title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Until at least 2001, polls showed that at most 2% of the electorate contemplated voting for Uribe and that the Liberal Party's Horacio Serpa would probably win. But public mood shifted in his favor after the peace process with the guerrillas degenerated. The administration of President Andrés Pastrana had failed for four years to secure a cease-fire, and Uribe began to be seen as a candidate who might provide a viable security program. Former General Harold Bedoya, a candidate with a superficially similar program, remained marginalized.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Uribe was elected President of Colombia in the first round of 26 May 2002 elections with 53% of the popular vote. His running mate was Francisco Santos Calderón, a member of the Santos family, who have a long-lasting tradition as members of the Colombian Liberal Party and as owners of Colombian daily newspaper "El Tiempo". Santos was also one of the founders of the anti-kidnapping NGO "Fundación País Libre", created shortly after his own experience as a hostage of drug lord Pablo Escobar.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Observers considered the elections mostly free of foul play at the national level, but there were instances of active intimidation of voters and candidates, by the actions of guerrilla and paramilitary groups. 47% of the potential electorate voted, down from the previous round of voting.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Some of Uribe's opponents made accusations during his campaign, especially in a speech by Horacio Serpa and a book published by Newsweek's Joseph Contreras, who interviewed Uribe that year. Claims centered on Uribe's alleged past personal relationships with members of the Medellín Cartel and the sympathy that some paramilitary spokesmen expressed towards Uribe as a candidate. Uribe and his supporters denied or undermined these claims, and critics never committed to legal action because there was no evidence for these claims.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: During his tenure, Uribe's declared priority was to contain or defeat the three main armed groups in Colombia, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), National Liberation Army (ELN), and FARC. And by the end of his first term in office the AUC had other right-wing militias agree to disarm and go to jail under special sentences of seven years.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Uribe stated that the government had to first show military superiority in order to eventually make the guerrillas return to the negotiating table with a more flexible position, even if this would only happen after his term in office expired. Early in his government, he was quoted as saying that Colombia's main concerns were the challenges of terrorism and the narcotics trade. In a dialog with BBC's "Talking Point", Uribe stated: "Of course we need to eliminate social injustice in Colombia but what is first? Peace. Without peace, there is no investment. Without investment, there are no fiscal resources for the government to invest in the welfare of the people".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In early 2002, Uribe's administration decreed a one-time tax of 1.2% of the liquid assets of the higher-income Colombians and corporations, with the goal of raising US$800 million. More than $650 million was collected before the final payment quota was made, surpassing original expectations. Another goal was to increase defense expenditures from a current level of about 3.6% of GDP to 6% of GDP by 2006.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: According to official government statistical information from August 2004, in two years, homicides, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks in Colombia decreased by as much as 50% – their lowest levels in almost 20 years. In 2003, there were 7,000 fewer homicides than in 2002 – a decrease of 27%. By April 2004, the government had established permanent police or military presence in every Colombian municipality for the first time in decades.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: The Colombian Embassy in Washington states that, as a result of this policy, the Colombian armed forces would now have: "60% more combat-ready soldiers than four years ago; Helicopters which have significantly improved the mobility of the Armed Forces throughout the national territory; Attack helicopters ensuring the means to be more aggressive in the fight against FARC and AUC; Increased basic combat supplies, including rifles and ammunition; and [has received] significant less human rights complaints against them".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In January 2005, Human Rights Watch stated: "Paramilitary groups maintain close ties with a number of Colombian military units. The Uribe administration has yet to take effective action to break these ties by investigating and prosecuting high-ranking members of the armed forces credibly alleged to have collaborated with paramilitary groups. Credible reports indicate that some of the territories from which the military has ejected the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolutionarias de Colombia, FARC) are now under the control of paramilitary groups, which continue to carry out indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: A February 2005 report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the year 2004 stated: "Achievements and advances were observed in the field of human rights and international humanitarian law; however, there were also difficulties and contradictions. ... Progress was recorded in terms of prevention and protection, including strengthening of the mechanism of community defenders and the early warning system, as well as regarding the Ministry of the Interior's programs for the protection of vulnerable groups. Weaknesses persisted in the Government's responses to warnings, as well as in decreasing risk factors for vulnerable groups. The Government adopted positive measures regarding the destruction of stored anti-personnel mines. The armed forces occasionally carried out operations in which they failed to observe humanitarian principles".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: An anti-terror statute criticized by many human rights groups was approved by Congress on 11 December 2003 but was struck down in August 2004 by the Colombian Constitutional Court during its review. The statute granted the military judicial police rights and allowed limited arrests and communication intercepts without warrants. It was struck down due to an error in the approval procedure, an objection the court has also presented towards other bills.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: After some of the AUC's main leaders had declared a cease-fire and agreed to concentrate in Santa Fe de Ralito, several paramilitary demobilizations began in earnest, thousands of their "rank and file" fighters were disarmed and incorporated into government rehabilitation programs late in 2004. The main AUC leaders, who would be held responsible for atrocities, remained in the concentration zone and continued talks with the government's High Commissioner for Peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo. A number of the paramilitary members who initially demobilized in Medellín apparently did not actually belong to the AUC and this caused public concern. The AUC commanders claimed, as the year ended, that they had difficulties controlling all of their personnel from their isolated position, that they had already demobilized some 20% of their forces, and that they would await for the drafting of the necessary legal framework before making any more significant moves.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In 2005, Uribe and Colombia's congressmen prepared for the elections held in May and March 2006 respectively. FARC, which had been perceived as relatively passive, began to show signs of what analysts considered renewed vigor in February. It made a series of attacks against small military units, which left at least three dozen casualties. Uribe said in a speech that FARC remained strong and had never retreated, and he credited Colombia's soldiers for previous successes against FARC activities.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Negotiations with the AUC also increased public anxiety. Discussions continued about the legal provisions to assure "justice, reparation and truth" after a full demobilization. Also according to many observers, paramilitary activity continued despite AUC's declared cease-fire, albeit at a reduced rate. The demobilizations were renewed in November and finished in the complete disbandment of the group by middle February 2007, although some of the paramilitary units rejected disbandment and returned to criminal activity. These groups became known as the Black Eagles. This group is relatively small in comparison to the AUC and have not been able to achieve the notoriety or the military power of their predecessor, but are present on some former paramilitary areas, like Catatumbo and Choco.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: The Colombian Congress agreed to prosecute AUC leaders under the controversial Justice and Peace Law, by which the paramilitary leaders would receive reduced sentences in exchange for their testimony and declarations of their entire criminal activity: links with drug dealers, assassinations, disappearances and massacres. These declarations are to be brought before a specialized judge, in a public hearing attended by the victims. The paramilitary leaders are also forced to "repair" the damage caused to the victims or their families: By disclosing the location of mass graves and by repaying each of them through economic assistance. As of 2008, these public hearings are still underway.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: To improve its results in the fight against guerrilla warfare, the Colombian army carried out mass executions of civilians transformed into false positives. If exactions of this kind already existed, the phenomenon became widespread from 2002, encouraged by the bonuses paid to the soldiers and by quasi-absolute impunity. In 2010 a mass grave containing 2,000 corpses was discovered near a military base in the department of Meta. This is the largest mass grave discovered to date in South America.