Abstract

ACUNA RODRIGUEZ, Olga Yanet. From the Polls to Popular Mobilization. The 1970 Presidential Elections in Colombia. Secuencia [online]. 2016, n.96, pp.193-225. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i96.1410.

The text shows how the popular sectors’ dissatisfaction with liberal-conservative political traditionalism in Colombia and irregularities in the vote counting and recounting in the 1970 presidential elections created a crisis for the “National Front” political regime and its candidate Misael Pastrana Borrero. Political and social history is used to analyze the role of the masses and the positions and actions of the elites to legitimize power. The blatant electoral fraud in the April 19, 1970 elections was regarded by the masses as a travesty of the democratic system and of their expression as citizens, prompting demonstrations in various parts of the country. As a result of this event, social actors claimed their role as citizens and demanded their rights, filing complaints with various institutions and engaging in mobilization and protest and, three years later, the armed movement that came to be called M-19.

Keywords : elections; fraud; power; popular movements; M-19 guerrilla movement.

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