Edición Número 6, Girardot, Agosto 24 de 2017
CARLOS ARTURO RODRÍGUEZ BEJARANO
Few are the cities, which along the Río Grande de la Magdalena have generated growth and economic development in such a way as to elicit increasing interest about its destiny, as did Girardot during the first decades of the XX Century (1900-1930).
Barometer of distinctly capitalist business expansion, pioneer of light industry, centerpiece of long ago transports, liberal home of the Liberal Party in ideological terms, national politic were decided here. Its economic impetus, its demographics and its politics were remarkable.
¿How was it possible that Girardot move out of a manifestly primal port (Peñalisa), located a few kilometers away from an incipient farm house and become what it is today? It was its geographic location that traced its future development: its rivers Magdalena, Sumapaz, Bogotá and even a fourth, El Coello; the access from and towards Pubenza and Tolima Grande Valleys, which are joined by the bridges Viejo, Salsipuedes and Férreo. What a paradox. At the beginning of the 1930s the biggest market (political and economic), the cold and woolly old Bogotá strengthened its connections with a railway 130 Km long with Girardot; luminous, modern and civilized city envy of many and all. By river, by train, by truck, by road, by telegraph, by telephone, everyone met there. How easy it was to know La Sultana del Magdalena, Girardot, Jewish name, blessed it was.
The expansion of coffee cultivation and its good price on the international markets, plus all kinds of agro-livestock and fish-farm products, gave rise to an economic boom; better wages and demographic growth comparable to the prosperity of Barranquilla, receiver of the richness global balance from the Rio Grande during the period of 1880-1950. A very optimist researcher established a causal relation between marriages increments with the international coffee price increases.
Jobs were not a curse, may be a mistake. Beneficiary of the production of a huge central zone of the country, it was emptying villages and towns until becoming a large urban center, bastion of work and of the Liberal Party with liberal inclinations, socialist during some years, and crowded with intellectuals, masons, working class and radical socialists. The idea of its proto-creators in the XIX century and leaders at the beginning of the XX century was to convert it, or see it and dreaming it as a progressive and workers city.
The diverse means of transportation (fluvial, railroad, roads, bridges and aerial) and the telecommunications network contributed to generate this particular city, not sufficiently explained until today. In the beginning of the 1930s Girardot enjoyed the privilege of buying with cash many of its public services; during these growing times, it could ask for credit similar to those extended in the 1920s. It gathered personality, political independence and local power, from the private property to the public sector. The development of public services accomplished and important role; meanwhile, the city emerged from a rapid expansion with plenty of capital and labor sources. The aqueduct, with potable water and electricity 24-hours a day, street light, telegraph, telephone, sewage, they were among the best achievements of the Republic, in concert with their distinguished public figures, renowned in the national arena. Girardot did not suffer in its hastened and progressive urban expansion; it counted on renown and industrious urban planners, to implement and emphasize social policies.
Girardot expressed interest during these roughly 20 years the social struggles for decent living wages, eight-hour day work, holidays, education, health benefits and dignity. This response is directly connected to the political-ideological and religious domination of the Conservative party. In the prelude of the beginning of its end, the Liberal party planned its program, formed partnerships and spoke louder than usual. Those decades, rich in social struggles, are identified with the ideology, politics, and world’s vision, which its newspapers played a prominent role. Girardot was born. La Plaza Roja de Colombia. Amen.
In conclusion, Girardot, brilliant star before its birth, paradigmatic by virtue of its modest origins, a growing economy, a social and political ideology and developing cultural enclave, had no serious contradictions during its take-off as a modern city. Within a short time it achieved what many others did not attain.
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*RODRÍGUEZ BEJARANO, Carlos Arturo. Cronología Poética de Girardot 1900-1930 (Compilación). Volumen I, Ediciones Valentina, Ibagué, 2014, p. 16. (Prólogo)
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