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In 2008, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nation's Human Rights Council criticised the continuation of forced disappearances in Colombia.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: According to the CODHES human rights NGO, forced displacement during Uribe's term affected over 2.4 million Colombian nationals by the end of 2009. A spokesperson for the organization stated: "It's true that there have been advances for some segments of society, but not for everyone, which casts into doubt the democratic component of (the government's) security policy". From 2000 to 2008, more that 130.000 Colombian nationals fled to Ecuador. According to the International Displacement Monitoring Centre, an estimated total of 3.303.979 to 4.915.579 people have been internally displaced in Colombia.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In November 2006, a political crisis emerged as several of Uribe's congressional supporters were questioned or charged by the Colombian Supreme Court and the office of the Attorney General for having alleged links to paramilitary groups. Álvaro Araújo, brother of Uribe's Foreign Minister María Consuelo Araújo, was among those summoned for questioning. In November, the former ambassador to Chile, Salvador Arana, was charged with the murder of a mayor in a small town in the Department of Sucre. The Supreme Court sentenced Arana to 40 years in prison in December 2009.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In April 2007, Senator Gustavo Petro made several accusations against Uribe during a televised congressional debate about paramilitarism in Antioquia. Petro said that some of the Uribe family's farms in the north of the country had been previously used as staging grounds for paramilitary forces. He also showed a picture of Santiago Uribe, the President's brother, together with Fabio Ochoa, a drug dealer, in 1985. Petro also argued that Governor Uribe's office allowed paramilitary personnel to participate in some of the legal cooperative neighborhood watch groups known as CONVIVIR. Another accusation concerned the possible participation of a helicopter belonging to the former Antioquia Governor's administration during a paramilitary massacre.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Two days later, Uribe publicly revealed that former US Vice President Al Gore had canceled his participation in a pro-environment event Uribe was to attend in Miami due to the continuing allegations against him. The Colombian President reacted by organizing a press conference during which he addressed several of the accusations Senator Petro and others had made against him. Uribe argued that his family had nothing to do with any massacres and that they had already sold the implicated farms several years before the alleged events. He also stated that the Uribes and the Ochoas were both famous in the horse breeding business, causing their meetings to be both common and public. He claimed that the helicopter's hours and missions had been strictly logged, making it impossible for it to have participated in any massacre. Uribe said that he supported the CONVIVIR groups but was not solely responsible for their creation, adding that other civilian and military authorities also participated in their oversight. He also said that he dismantled some CONVIVIR groups when doubts began to surround their activities.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: On 22 April 2008, former senator Mario Uribe Escobar, one of the Colombian President's cousins and a close political ally, was arrested after being denied asylum at the Costa Rican embassy in Bogotá, as part of a judicial inquiry into the links between politicians and paramilitary groups. Mario Uribe has been accused of meeting with paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso in order to plan land seizures. On 22 February 2011, Uribe Escobar was convicted and sentenced to 90 months in jail after the Colombian Supreme Court found him guilty of the charge of conspiring with paramilitary groups.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: On 23 April 2008, Uribe revealed that a former paramilitary fighter had accused him of helping to plan the 1997 massacre of El Aro, a charge which he said was under official investigation. Uribe described the accuser as a "disgruntled convict with an axe to grind", denied the charges and said there was proof of his innocence. The Colombian newsweekly Revista Semana reported that the paramilitary in question, Francisco Enrique Villalba Hernández, had not mentioned Uribe during previous declarations made more than five years ago, when he was sentenced for his own role in the massacre. The magazine also listed a number of possible inconsistencies in his most recent testimony, including the alleged presence of General Manosalva, who had died months before the date of the meeting where the massacre was planned.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In May 2009 Colombian prosecutors officially began an investigation on a series of illegal wiretapping and spying activities carried out against opposition politicians, judges, journalists and others by the Administrative Department of Security (DAS). The probe has involved several of Uribe's top aides and former high-ranking personnel within the department.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Former DAS counterintelligence director Jorge Alberto Lagos has told investigators that information on the country's Supreme Court judges was provided to Bernardo Moreno and José Obdulio, two of Uribe's aides. Gaviria has claimed that criminals have tried to damage the government's image as part of a "political war" against the administration. "El Tiempo" has criticized these explanations, raising questions about the President's knowledge of these activities. Uribe himself has denied ordering any illegal wiretapping and claims that those responsible for spying on the opposition are part of "a mafia group that hurts the Colombian Democracy, freedom, the country and the government itself".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: The DAS, an "intelligence service that answers to the president" as described by the "Washington Post", has been the subject of earlier controversies during the Uribe administration. According to "Revista Semana", revelations about the infiltration of paramilitaries affected the entity under former DAS chief Jorge Noguera in 2007 and further accusations have continued to surface. The magazine reported that information gathered by the DAS has been allegedly forwarded to paramilitaries, narcotraffickers and guerrillas.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Previously, former DAS computer systems chief Rafael García had claimed that the department and Colombian paramilitaries were involved in a plan to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: According to Reporters Without Borders, Colombia was demoted from 114th to 145th place between 2002 and 2010 on freedom of the press.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Uribe's administration was responsible for arresting and extraditing more drug traffickers to the United States and to other countries than all other previous presidents. He has been publicly recognized as a supporter of the US war on drugs by continually implementing the anti-drug strategy of Plan Colombia.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: He is also recognized as a supporter of the US war on terror, and the invasion of Iraq. In January 2003, Uribe ended a radio interview by asking "why isn't there any thought of [making] an equivalent deployment [as in the invasion of Iraq] to put an end to this problem [the Colombian conflict], which has such potentially grave consequences?".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In a 22 November visit to the coastal city of Cartagena, US President George W. Bush stood by the results of Uribe's security policies and declared he would continue to provide Plan Colombia aid in the future: "My nation will continue to help Colombia prevail in this vital struggle. Since the year 2000, when we began Plan Colombia, the United States has provided more than $3 billion in vital aid. We'll continue providing aid. We've helped Colombia to strengthen its democracy, to combat drug production, to create a more transparent and effective judicial system, to increase the size and professionalism of its military and police forces, to protect human rights, and to reduce corruption. Mr. President, you and your government have not let us down. Plan Colombia enjoys wide bipartisan support in my country, and next year I will ask our Congress to renew its support so that this courageous nation can win its war against narco-terrorists".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: The Uribe administration has maintained generally positive diplomatic relations with Spain and most Latin American nations. It signed several accords, including one in 2004 for the joint construction of a pipeline with Venezuela, a security and anti-drug trafficking cooperation deal with Paraguay in 2005, a commercial and technological cooperation agreement with Bolivia in 2004, a defense agreement with Spain (which was modified in 2004 but still remained valid), and economic and cultural agreements with the People's Republic of China in April 2005.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Several analysts consider that, being an ally of the US, Uribe would be ideologically opposed to left wing governments in Latin America and elsewhere. Yet, Uribe has participated in multilateral meetings and has held bilateral summits with presidents Hugo Chávez, Martín Torrijos, Lula da Silva, Ricardo Lagos, and Carlos Mesa, among others. Colombia has also maintained diplomatic relations with Cuba and the People's Republic of China.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: There have been some diplomatic incidents and crises with Venezuela during his term, in particular around the 2005 Rodrigo Granda affair, Colombia's frustrated 2004 acquisition of 46 AMX-30 tanks from Spain, and an Alleged planned Venezuelan coup in 2004 by Colombian paramilitaries. These internationally worrying circumstances have been ultimately resolved through the use of official diplomatic channels and bilateral presidential summits (in the first two cases).


