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Church-State Relations on the Colombian Frontier: The National Intendancy of Meta, 1909-1930

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Jane M. Rausch
Jane M. Rausch*
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts
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Extract

On November 27, 1902 Colombia signed an agreement with the Vatican that established parameters for the evolution of the mission as a frontier institution in the twentieth century. Renewed in 1928 and again in 1953, the Convenio sobre Misiones granted to religious orders chosen by the Vatican absolute authority to govern, police, educate, and control the Indians in the peripheral regions of the republic, which at that time accounted for sixty-five percent of the national domain but only two percent of the population. An exchange for substantial state subsidies, the orders were to carry out such government functions as administering a rudimentary judicial apparatus, providing primary education for whites as well as Indians, and promoting colonization through unlimited access to public lands. Another provision assured the ascendancy of the religious over civilian authorities by granting the former the right to reject nominees for positions in civil government if they regarded the candidates as unsuitable or as threatening to the Indians or the missionaries. Under these terms, the Augustinian Recoletos (Candelarios) in Casanare and the Capuchins in Putumayo expanded their operations, while between 1903 and 1918 the Montfort Fathers, Lazarists, Claretians, Carmelites, and Jesuits took control of apostolic prefectures and vicariates in other parts of the country.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , July 1992 , pp. 49 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1992

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References

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2 Lynch, John, “The Catholic Church in Latin America, 1830–1920,” in Bethell, Leslie, ed., The Cambridge History of Latin America, 5 vols. (Cambridge, 1984–86), IV, 549.Google Scholar By 1930 the Augustinian Recoletos were working in Tumaco as well as Casanare; the Capuchins were in Putumayo, Cáqueta, and La Guajira; the Montfort Fathers were in Meta, Vichada, and Vaupés; the Lazarists were in Arauca and Tierradentro; the Claretians were in Chocó; the Carmelites in Urabá, and the Jesuits along the Magdalena River. For a complete summary of their labors and those of the feminine religious orders that assisted them, see Fernández, J.M. and Granados, Rafael, Obra civilizadora de la iglesia en Colombia (Bogotá, 1936).Google Scholar

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7 Triana, Miguel, Al Meta (Bogotá, 1913), 40. Google Scholar Triana was convinced that the National Intendancy of Meta had great economic potential, and he chided the national government for its habitual neglect of the region. His book includes a comprehensive development plan for the Llanos and a projected law to implement his recommendations.

8 A list of the intendants of Meta and their terms of office can be found in Cruz, Joaquín Paredes, Departamento del Meta (Villavicencio, 1961), 43–45.Google Scholar

9 Much of the information for this essay has been drawn from the annual reports or informes prepared by the intendants that were published every year with the Memorias of the Minister of Government. informe del intendente nacional del Meta (hereafter cited as Informe, Intendant of Meta), Villavicencio, May 1916 in Memorias del Ministro de Gobierno (hereafter cited as MMG) (Bogotá, 1916), 538; informe, Intendant of Meta, 1917 in MMG, 1917, 273; Informe, Intendant of Meta, 1926 in MMG, 1926, 64.

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19 Eco de Oriente (Villavicencio), Jan. 26, 1919, 19; May 18, 1919, 178–79.

20 Ibid., Nov. 30, 1916, 134.

21 Ibid., Sept. 2, 1917; El Diario Nacional (Bogotá), Sept. 20, 1917.

22 A colono is an individual who farms or grazes cattle on public lands without legal title to the land.

23 Informe, José María Guiot, Vicariato Apostòlico de los Llanos de San Martin, August 20, 1916, 165.

24 Informe, Intendant of Meta, 1920 in MMG, 1920, 22.

25 Informe, Intendant of Meta, 1928 in MMG, 1928, 414.

26 Bodas de Piata, 137; Informe, Intendant of Meta, 1928 in MMG, 1928, 494–5.

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32 El Tiempo (Bogotá), May 8, 1923.

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35 El Tiempo (Bogotá), April 25, 1923.

36 Ibid.

37 El Espectador (Bogotá), April 25, 1923.

38 El Tiempo (Bogotá), May 8, 1923. .

39 El Tiempo (Bogotá), May 3, 1923.

40 El Tiempo (Bogotá), May 8, 1923.

41 ibid.

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48 Informe, Intendant of Meta, 1925 in MMG, 1925, 33.

49 Martín, Luis, The Kingdom of the Sun: A Short History of Peru (New York, 1974), 240–41.Google Scholar More extensive discussions of the Putumayo scandal can be found in Hardenburg, W.E., The Putumayo“The Devil’s Paradise (London, 1912)Google Scholar and Collier, Richard, The River that God Forgot (London, 1968).Google Scholar

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