This collection shows family members and victims of the violence against the Patriotic Union, during the mid 1980’s. The Union Patriotica or Patriotic Union (UP) is a leftist political party that was co-founded by the guerrilla group, the FARC, in the mid-1980’s and was the victim of systematic disappearances and assassinations in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
Founded in 1985, the party embodied the hope that Colombia could break with its violence-plagued past and achieve change through the electoral process. The leaders of the FARC also acknowledged that agreements signed with the government represented a democratic opening that had not existed before.
The state not only failed to protect supporters of the UP, however, but actively formed part of the effort to extinguish the party and its members. Despite the constant threats, killings and forced disappearances, the UP endured. In the 1986 elections, barely a year after being created, the party won a number of posts and its presidential candidate won 4.54 percent of the vote, a historic achievement.