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: International law enforcement cooperation has been maintained with countries such as the US, Spain, the United Kingdom, México, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Panama, Paraguay, Honduras and Brazil among others.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Uribe's government, along with Peru and Ecuador, negotiated and (with Peru) signed a free trade agreement with the US. On 30 December 2005, Uribe signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with Mercosur and gives Colombian products preferential access to the market of 230 million people. Trade negotiations have also been underway with Mexico, Chile, the Andean community and the USA over its current proposal.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: After the 2009 Honduran election Uribe joined a list of leaders that are supporting the next government following the coup d'état. "Colombia recognizes the next government", Uribe told reporters during an Ibero-American summit in Portugal on 30 November 2009. "A democratic process has taken place in Honduras with high participation, without fraud".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In 2009, bilateral negotiations between the United States and Colombia which would give U.S. forces increased access to several Colombian military bases for the stated purpose of fighting terrorism and the drug trade generated controversy throughout the region. Venezuela's Hugo Chávez criticized the proposed deal as the creation of a purported "imperialist beachhead" while Colombian diplomats defended the agreement. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that "there was no intention to expand the number of permanent [U.S.] personnel [in Colombia] beyond the maximum permitted by Congress". Other Latin American nations, including Brazil, also expressed their own concerns about the matter.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: On 2 July 2008 a covert rescue operation codenamed Operation Jaque by the Colombian Special Forces disguised as FARC guerrillas resulted in the rescue of Senator and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, the Americans Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell and eleven soldiers and police officers. It was done without bloodshed and led to the capture of two guerrilla leaders. The operation heightened Uribe's already soaring popularity. Uribe stated that the rescue operation "was guided in every way by the light of the Holy Spirit, the protection of our Lord and the Virgin Mary". The hostages agreed, indicating that they had spent much time in captivity praying the rosary, and Ms. Betancourt, formerly a lapsed Catholic who prayed daily on a wooden rosary which she made while a hostage, attributed the rescue as follows: "I am convinced this is a miracle of the Virgin Mary. To me it is clear she has had a hand in all of this".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Despite significant political differences, until 2007 Colombia and Venezuela had only one major impasse in their relations, the Rodrigo Granda affair, which had been overcome thanks to the direct talks between Uribe and Chávez. Uribe's main political problem during 2007 was his handling of the humanitarian exchange situation: the FARC guerrillas held over 700 hostages, living in poor conditions in the Colombian jungle. These hostages included presidential candidate and French citizen Ingrid Betancourt (later freed), three American citizens (later freed), and several Colombian politicians and law enforcers. Some of the captives had been in the jungle for over 10 years. For the release of 40 of these hostages (the so-called "canjeables" or "exchangeables") the FARC demands a Demilitarized Zone that includes the towns of Florida and Pradera. The government has refused to comply with this demand, deciding instead to push for a military rescue of the hostages, or by searching the mediation of third parties like Switzerland and the Catholic Church.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: As all of those plans failed to get any positive outcome, Uribe appointed Senator Piedad Córdoba to mediate between the government and the guerrillas in an attempt to secure the liberation of the hostages. Córdoba then asked Chávez to mediate as well, with Uribe's consent. French president Nicolas Sarkozy was also willing to help in the mediation effort.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: On 8 November 2007 Chávez met with alias "Iván Márquez" one of the highest members of the FARC and some other members of its secretariat at the Palacio de Miraflores in a widely publicized event. After the event Chavez promised to deliver evidence that some of the hostages remained alive. When Chávez met with Sarkozy on 19 November, Chávez was still waiting for the evidence. Lacking the "proof of life" that was promised to the families of the hostages, and seeing prominent FARC members using the media attention to promote their own ideology, Uribe became disgruntled with the mediation process.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: On 22 November Uribe abruptly ended the mediation after Chávez spoke with the high command of the Colombian military during a call made by Córdoba. Uribe had warned Chávez against any attempt to talk to military high command. Chávez initially accepted the decision, but tensions escalated as the presidents increasingly attacked each other verbally, with Chávez claiming that Uribe and the U.S. simply preferred the war continue, and Uribe implying Chávez supported the rebels.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Chávez announced a "freeze" of political relations and called Uribe a "pawn of the empire" and cut contact with the Colombian government, including rejecting calls from the Colombian embassy in Caracas. He announced his intent to sharply reduce bilateral commerce.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Chávez continued negotiating with the rebels and eventually secured the unilateral release of two, then four more, hostages to Venezuela which were meant as signs of good faith and preceded calls for more negotiations, which Uribe dismissed.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: A regional crisis began after Colombian troops killed FARC commander Raúl Reyes in a guerrilla camp inside Ecuadorian borders on 1 March. Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua, which has a maritime dispute with Colombia, cut diplomatic ties with Colombia as a response, with Chavez and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa ordering troops to their respective borders with Colombia. Uribe in response placed the armed forces on high alert but did not move his troops to confront them even though the Colombian army is larger than Ecuador's and Venezuela's combined.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Several countries in the Americas criticized the incursion into Ecuador as a violation of national sovereignty, which was also denounced by an OAS resolution. The United States backed Colombia's position and internal support for the action remained strong, Uribe's popularity rising as a result.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: The impasse was finally solved when Leonel Fernández, President of the Dominican Republic, hosted an emergency summit of Latin American nations in Santo Domingo. He got Uribe, Correa, and Chavez to shake hands. Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega also announced the restoration of relations with Colombia at which Uribe told him that he would send him the bill for the plane fare for his ambassador.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In early March 2010, judge Eloy Velasco of Spain brought forth allegations against Hugo Chávez, the FARC and ETA of conspiring to assassinate Uribe, along with other Colombian political figures.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: The Uribe administration has continued dealing with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, securing loans, agreeing to cut expenses, agreeing to continue debt payments, privatize public companies and foment investor confidence, in order to comply with financial orthodoxy.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Under Uribe, social spending has also seen a huge increase. The government's High Advisor for Social Policy, Juan Francisco Lozano Ramírez, stated in February 2005 that the administration had by 2004 achieved an increase of 5 million affiliates to the subsidized health system (3.5 million added in 2004, for a total of 15.4 million affiliates), an increase of 2 million Colombians that receive meals and care through the Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) (for a total of 6.6 million), an increase of 1.7 million education slots in the National Service of Learning (SENA) (for a total of 2.7 million), an increase of 157% in the amount of microcredit available to small entrepreneurs, a reduction of unemployment from 15.6% in December 2002 to 12.1% by December 2004, the addition of almost 200,000 new houses to existing housing projects for the poor, a total of 750,000 new school slots in primary and high school, some 260,000 new university slots, the return of 70,000 displaced persons to their homes (under an 800% increase in the budget assigned to this matter), and support for a program that seeks to increase economic subsidies from 170,000 to 570,000 of the elderly by the end of the term. The High Advisor added that a "colossal effort" is still required and work must continue, and that this progress would constitute a sign of the Uribe administration's positive effects on social indicators.