Customer Reviews

The Assassination of Gaitan: Public Life and Urban Violence in Colombia

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This book provides the reader with a precise insight on the evolution of Colombia's restrictive political system. In other words, the author shows the way in which this country's ruling elite have been successful in excluding the masses from major political decisions. This situation has been an influential cause for the fall of such popular figures as Jorge Eliecer Gaitan.

Professor Herbert Braun has authored a monumental book. The author leaves few stones unturned...as a result the research is absolutely profound. "Jorge Eliécer Gaitán" is a legendary Colombian populist who unfortunately is assasinated before he can fulfill his political ambitions. To this end, Braun carefully documents the fact that had he not been killed, Gaitán would have certainly won the 1950 presidential elections in Colombia.

Braun tells the complete story of Gaitán...the politician who boasted that he was not a man...he was a village. The author painstakingly demonstrates the enormous importance Gaitán played among the poor. Moreover, Braun also does an excellent job of showing how Gaitán filled a gigantic void in Colombian politics. Unfortunately, the assasination of Gaitán triggered the conflict that haunts Colombia to this day. In my professional opinion, this is an spectacular book and must be read by everyone with a special competence in Colombian - American affairs.

Bert Ruiz

This book concisely details the impact of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan on 20th Century Colombian politics. This work begins with an account of Gaitan's days as a student and his early professional life as a lawyer. Gaitan came from a middle-middle class background and rose through the ranks of the Liberal party to eventually become its Presidential candidate in the late 1940s. Gaitan's political outlook was left-of-center and he was a champion of the lower and middle classes. Because Gaitan was the people's candidate, he was not especially liked by the Colombian oligarchy. Gaitan was assasinated in 1948 and to this day it is not officially known who the intellectual authors of that crime were. However, the people felt their candidate had been murdered by the oligarchy and this led to a brutal 10-year civil war that claimed over 200,000 lives. This is a must-read book to understand the root causes of Colombian political violence.

A monumental book on recent Colombian political history. The research and the way the book is written allows a marvelous understanding of why Colombian politics are as they are. One even hopes Braun would have decided to keep going and explain the Colombian politics nowadays. Highly recommended.