Colombian Armed Conflict

Colombia’s multi-decade armed conflict, rooted in the unresolved agrarian and political crises of La Violencia (1948–1958). The exclusionary National Front (1958–1974) closed democratic space for the left, contributing directly to the formation of FARC (1964), ELN (1964), and EPL (1967). The conflict later intertwined with narcotrafficking and paramilitarism, lasting until the 2016 FARC peace accord, an attempt to close a cycle of violence begun with Gaitán’s assassination in 1948.