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Companies such as Carbocol, Telecom Colombia, Bancafé, Minercol and others, which were either already in crisis or considered by the government as overly expensive to maintain under their current spending conditions, were among those restructured or privatized.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Most direct critics have considered Uribe's administration neoliberal, and argued that it has not addressed the root causes of poverty and unemployment, because continued application of traditional trade and tax policies tend to benefit private and foreign investors over small owners and workers. Union and labor claim that many of the privatizations and liquidations have been done to please the IMF, the World Bank and multinational companies, and will hurt several national industries in the long run.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: A national referendum was promoted during Uribe's campaign and later modified by Congress and judicial review. The ability to revoke Congress was removed, as was the option to vote "Yes" or "No" as a whole. The modified proposal was defeated at the polls on 25 October 2003, and several left-wing candidates opposed to the referendum were victorious at regional elections the following day. At least 25% of the electorate needed to vote on each of the 15 proposals in order it to be accepted, but overall participation was only 24.8% and only the first proposal ("political death for the corrupt") achieved this. All 15 proposals were approved by a substantial majority of those who voted.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Analysts considered these events a political setback for Uribe, as one of his main campaign propositions had failed, despite his personal leadership. The "active abstention" and blank voting campaigns that his opponents, in particular the Independent Democratic Pole and the Colombian Liberal Party, had promoted were allegedly successful in convincing enough of their sympathizers to stay home and instead participate in the next day's round of elections.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: A number of Uribe's own supporters did not participate, as they found the referendum, which had been modified by Congress and later by the Judicial branch, to be too complex, long and uninspiring. Some also pointed out that extraordinary electoral initiatives (that is, those voted outside standard electoral dates) have traditionally suffered complications in Colombia, including a lack of participation.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In September 2003, Uribe issued a speech that contained allegations against what he called "agents of terrorism" inside a minority of human rights organizations, while at the same time declaring that he respected criticism from most other established organizations and sources. Similar statements were later repeated in other instances.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: These statements were sharply criticized inside and outside Colombia because they could endanger the work of human rights and opposition figures.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Contacts begun in 2002 with the paramilitary AUC forces and their leader Carlos Castaño, which had publicly expressed their will to declare a cease-fire, continued in 2003 amid a degree of national and international controversy.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In 2004, Uribe successfully sought a Congressional amendment to the Colombian Constitution of 1991 which allowed him to run for a second term as president. For years, Colombian presidents had been limited to a single four-year term and had been barred from any sort of reelection, even if nonconsecutive. Uribe originally had expressed his disagreement with consecutive reelection during his campaign, but later changed his mind, first at a private level and later in public appearances.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Many analysts considered that, in order to secure the approval of this reform, Uribe may have slacked on his campaign promises, because of what has been perceived as his indirect bribing of congressmen, through the alleged assignment of their relatives to the diplomatic corps and through promises of investment in their regions of origin. Uribe's supporters consider that no actual bribing took place, and that a consensus among the diverse sectors that back Uribe's policies in Congress had to be reached through political negotiation.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: The amendment permitting a single reelection was approved by Congress in December 2004, and by the Constitutional Court in October 2005.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In 2004, Uribe's political supporters amended the constitution to allow him to run for a second term, previously proscribed by the Colombian constitution, and his own decision to run for a second term was announced in late 2005. With this amendment, Uribe was re-elected on 28 May 2006 for a second presidential term (2006–2010), and became the first president to be consecutively re-elected in Colombia in over a century. He received about 62% of the vote, winning over 7.3 million votes. This was the largest victory for a presidential candidate in Colombian history.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: The Organization of American States (OAS) deployed electoral observers in 12 departments: Antioquia, Risaralda, Quindío, Atlántico, Bolívar, Santander, Córdoba, Cauca, César, Nariño, Magdalena and Valle. In a statement made on 28 May, OAS mentioned that the elections "have taken place in an atmosphere of freedom, transparency and normalcy", despite incidents "related to the use of indelible ink, voter substitution and the accreditation of electoral witnesses, though these have no effect on the electoral process as a whole" and "developments in northern Santander province that took the lives of army personnel and left others injured in an ambush carried out by subversive groups".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In April 2008, Yidis Medina, a former congresswoman from the pro-government Colombian Conservative Party, claimed that members of Uribe's administration had offered her to appoint local officials in her home province, in exchange for voting in favor of the 2004 reelection bill. According to Medina, the government had not fulfilled that promise, prompting her declaration. The Attorney General of Colombia ordered her arrest, after which she turned herself over to authorities and testified to the Supreme Court as part of the investigation. The opposition Alternative Democratic Pole party asked for Uribe to be investigated for bribery. After the declarations made by Medina, the Supreme Court of Colombia sent copies of the process to other judicial authorities, who have the jurisdiction to investigate several former and current cabinet members and other high officials. The Accusations Commission of the Colombian Congress will study the matter and decide if there are enough merits to officially investigate Uribe.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Since his 2002 election Uribe's approval ratings had remained high, usually staying between 60 and 70 percent after eight years in office, but this status has radically changed.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: During early 2008, Uribe's approval rating hit 81%, one of the highest popularity levels of his entire presidency. In June 2008, after Operation Jaque, Uribe's approval rate rose to an unprecedented 91%. In May 2009 his popularity had dropped to 68%.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: According to a June 2009 Ipsos-Napoleón Franco national poll for the 2010 presidential campaign, covering over thirty cities and municipalities, Uribe's overall approval rating was 76% but only 57% would vote in favor of his potential reelection for a third term.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: During the eight years of Uribe's government, internal polling, communications strategy and government and presidential image were managed by Uribe's Communications Advisors Jaime Bermudez, who later became Ambassador to Argentina and then Foreign Affairs Minister; Jorge Mario Eastman, who was Vice-minister of Defense before and left to become Vice-minister of Defense again; and Mauricio Carradini who served under Uribe until the end the period in office.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Uribe's popularity on leaving office was measured to be between 79% and 84% depending on the source consulted. However, those opinion polls in Colombia were mostly carried out among the inhabitants of big cities and did not include the opinion of rural populations, most affected by war and poverty. Some journalists were also surprised that the president's popularity is not reflected in the elections, where the abstention varies between 50% and 80% of the electorate.