Lather, and Nothing Else by: Hernando Tellez

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Lather, and Nothing Elseby Hernando Tellez
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• They kept saying that you would kill me. I came
  to find out if it was true. But killings not
  easy. Believe me, I know."

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Hernando Tellez

• (b. 1908)
• Born and educated in Bogotá, Columbia
• Téllez entered into the world of journalism early
  in life
• He is primarily identified with having been on
  the staff of some of Colombia's most popular
  newspapers and magazines.
• It was not until 1950 with the publication of his
  short-story collection Cenizas al viento, that
  his name became more widely known.
• His tragicomic tales evidence the keen and
  extremely sensitive observer of contemporary life
  and more particularly of the anguishing reality
  of his native country.

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Columbia
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Hernando TellezLa Violencia

• Columbian Political History Since 1930
• La Violencia originated in an intense political
  feud between Liberals and Conservatives in the
  early 1930s and continuing through the years of
  World War II
• The feud had little to do to do with class
  conflict, foreign ideologies, or other matters
  outside Colombia.
• Authoritative sources estimate that more than
  200,000 persons lost their lives in the period
  between 1946 and 1964 immediately following the
  turbulent political feud.
• The most spectacular aspect of the violence,
  however, was the extreme cruelty perpetrated on
  the victims, which has been a topic of continuing
  study for Colombians.
• La Violencia intensified under the regime of
  Laureano Gómez (195053), who attempted to
  introduce a fascist state. His excesses brought
  his downfall by military coupColombia's first in
  the 20th century.
• General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla assumed the
  presidency in 1953 and, aided by his daughter,
  María Eugenia Rojas, began an effort to end La
  Violencia and to stimulate the economy. Rojas was
  a populist leader who supported citizens' demands
  for the redress of grievances against the elite.
• Support for Rojas began to collapse when it
  appeared that he would not be able to fulfill his
  promises. When he showed reluctance to give up
  power, and when the economy faltered as a result
  of a disastrous fall in coffee prices in 1957 he
  was driven from office by a military junta.

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Hernando TellezLa Violencia
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Hernando TellezLa Violencia
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Hernando TellezLa Violencia
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Hernando TellezLa Violencia
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Hernando TellezLa Violencia
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Hernando TellezLa Violencia
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Hernando TellezLa Violencia
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La Violencia

• Colombian writers have striven to explain 'la
  violencia' - the violence in Colombian history
  and society. Here, in interviews and extracts,
  they explore the roots of this violence, and how
  it influences their writing.

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The Institutionalization of La Violencia

• "We have a very long tradition of the use of
  violence as the only means to solve conflict. So
  many conflicts are solved through the use of
  force and violence. It has become
  institutionalized. In the case of Argentina,
  Chile, Uruguay, Brazil in the 70s and 80s it was
  the state using the violence. In Colombia, it's
  almost anybody and everybody. Colombia is the
  only country in the world that has a completely
  new social science violentology, it studies
  violence"
• Professor Erna von der Walde, New York
  University

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"In Colombia the God of death rules." Author,
Fernando Vallejo

• "The question of 'La Violencia' in Colombia is
  hard to answer. There have been so many studies
  of this. I think it's a mixture of a very weak
  state and some sort of facility about killing an
  indifference about feeling for your fellow
  citizens, but I haven't read a convincing
  explanation. Some people say it began in the
  1940s but it's still there. It happens. It's in
  the street life in Bogota. I'm totally puzzled,
  as a foreign observer, what is specific to
  Colombia and not the rest of Latin America."
• Professor Jason Wilson, University College
  London