CAMBRIDGE LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES GENERAL EDITOR SIMON COLLIER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MARVIN BERNSTEIN MALCOLM DEAS CLARK W. REYNOLDS ARTURO VALENZUELA 58 THE AGRARIAN QUESTION AND THE PEASANT MOVEMENT IN COLOMBIA For a list of books in this series please turn to page 28 j. The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development is an autonomous United Nations activity, established for the purpose of conducting research into "problems and policies of social development and relationships between various types of social development and economic development during different phases of economic growth." The studies of the Institute are intended to contribute to (a) the work of the United Nations Secretariat in the field of social policy, social development planning, and balanced economic and social development; (b) re- gional planning institutes set up under the auspices of the United Nations; (c) national institutes in the field of economic and/or social development and planning. The views expressed in this publication are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of UNRISD or the United Nations. The names and the written documents of graphical material used do not entail any judgment on the part of UNRISD or the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or zone, or their authorities, or their frontiers or borders. THE AGRARIAN QUESTION AND THE PEASANT MOVEMENT IN COLOMBIA Struggles of the National Peasant Association 1967—1981 LEON ZAMOSC Department of Sociology University of California, San Diego The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584. Cambridge University Press Cambridge London New York New Rochelle Melbourne Sydney United Nations Research Institute for Social Development Palais des Nations 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521320108 © Cambridge University Press and United Nations 1986 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1986 This digitally printed first paperback version 2006 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Zamosc, Leon. The agrarian question and the peasant movement in Colombia. (Cambridge Latin American studies; 58) Bibliography: p. 1. Peasant uprisings — Colombia. 2. Peasantry — Colombia — Political activity. 3. Asociacion Nacional de Usuarios Campesinos (Colombia) 4. Land tenure - Colombia. I. Title. II. Series. HD516.Z36 1986 322.4'4'09861 85-19479 ISBN-13 978-0-521-32010-8 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-32010-0 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-03138-7 paperback ISBN-10 0-521-03138-9 paperback To Ximena, with love Contents List of tables, figures, and maps page viii Foreword by Teodor Shanin xi Foreword by UNRISD xv Acknowledgments xvii List of abbreviations xviii Introduction i 1 The agrarian question in Colombia 7 2 Reformism and the beginnings of the peasant movement 34 3 The radicalization of ANUC and the great waves of land invasions 66 4 Counter reform 97 5 The contradictory influences of peasant politicization 105 6 Concessions and repressive escalation 122 7 The new occupational alternatives and the issue of the rural proletariat 130 8 Partial repeasantization and the question of the new peas- ant settlements 146 9 Final crisis and clientelist regression of ANUC 179 10 Overview and final remarks 202 Notes 215 Bibliography 257 Index 273 Tables, figures, and maps Tables 1.1. Some indicators of industrial expansion in Colom- bia, 1951-1964 page 20 1.2. The performance of Colombia's agricultural sector, 1950-1969 22 1.3. Distribution of land in Colombia, by number and size of farms, i960 24 1.4. The pattern of agricultural specialization in Colom- bia, i960 26 1.5. Classification of the Colombian departments ac- cording to their prevailing agrarian structures in the 1960s 32 2.1. ANUC's organizational campaign in numbers, 1968-1971 57 2.2. Registration of peasant usuarios, according to the prevailing agrarian structures in the regions, 1968-1971 61 2.3. The pattern of peasant institutional representation, 1968 64 3.1. Peasant land invasions, by department, 1970— 1978 75 3.2. The 1971 peasant land invasions, by region 77 3.3. The 1971 peasant land invasions, by types of sec- tors involved 84 3.4. Compared incidence of the Violencia and the land struggles of the 1970s, by region and department 86 4.1. ANUC's split: radical and loyalist departmental associations in 1972 102 7.1. Rural population and migration movements in the departments of the Atlantic Coast, Huila, and To- lima, 1964-1973 131 7.2. Migration balances of some of the highest-ranked municipalities in terms of the frequency of peasant land invasions, 1964—1973 132 Tables, figures, and maps ix 7.3. Harvested area and labor absorption of the main crops of capitalist agriculture, 1968—1977 134 8.1. Land redistribution and allocation of titles on pub- lic land by INCORA, 1962-1979 147 8.2. Distribution of land in Colombia, by number and size of farms, 1960-1970 150 8.3. Atlantic Coast and central area: estimates of the overall incidence of agrarian reform after 1970 151 8.4. Atlantic Coast: estimates of access to land and par- ticipation in the wage-labor market, i960—1979 153 8.5. Main features of the empresas comunitarias, accord- ing to INCORA's sectoral classification, 1977-1979 158 8.6. Changes in the settlements of agrarian reform: em- presas comunitarias and individual adjudications, 1972-1977 164 10.1. Main dimensions in the development of the peas- ant movement, 1967-1981 205 Figures 1.1. Agrarian regional structures, main class sectors and their demands 31 2.1. The promotion of ANUC, 1966—1970 56 2.2. The organizational structure of ANUC 58 8.1. Land acquisition and expropriation by INCORA, 1962-1978 148 Maps 1. Republic of Colombia xx 2. Main areas of land struggle during the 1960s 42 3. Geographical location of the municipalities af- fected by land invasions, 1971 76 4. Areas of land struggle on the Atlantic Coast 78 5. Geographical location of the municipalities af- fected by land invasions, 1974 108 6. Geographical location of the municipalities af- fected by land invasions, 1977—1978 183