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In 2019, 69% of the population surveyed said they had an unfavourable image of Uribe, while 26% said they had a favourable image.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: As the end of Uribe's second term approached, his followers sought a new amendment that would grant him the right to run for a third term.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In May 2009, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos resigned so he could run for president in case Uribe either did not or could not run again. Santos said before resigning that he did not want to run against Uribe.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Congress backed a proposed referendum on the matter, but the Constitutional Court rejected it after reviewing the resulting law. On 26 February 2010 lead justice Mauricio Gonzalez publicly announced the Court's decision. Gonzalez said that the Court had found numerous irregularities in the way signatures were obtained to allow the referendum to pass. He also said that the law calling for a referendum contained "substantial violations to the democratic principle" that made it unconstitutional. Uribe stated that he would respect the decision but called for voters to continue supporting his administration's policies in the upcoming elections.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: The Constitutional Court not only threw out the referendum, but declared Colombian presidents could only serve two terms, even if they were nonconsecutive. This effectively foreclosed a potential Uribe run for president in 2014. The Constitution has since been amended to limit the president to a single four-year term, restoring the status quo that prevailed before 2005.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In late 2010, a few months after leaving office, Uribe was named visiting scholar at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he taught students in different disciplines as a guest lecturer in seminars and classes. In 2011, Uribe was granted an honorary award by the Latin American Student Association of Georgetown, for his leadership and commitment with the Latin American community of the university.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Uribe's appointment at Georgetown sparked controversy. In September, more than 150 scholars, including 10 Georgetown professors and leading experts on Latin America and Colombia, signed a letter calling for Uribe's firing. A Colombian humorist suggested Uribe teach a course on wiretapping, which his administration illegally conducted on opposition figures, human rights workers, journalists and Supreme Court justices. Many students protested, with some hanging banners calling him a "mass murderer" for the deaths of thousands of civilians that the army was accused of later dressing up as guerrillas.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In November 2010, while at the Georgetown campus, Uribe was served a criminal subpoena in the case "Claudia Balcero Giraldo v. Drummond", regarding hundreds of civilians murdered by paramilitary forces loyal to Uribe.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In October 2012, News Corporation welcomed Uribe to the Board of Directors upon the retirement of Andrew Knight, John Thornton, and Arthur Siskind.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In 2012, Uribe joined the Leadership Council of Concordia, a nonprofit organization in New York City that creates public-private partnerships.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Prosecutors accuse Uribe of helping to plan paramilitary massacres in La Granja (1996), San Roque (1996) and El Aro (1997) while he was governor of Antioquia, and the February 1998 assassination of Jesús María Valle, an attorney and human rights defender working with victims in those cases.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Uribe, who had served in the Senate prior to his election as president, is the only former Colombian head of state in history to have become a Senator after occupying the presidency.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Founded by the former president, the Democratic Center (Centro Democrático) party managed to win 20 seats in the Senate during 9 March congressional election, the second highest number after the 21 seats held by President Juan Manuel Santos U Party (Partido de la U). Uribe's new Democratic Center party also won 19 of the House of Representatives' 166 seats.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Uribe campaigned actively against the peace deal between the Juan Manuel Santos administration and FARC. He argued the deal would undermine the constitution by appointing FARC leaders, who received no prison terms for their crimes, to congress.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In August 2020, Uribe was placed under house arrest at his hacienda "El Uberrimo" by the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia, as part of ongoing judicial invenstigations into El Aro and La Granja massacres, which took place while he was Governor of Antioquia. Uribe's detention marked the first time in Colombian history that a court had detained a former president. The day following his arrest, Uribe tested positive for COVID-19, but he announced he was cured six days later. On 18 August 2020, Uribe resigned his seat in the Senate of Colombia. Uribe was later released on 10 October 2020, after the Supreme Court ruled that there was a lack of evidence to suggest he engaged in witness tampering.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: Another court case called "" was also levied against Uribe. It was a dispute in which Uribe began as a victim ended as a victimizer, according to the status granted by the high court to his counterpart in this process, Senator Iván Cepeda.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: The process passed into the hands of the Office of the Colombian Attorney General, thus evading the jurisdiction that the Supreme Court of Justice had over it. The prosecutor delegated to this high court, Gabriel Jaimes Durán, requested the preclusion of the process, ruling in a four-month investigation on the probative material that the court compiled over the course of three years.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In 2008, the case of so-called false positives, or extrajudicial executions, was revealed. Several Army brigades created a policy, according to which commanders and soldiers reporting combat casualties, received prizes, vacations and promotions, while commanders who did not report results were disciplined and punished. Such policy did not reward the military for capturing guerrillas but for reporting the death toll in combat. It subsequently came to light that several National Army units executed civilians, often from a poor background, to pass them off as combat casualties and thus inflate the number of deaths in combat, which sought to demonstrate the success of the "democratic security" policy. The killings were systematically committed by several National Army units as the fourth brigade in Medellin, which lured young people under the pretext of employing them, thus murdering them in the field simulating combat. In December 2019, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace discovered the first mass grave of false positives in the municipality of Dabeiba, Antioquia, where 50 civilian deaths were found, presented as guerrillas who were killed by National Army units during the Uribe government between 2006 and 2008. Those responsible for digging the tombs were soldiers of the Fourth Brigade of Medellin, located less than three hours away by car from Dabeiba. It is estimated that across the country there are between 3,500 and 10,000 victims of false positives in what Human Rights Watch has called as a case of unreleased human rights violation in the world where the army murders its own civilians to pass them off as enemies killed in combat. Such a violation of human rights by the Army entailed the resignation of the National Army Commander at the time, General Mario Montoya, who would subsequently benefit from special jurisdiction after requesting that such entity could ensure his personal security.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: For these crimes, several international analysts have considered Uribe to be at risk of trial for crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court or for War Crimes. Currently, the prosecutor's office of the International Criminal Court has information on 2,047 cases of execution of civilians by the National Army. In February 2021, the Special Peace Jurisdiction has claimed that, during Uribe's rule, 6,402 people were victims of this scourge. In 2021, the president of the Truth Commission, Francisco de Roux, demanded from him to ask for forgiveness due to its responsibility in the events related to the False Positives, but Uribe declined even the invitation to talk with the commission.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In 2005, Uribe was made Knight of the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic by King Juan Carlos I of Spain.


