Regeneración (Colombia) in the context of Colombian Liberal Party

⭐ Core Definition: Regeneración (Colombia)

The Regeneration (Spanish: La Regeneración) was a political movement that emerged in Colombia in the late second half of the 19th century, led by Rafael Núñez. Its goal was to reverse the social and legal implications of the Radical Olympus era (Olimpo Radical) of the 1863 Constitution of Rionegro which established the United States of Colombia, made the country a federal republic and enforced the separation of church and state. The motto of Regeneration was "one nation, one goal, one God" (una nación, un lema, un Dios).

The movement was mainly constituted by members of the Conservative Party and the moderate faction of the Liberal Party and opposed the then in office, Radical Liberals. After the civil war of 1876, President Aquileo Parra was the last leader of the so-called "Olimpo Radical era" (Radical Olympus). Parra was followed by General Julián Trujillo, who in 1878 had won the support of the moderate faction of the liberal party. At the moment, Núñez was the leader of the majority of congress in his address in the inauguration of Trujillo on April 1, 1878, he stated: «We have arrived at the point in which we are confronting this very dilemma: a fundamental administrative Regeneration or catastrophe».

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Regeneración (Colombia) in the context of Thousand Days' War

The Thousand Days' War (Spanish: Guerra de los Mil Días) was a civil war fought in Colombia from 17 October 1899 to 21 November 1902, at first between the Liberal Party and the government led by the National Party, and later – after the Conservative Party had ousted the National Party – between the liberals and the conservative government. Caused by the longstanding ideological tug-of-war of federalism versus centralism between the liberals, conservatives, and nationalists of Colombia following the implementation of the Constitution of 1886 and the political process known as the Regeneración, tensions ran high after the presidential election of 1898, and on 17 October 1899, official insurrection against the national government was announced by members of the Liberal Party in the Department of Santander. Hostilities did not begin until 11 November, when liberal factions attempted to take over the city of Bucaramanga, leading to active warfare. It would end three years later with the signing of the Treaty of Neerlandia and the Treaty of Wisconsin. The war resulted in a Conservative victory, and ensured the continued dominance of the Conservative Party in Colombian politics for another 28 years. Colombia's political structure as a unitary state has not been challenged since.

As an international conflict, the war extended into Ecuadorian and Venezuelan territories. Conservative and liberal factions of those two countries, as well as of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, backed their respective parties within Colombia. American interests in the Panama Isthmus led to an American intervention and naval deployment in Panama (then part of Colombia) under the guise of upholding the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty.

View the full Wikipedia page for Thousand Days' War

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