breve storia della colombia contemporanea

A chronology of key events:


1525 - Spain begins conquest of Colombia.

1536-38 - Spain establishes the settlement of Santa Fe de Bogota, which subsequently becomes known as Bogota, the current capital; becomes part of the Spanish vice-royalty of Peru.


Drugs war: Colombian forces show their muscle

1718 - Bogota becomes the capital of the Spanish vice-royalty of Nueva Granada, which also rules Ecuador and Venezuela.

1819 - Simon Bolivar defeats Spanish at Boyaca. Republic of Gran Colombia formed with Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela.

1829-30 - Gran Colombia dissolved when Venezuela and Ecuador split off, leaving present-day Colombia and Panama a separate state known as Nueva Granada.

1849 - Conservative and Liberal parties founded.

1861-85 - Liberal Party rule sees country divided into nine largely autonomous entities and the church separated from the state.

1885 - Start of 45 years of Conservative Party rule during which power is recentralised and church influence restored.

1899-1903 - "The War of the Thousand Days": around 120,000 people die in civil war between Liberals and Conservatives. Panama becomes an independent state.

1930 - Liberal President Olaya Herrera elected by coalition; social legislation introduced and trade unions encouraged.


Colombian capital Bogota

1946 - Conservatives return to power.

1948 - Assassination of left-wing mayor of Bogota ignites riots.

1948-57 - 250,000-300,000 killed in civil war.

1958 - Conservatives and Liberals agree to form National Front in a bid to end the civil war; other parties banned.

Guerrilla war

1965 - Leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) and Maoist People's Liberation Army (EPL) founded.

1966 - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, the current largest guerrilla grouping) set up.

1970 - National People's Alliance formed as a left-wing counterweight to the National Front.

1971 - Left-wing M-19 guerrilla group emerges.

1978 - President Julio Turbay (Liberal) begins intensive fight against drug traffickers.

1982 - President Belisario Betancur (Conservative) grants guerrillas amnesty and frees political prisoners.

War against drug cartels stepped up

1984 - Campaign against drug traffickers stepped up following assassination of justice minister.


Armed conflict: Troops remove the body of a rebel

1985 - Eleven judges and 90 other people killed after M-19 guerrillas force their way into the Palace of Justice; Patriotic Union Party (UP) founded.

1986 - Virgilio Barco Vargas (Liberal) wins presidential elections by record margin. Right-wing paramilitary groups begin murder campaign against UP politicians, amid continuing violence by left-wing groups and death squads run by drugs cartels.

1989 - M-19 becomes legal party after reaching peace agreement with government.

1989 - Liberal and UP presidential candidates murdered during presidential election campaign, reputedly at the behest of drug cartels; Cesar Gaviria elected on anti-drug platform.

1991 - New constitution legalises divorce, prohibits extradition of Colombians wanted for trial in other countries and guarantees indigenous peoples' democratic rights, but without addressing their territorial claims.


Drugs baron Pablo Escobar: Killed while evading arrest

1993 - Pablo Escobar, Medellin drug-cartel leader, shot dead while trying to evade arrest.

1995 - Ernesto Samper Pizano (Liberal) elected president and is subsequently charged and cleared of receiving drug-cartel money for his election campaign.

Peace talks

1998 - Andres Pastrana Arango (Conservative) elected president and begins peace talks with guerrillas.

1998 November - Pastrana grants FARC a safe haven the size of Switzerland in the south-east to help move peace talks along. The area is off-limits to the army. He periodically renews his decision.

1999 - Peace talks are formally launched in January but proceed in stop-start fashion. Pastrana and FARC leader Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda meet.

1999 September - The FARC reject a government proposal for international monitors in safe haven after rebels are reported to be carrying out executions, recruiting teenagers and kidnapping civilians.


Quake damage: A soldier guards against looting

2000 - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson accuses government of not doing enough to halt violence by right-wing paramilitary groups.

2000 May - Government suspends an international conference on crop substitution programmes following a bombing blamed on the FARC. Peace process resumes after government clears the FARC of responsibility.

2000 July - Pastrana's "Plan Colombia" wins almost US$1 billion in mainly military aid from the US to fight drug-trafficking and rebels who profit and protect the trade.

2000 September - Government freezes talks, alleging the FARC harboured a rebel who hijacked a plane and forced it to land in the safe haven. Later the FARC refuses to resume talks, accusing Pastrana of not stopping paramilitary groups.

2001 February - The FARC return to peace talks after a meeting between "Sureshot" and Pastrana. Pastrana extends demilitarized area for eight months.


Rebel leader: Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda

June - The FARC free 359 police and troops in exchange for 14 captured rebels. The FARC continues to be accused of using safe haven to rearm, prepare terror attacks and to conduct drug trade.

October - Government and the FARC sign San Francisco agreement, committing themselves to negotiate a cease-fire. Pastrana extends life of the safe haven until January 2002. FARC refuses to return to talks until government relaxes controls around the safe haven.

2002 9 January - Pastrana gives FARC rebels 48 hours to vacate the demilitarized zone, but leaves door open for talks.

2002 20 January - Pastrana accepts FARC cease-fire timetable and extends safe haven until 10 April to allow talks to continue.

2002 20 February - Pastrana breaks off three years of tortuous peace talks with FARC rebels, saying a guerrilla hijacking of an aircraft hours earlier is the final straw. He orders the rebels out of the demilitarised zone.

The government declares a war zone in the south after rebels step up attacks.

2002 April - FARC rebels step up armed campaign with city bombings and kidnappings. Over several weeks they take more than 60 security force members and politicians hostage, hoping to exchange them for imprisoned guerrillas.

2002 May - Independent candidate Alvaro Uribe wins a first-round presidential election victory, promises to crack down hard on rebel groups.

2002 June - FARC rebels warn more than 100 town mayors to quit or become assassination targets. Government offers bodyguards and bulletproof vests to mayors.

2002 August - Moments before Uribe is sworn in, suspected FARC explosions rock Bogota. Some of the blasts are near the parliament building. At least 13 people are killed.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1212827.stm