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In 2007, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) gave Uribe its "Light unto the nations" award. AJC President E. Robert Goodkind, who presented the award at AJC's Annual Dinner held at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., stated: "President Uribe is a staunch ally of the United States, a good friend of Israel and the Jewish people, and is a firm believer in human dignity and human development in Colombia and the Americas".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In January 2009 US President George W. Bush awarded Uribe, along with former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair and former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard, the highest civilian award; the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Dana Perino, the White House Press Secretary explained that he received this award "for [his] work to improve the lives of [his] citizens and for [his] efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad". She said (speaking of the three leaders who received the reward on this day): "All three leaders have been staunch allies of the United States, particularly in combating terrorism".


title: Álvaro Uribe

text: In November 2009 Nicolas De Santis, President of Gold Mercury International, presented Uribe with the Gold Mercury International Award for Peace and Security in a ceremony at the House of Nariño in Bogotá. The Award recognized Uribe's efforts to transform Colombia's internal security mechanisms, improve human rights, social cohesion and general development of the country.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Marshall Field, was a pioneering retail magnate.


title: Marshall Field's

text: The company's flagship Marshall Field and Company Building on State Street in the Chicago Loop is a National Landmark. It was officially branded "Macy's on State Street" in 2006, when it became one of Macy's flagship stores.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Marshall Field & Company traces its antecedents to a dry goods store opened at 137 Lake Street in Chicago, Illinois, in 1852 by Potter Palmer, eponymously named P. Palmer & Company. In 1856, 21-year-old Marshall Field moved to the booming midwestern city of Chicago on the southwest shores of Lake Michigan from Pittsfield, Massachusetts and found work at the city's then-largest dry goods firm – Cooley, Wadsworth & Company. Just prior to the American Civil War, in 1860, Field and bookkeeper Levi Z. Leiter became junior partners in the firm, then known as Cooley, Farwell & Company. In 1864, the firm, then led by senior partner John V. Farwell, Sr., was renamed Farwell, Field & Company. only for Field and Leiter to soon withdraw from the partnership with Farwell when presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Potter Palmer, plagued by ailing health, was looking to dispose of his thriving business, so on January 4, 1865, Field and Leiter entered into partnership with him and his brother Milton Palmer. So the firm of P. Palmer & Company became Field, Palmer, Leiter & Company, with Palmer financing much of their initial capital as well as his own contribution. After Field and Leiter's immediate success enabled them to pay him back, Palmer withdrew two years later from the partnership in 1867 to focus on his own growing real-estate interests on one of the burgeoning city's important thoroughfares, State Street. His brother, Milton Palmer, left at this time as well. The store was renamed Field, Leiter & Company, sometimes referred to as "Field & Leiter".


title: Marshall Field's

text: The buyout, however, did not bring an end to Potter Palmer's association with the firm. In 1868, Palmer convinced Field and Leiter to lease a new, six-story edifice he had just built at the northeast corner of State and Washington Streets. The store was soon referred to as the "Marble Palace" owing to its costly marble stone face.


title: Marshall Field's

text: When the Great Chicago Fire broke out on October 8, 1871, news of this, one of the worst conflagrations to ever strike an American city, reached company officials Henry Willing and Levi Leiter, who decided to load as much of their expensive merchandise as possible onto wagons and take it to Leiter's home, which was out of the path of the fire. The Company's drivers and teams were ordered out of the barns. Horace B. Parker, a young salesman, rushed to the store's basement, broke up boxes, and built a fire in the furnace boiler so that the steam-powered elevators could be operated. These employees worked feverishly through the night to remove vital records and valuable goods to safety.


title: Marshall Field's

text: At one point, the gas tank exploded, which put out the store's gaslights. The men worked on by candlelight and the glow from the approaching flames. The employees got enough steam up to operate the store's powerful pumps in the basement, and volunteers went to the roof and used the store's fire hoses to wet down the roof and the wall on the side of the oncoming fire. Early in the following morning however, the city's waterworks burned, thus ending the water supply and making further efforts useless. The last employee had scarcely exited the building when it burst into flames, shooting fire from every window.


