Rejection letter from the Immigration Department

The Spanish Civil War and its aftermath caused a mass exodus of Republicans from Spain. A sizable portion of the new exile community turned their gaze towards Latin America, in particular those nations whose governments and populations had actively supported the Spanish Republic. The two Liberal governments in Colombia were also rhetorically supportive of Republican Spain even if they were either unable or unwilling to turn words into tangible action. However, only an estimated 1,894 Spaniards applied for Colombian visas between July 1936 and May 1942. In reality, the number was probably higher but the Colombian government’s restrictive policy towards Republican immigration meant many consular officials simply turned potential visa applicants away without formalizing their request. 

Part of the reason for Colombia’s restrictive approach was because the new Liberal regime, concerned with ‘modernizing the nation’, was already raising questions about what place immigrants had in this new Colombian society. At the same time, heightened fear of ‘international’ movements such as communism and fascism drove many to fear what large contingents of new arrivals, particularly from Europe, might do to their own domestic politics. Although officials had traditionally seen Spaniards as welcome additions given their shared heritage and purported disposition towards farming, the politicization of the Spanish Civil War within Colombia spilt over into discussions about Republican exiles. 

By February 1939, more and more Republicans and their supporters were crossing the French border into exile. Colombia visa records reflect the surge is the number of applicants from Spain, and this increased demand gave way to greater numbers of arrivals. Groups and individuals in Colombia – particularly the Conservative opposition and individuals living in port cities – started to complain about these ‘red refugees’. One particular cause for complaint was that higher numbers of immigrants would have considerable impact on the Colombian economy. Government officials therefore used the legal framework that was already in place to exclude ‘undesirables’ from entering the country to block mass Spanish immigration. The visa records bear witness to this shift in policy: from May 1939, the MRREE started rejecting visa applications en masse on the basis that ‘there are already hundreds of Spanish refugees [in Colombia] who do not have a job thus creating a serious problem for the government.’ 

CE