El Siglo’s special edition dedicated to the Spanish Civil War

El Siglo was the newspaper of Conservative leader Laureano Gómez, who launched the publication in February 1936 to oppose the reformist programme of President López. It therefore became the official newspaper of the Conservative party which, since 1935, had been following a policy of electoral abstention and had no other public platform from which to criticize the Liberal government. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936, Conservatives immediately came out in support of the military insurgents who they believed were fighting to preserve the same ‘Hispanic’ values that they defended in Colombia. In turn, they attacked the López administration for its public adherence to the Spanish Popular Front and claimed that such support proved that the Liberal leader was attempting to instil communism at home. All these ideas were regularly expressed in various editorials, opinion pieces and commentaries published in El Siglo from July 1936 to April 1939.

On 8 November 1936, El Siglo announced on its front page that the Spanish Nationalists had taken Madrid. Believing that the civil war was over, Conservatives all over the country celebrated the news in street parties, parades and religious ceremonies. Other members of society were not so happy; a communist in western Colombia reportedly died by suicide after hearing reports that the Spanish Republic had been defeated. In the end, the celebrations proved premature. Madrid held and the conflict continued for a further two-and-a-bit years. However, this incident shines a light on the importance of Spain to many groups and individuals across Colombia. Conservatives celebrated the supposed Nationalist victory as if it was their own because, to them, it proved that communist-influenced governments could not prevail in a Hispanic nation. Contrastingly, those who saw in the Spanish Republic a model for democracy and progress suddenly found the fate of their domestic aspirations plunged into uncertainty. 

CE