title: Marshall Field's

text: The store burned to the ground. However, as a result of the employees' herculean efforts, so much merchandise was saved that the store was able to reopen in only a few weeks (the Wholesale Department on October 28, and the Retail Department on November 6) in a temporary location (a horse-streetcar barn of the Chicago City Railway Co. at State & 20th Streets). Six months later, in April 1872, Field & Leiter reopened in an unburned building at Madison and Market Streets (today's West Wacker Drive). Salesman Parker stayed on with the Company for 45 more years, rising to the level of General Sales Manager.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Two years later, in October 1873, Field and Leiter returned to State Street at Washington, opening in a new five-story store at their old location they now leased from the Singer Sewing Machine Company, Palmer having sold the land site to finance his own rebuilding activities. This store was expanded in 1876, only to be destroyed by fire again in November 1877. Ever tenacious, Field and Leiter had a new temporary store opened by the end of the month at a lakefront exposition hall they leased temporarily from the city, located at what is now the site of the present Art Institute of Chicago. Meanwhile, the Singer company had speculatively built a new, even larger, six-story building on the ruins of their old 1873 store, which, after some contention, was personally bought by Field and Leiter. Field, Leiter & Company now reclaimed their traditional location at the northeast corner of State and Washington for the last time in April 1879.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In January 1881, Field, with the support of his junior partners, bought out Levi Z. Leiter, renaming the business "Marshall Field & Company". As Palmer had before, Leiter retired to tend his significant real estate investments, which included commissioning a department store, Second Leiter Building in 1891 at State Street and Van Buren to house Siegel, Cooper & Company. In 1932, this building (known as one of the earliest steel-framed commercial buildings built and still standing in the U.S. along with the Equitable Building in Baltimore) was leased to the later famous nationwide mail-order firm Sears, Roebuck & Company.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In 1887, the landmark seven-story Henry Hobson Richardson-designed, (1838–1886), Romanesque-styled, Marshall Field's Wholesale Store opened on Franklin Street between Quincy and Adams (razed c.1930). Though little remembered today, the wholesale division sold merchandise in bulk to smaller merchants throughout the central and western United States and at that time did six times the sales volume of the local retail store. Chicago's location at the nexus of the country's railroads and Great Lakes shipping made it the center of the dry goods wholesaling business by the 1870s, with Field's former partner from before the war, John V. Farwell, Sr., (1825–1908), being his largest rival. It was the scale of the profits generated by the John G. Shedd-led wholesale division during this time that made Marshall Field the richest man in Chicago and one of the richest in the country.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Following the departure of Leiter, the retail store grew in importance. Though it remained a fraction of the size of the wholesale division, its opulent building and luxurious merchandise differentiated Marshall Field from the other wholesale dry goods merchants in town. In 1887, Harry Gordon Selfridge, (1858–1947), was appointed to lead the retail store and headed it as it evolved into a modern department store. That same year, Field personally obtained Leiter's remaining interest in the 1879 Singer building and in 1888 started buying the buildings adjoining his for additional floor space.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In 1892, the structures between the 1879 building on State Street and Wabash Avenue to the east were demolished and the famous influential architect Daniel H. Burnham, (1846–1912), and his firm D.H. Burnham & Company was commissioned to erect a new building in anticipation of the influx of visitors from the World's Columbian Exposition scheduled for 1893. The nine-story "Annex" at the northwest corner of Wabash and Washington Streets has opened under the direction of Burnham associate Charles B. Atwood, (1849–1895), in August 1893, towards the end of the Exposition. In 1897, the old 1879 store was rebuilt and had two additional floors added, while the first of Marshall Field's iconic landmark Great Clocks was installed at the corner of State and Washington Streets on November 26.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In 1901, Marshall Field & Company, previously a private partnership, was incorporated. Spurred on by Selfridge, Marshall Field razed the three buildings north of it, which had been occupied since 1888, as well as the Dankmar Adler, (1844–1900), and Louis Sullivan, (1856–1924),-designed 1879 Central Music Hall at the southeast corner of State and Randolph Streets in 1901. In their place rose a massive, twelve-story building fronting State Street in 1902, including a grand new entrance. In 1906, a third new building opened on Wabash Avenue north of the 1893 structure, which was then the oldest part of the store.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In the midst of the construction, Selfridge abruptly resigned from the company in 1904, buying a rival store Schlesinger & Mayer, but sold it only three months later. Schlesinger & Mayer in 1899 had commissioned the Louis Sullivan-designed building now known as the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building, which is the firm to which Selfridge sold the business. After trying retirement, he went on to establish Selfridges in London.