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Marquetalia Republic


"Marquetalia Republic" was a term used to unofficially refer to one of the enclaves in rural Colombia which communist peasant guerrillas held during the aftermath of "La Violencia" (aprox. 1948 to 1958). Congressmen of the Colombian Conservative Party had considered that those enclaves, including Marquetalia, were "independent republics", which needed to be brought in line with the rest of the country through military force. This area was eventually overrun by the Colombian army (during what was termed "Operation Marquetalia") in May 1964.

Meanwhile, a small number of armed groups formed by Liberals and Communists had successfully established a certain degree of self-government in remote regions of the country, one of which eventually became known as the "republic" of Marquetalia by outside observers. For the most part their activities were limited to self-defense after the end of "La Violencia", though some extortions of local landowners and short skirmishes with official forces occurred from time to time.

One of the Communist leaders of the enclave, known as Jacobo Arenas, later wrote a book called "Diario de la resistencia de Marquetalia" ("Marquetalia Diary"). The book includes a chronicle of the events of the fight between the guerrilla fighters and the soldiers of the Colombian army brigade.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Marquetalia Republic


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