Latin American politics — challenges and guerrilla movements
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Question
What is a populist leader?
Answer
A leader who claims to speak directly for 'the people' against a corrupt elite, often bypassing parties and institutions — Colombia's Gaitán is a key example.
Question
Who was Jorge Eliécer Gaitán and why does he matter?
Answer
A populist Liberal politician whose assassination on 9 April 1948 triggered the Bogotazo riots and the decade-long conflict known as La Violencia.
Question
What was La Violencia?
Answer
A brutal civil conflict (1948-1958) between Liberal and Conservative supporters in rural Colombia, killing an estimated 200,000 people.
Question
What was the National Front (1958)?
Answer
A power-sharing deal where Colombia's Liberal and Conservative parties alternated the presidency for 16 years, ending elite violence but excluding all other parties.
Question
What happened at Marquetalia in 1964?
Answer
The Colombian army attacked a peasant self-defence community; survivors led by Manuel Marulanda regrouped as the FARC guerrilla army instead of surrendering.
Question
Define guerrilla warfare.
Answer
Irregular fighting by small, mobile groups using ambush and hit-and-run tactics rather than direct confrontation with a stronger army.
Question
How did the FARC fund itself from the 1980s onward?
Answer
By taxing, and later trafficking, cocaine production — turning a small rural rebel group into a well-funded army of 15,000-20,000 fighters at its peak.
Question
What was the social impact of the FARC conflict on Colombia?
Answer
An estimated 220,000+ people killed and 7-8 million internally displaced, making it one of the world's largest displacement crises outside a formal war.
Question
Contrast Uribe's and Santos's approaches to the FARC.
Answer
Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) pursued a hardline military strategy that weakened the FARC; Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) instead negotiated the 2016 peace accord.
Question
Describe the range of women's experiences in the FARC.
Answer
Women made up 30-40% of fighters and sometimes gained command roles and equality unavailable in civilian life, but many also faced forced contraception, forced abortion, and sexual violence.
Question
Why is 2016 not a clean 'end' to Colombia's conflict?
Answer
The peace accord disbanded the FARC as an armed force, but dissident FARC factions and other groups like the ELN continued fighting afterward.
Question
What is the key cause-and-consequence chain in this micro?
Answer
Exclusionary democracy → Gaitán's assassination (1948) → La Violencia → National Front (1958) → Marquetalia attack (1964) → founding of the FARC.
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Full study notes for Latin American politics — challenges and guerrilla movements
Topic 11.10 hub
Political developments in Latin America (1934–2020)
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