Víctor J. Merchán
Víctor Julio Merchán (1909–1980s), known by pseudonyms 'Enrique Andrade', 'Pedro José Abella' and 'Juan García', was a Colombian politician.[1]
Merchán was born 1909 in San Antonio de Jaima, hailing from a peasant family.[1] A brewery worker and union activist at the Bavaria breweries in Bogotá, Merchán became a member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party in 1929 and in 1930 he joined the Colombian Communist Party.[1][2][3] He studied at the International Lenin School in Moscow 1930–1934.[1][4]
In October 1934, he participated in the Third Conference of Communist Parties of South America and the Caribbean.[1] In the same year, Merchán took part in the Preparatory Committee for South and Central America ahead of the Seventh World Congress of the Comintern.[1]
In 1934, back in Colombia, Merchán worked as a union organizer.[1] He led a strike at Bavaria.[1] Merchán settled in Viotá, a town in Cundinamarca Department.[5][3]
In Viota, he went on to building an agrarian mass movement in the area, organizing some 80-100 cells and founding different union organizations.[3] He organized coffee plantation workers to seize unused lands of larger estates.[5] In 1935 Merchán was elected as an alternate member of the Viotá municipal council.[6] Soon after his arrival, he was arrested after a coffee plantation workers strike and spent a year in jail.[1] In 1936, after his release from prison, the Communist Party leadership sent Merchán back to the Soviet Union for studies and rest.[1]
In 1942, he became a National Committee member of the National Peasants' and Indian Federation.[1] In 1944, he was elected to the Cundinamarca Department Assembly.[1] By the mid-1940s, Merchán had built peasants' leagues in Tierradentro and helped build a Propaganda Committee to defend indigenous interests in the area.[7] He was arrested on April 12, along with other Communist Party leaders, following the Bogotazo events.[1]
In the Viotá area, Merchán built up a communist-dominated enclave during La Violencia.[5] Merchán's enclave around Viotá, spanning some five square miles, and another communist-dominated area in nearby Sumapaz became popularly known as the 'Republic of Tequendama'.[4][2] Merchán served as the secretary of the Tequendama regional committee of the Communist Party.[8] In 1958, Merchán became a Central Committee member of the Communist Party.[5][8] As of the early 1960s, Merchán remained the key leader in the Viotá area and managed a party cadre school there.[5]
As of the 1970s, Merchán was the key agrarian leader of the Communist Party, leading the ANUC.[9]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lazar Jeifets; Víctor Jeifets; Peter Huber (2004). La Internacional comunista y América Latina, 1919-1943: diccionario biográfico. Instituto de Latinoamérica de la Academia de las Ciencias. p. 211.
- ^ a b Eric Hobsbawm (2 June 2016). Viva la Revolucion: Hobsbawm on Latin America. Little, Brown Book Group. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-4087-0708-1.
- ^ a b c Ana Arjona (7 December 2016). Rebelocracy. Cambridge University Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-107-12603-9.
- ^ a b Time. Time Incorporated. 1960. p. I.
- ^ a b c d e American University (Washington, D.C.). Foreign Areas Studies Division (1964). U.S. Army Area Handbook for Colombia. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 429–430.
- ^ Viotá, un paraíso en los Andes colombianos: monografía histórica. L.E. Acero Duarte. 2007. p. 65. ISBN 978-958-44-0689-7.
- ^ Antonil (August 1978). Mama Coca. Hassle Free Press. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-86166-001-8.
- ^ a b America. America Press. 1959. p. 702.
- ^ Milorad M. Drachkovitch; Lewis H. Gann (1977). Yearbook on International Communist Affairs. Hoover Institution Press. p. 426.