another Cuba" — Castro had come to
power in 1959).
Although the National Front deal ended La Violencia, many were frustrated by
the fact that after 200,000 dead, the same politicians who had inspired the civil
conflict through their words and actions were still in power. Even today there are
no monuments to the dead from La Violencia, no major films, and few works of
literature — the conflict, which is so basic to understanding current events in
Colombia, was officially ignored by the political class, especially when compared
to how the two world wars and the Holocaust are remembered in Europe, or
how the painful history of the Vietnam War still plays a role in the U.S. It was
easier to ignore La Violencia for another reason: despite the murders and
massacres in the countryside, coffee continued to be harvested and exported,
industry continued to develop and expand in the cities, and in general, the
economy grew. By the early 1960s, anti-National Front movements began to
organize: the former dictator Rojas Pinilla formed the Alianza Nacional Popular
(National Popular Alliance — ANAPO) while a popular chaplain from the National
University, Father Camilo Torres, organized the Frente Unido (United Front).
Guerrilla groups also began to form. Communist guerrillas had not participated
in the amnesties of the National Front, and, like so many others throughout the
hemisphere, were inspired by the success of armed revolution in Cuba. In 1964,
the Colombian government — in consultation with U.S. military advisors —
decided to try to eliminate them militarily, rather than negotiate. Although
surrounded, the bulk of the communist guerrillas, led by Tirofijo, made their way
over the mountains to the llanos, where they officially renamed themselves the