Note that some estimates also put the number on 5000. This letter to the US Goverment from the Colombian embassy puts the number, sourced from the United Fruit Company, in the 1000+ range. Jorge Eliécer Gaitán also puts the number in the thousands. I think ~1500 sounds like a reasonable estimate. (unrelated trivia fact: Gaitán is an incredibly important character in Colombia history, as he was murdered when running for president, which turned Bogotá into a complete chaos/warzone in 1948, in something called the Bogotazo).
do you have a source for the ‘it was a direct result of the US Goverment’s threat of invading Colombia if the protest done by United Fruit Company workers was not inmediately put to a stop’ because all I can find is that Colombia’s bananas could no longer be exported?
[…] The clashes between the United Fruit Company and the army on one side and the workers on the other, over the breaking of the strike on December 3 and 4, gave General Carlos Cortés Vargas yet another justification for repression. In his memoirs of the strike, he states that he became convinced that if public order was not restored immediately, the U.S. government would send Marines. Rumors of U.S. warships were rife.[…]
This letter from an US counsul in Santa Marta also asks the US Goverment for warship support, which support Cortés Vargas story. I also found the following letters, which show US offered “unofficial support” to the Company. This article says that Carlos Cortés got reinforcements from the center of the country, as to minimize the sympathy that the protestors would receive from the soldiers; IMO, this indicates the hard tackle down was not simply an irresponsible act from Cortés who wrongly guessed US had intentions to land marine soldiers, but it shows it was a clear coordinated effort from the Colombian Goverment.
I do regret the use of the word “inmediately” and 2000 number from my comment. Will edit my previous comment to amend that.
Note that some estimates also put the number on 5000. This letter to the US Goverment from the Colombian embassy puts the number, sourced from the United Fruit Company, in the 1000+ range. Jorge Eliécer Gaitán also puts the number in the thousands. I think ~1500 sounds like a reasonable estimate. (unrelated trivia fact: Gaitán is an incredibly important character in Colombia history, as he was murdered when running for president, which turned Bogotá into a complete chaos/warzone in 1948, in something called the Bogotazo).
Wikipedia in Spanish has the following (translated):
This letter from an US counsul in Santa Marta also asks the US Goverment for warship support, which support Cortés Vargas story. I also found the following letters, which show US offered “unofficial support” to the Company. This article says that Carlos Cortés got reinforcements from the center of the country, as to minimize the sympathy that the protestors would receive from the soldiers; IMO, this indicates the hard tackle down was not simply an irresponsible act from Cortés who wrongly guessed US had intentions to land marine soldiers, but it shows it was a clear coordinated effort from the Colombian Goverment.
I do regret the use of the word “inmediately” and 2000 number from my comment. Will edit my previous comment to amend that.