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Marshall Field died on January 16, 1906, in New York City. On the day of his funeral, all the stores along State Street, big and small, closed and the Chicago Board of Trade suspended afternoon trading in his honor. The board of Marshall Field and Company appointed John G. Shedd, (1850–1926), whom Field had once called "the greatest merchant in the United States", to serve as the company's new president. Shedd became head of a company that employed 12,000 people in Chicago (two-thirds of them in retail) and was doing about $25 million in yearly retail sales in addition to nearly $50 million in wholesale.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Under Shedd's leadership for the next 16 years, Marshall Field & Co. continued to rebuild its store, fulfilling plans approved by Field himself to pull down the 1879 structure later in 1906. In its stead rose a new south State Street building with a continuation of the 1902 street façade. Opened in September 1907, it included a Louis Comfort Tiffany- decorated ceiling that is both the first and largest ceiling ever built in favrile glass, containing over 1.6 million pieces. With completion of the 1907 building, Marshall Field's momentarily possessed the title of "world's largest department store" over John Wanamaker & Co. in Philadelphia and R.H. Macy & Co. in New York.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In 1912, the 16-story Trude Building at the southwest corner of Wabash and Randolph was acquired and demolished, an act that was considered to be one of the first demolitions, if not the first, of a high-rise skyscraper of those just recently being built. In its place rose the 1914 building by designed by the Graham, Burnham & Company architectural firm, completing the present-day store and now encompassing the entire square city block, bounded by Washington, State, Wabash, and Randolph Streets.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Also in 1914, the same Graham, Burnham & Company supervised the opening of a new twenty-story Marshall Field Annex across the street at 25 East Washington, which housed "Marshall Field's Store for Men" on its first six floors. These buildings recaptured its status as the world's largest department store, its many restaurants and separate men's and women's lounges becoming an important social destination for upscale Chicago.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Shedd continued to expand Field's wholesale business and grew its manufacturing business, buying textile mills in the South in 1911 (see Cannon Mills Company) as well as overseeing the purchase of the Marshall Field Trust's interest in the business in 1917. The Field Family eventually retained only a ten percent stake. Second company president, John G. Shedd retired in late 1922.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In 1913, representatives of Carson Pirie Scott and Marshall Field's were called to the state capital of Illinois at Springfield for the Illinois State Senate's investigation of the low wages of the female employees of the major department stores. At Marshall Field's, women were not only typists or other types of clerical workers, they also had a major role in the sales department. Women sales clerks were trained in etiquette and acquired a thorough understanding of the merchandise. The presence of saleswomen was a crucial part of the success of Marshall Field's, as they made female customers more comfortable and therefore made shopping at Marshall Field's fun.


title: Marshall Field's

text: The opportunities available for women at Marshall Field's created a subculture of working women. During the early and middle decades of the 20th century, many women migrated into the labor force often becoming adrift in a new city with new opportunities. Many of these women lived apart from family and relatives, were young and single and came from varied backgrounds and ethnicities. This subculture of women was greatly affected by wages and opportunities offered through Marshall Field's.


title: Marshall Field's

text: However, the wages of the female employees were not representative of their role in the company and, therefore, became the subject of the 1913 Illinois Senate Investigation. Women were paid very low wages, the average being $5 to $8 per week. The "testimony at an Illinois Senate investigation in 1913 from spokesmen for the Illinois Manufacturers' Association; banks; Sears, Roebuck; and Marshall Field's revealed that most major employers paid women workers as low as $2.75." Even in 1913, that was not a living wage. During the hearing, Marshall Field's revealed that it could double the women's salaries but refused to do so. Furthermore, women faced more mistreatment within the company such as sex segregation, which limited their mobility within the company.


title: Marshall Field's

text: James Simpson was appointed president following Shedd's retirement. Though considered to have favored the declining wholesale division, he did expand its retail operations, first buying A. M. Rothschild & Co. at State Street and Jackson Boulevard in December 1923, which Field's operated as a discount store called "The Davis Store." In 1924, the 1893–1914 buildings that the store occupied were acquired from the Marshall Field Trust.


title: Marshall Field's

text: The first branch of Marshall Field's itself opened at Market Square in Lake Forest, Illinois in May 1928. In September 1928, its first branch in Evanston, Illinois followed, later relocating to a French Renaissance-style building at Sherman Avenue and Church Street in November 1929. The Oak Park, Illinois store opened in September 1929 in a building similar to the Evanston store.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Frederick & Nelson, a Seattle, Washington-based department store founded in 1890, was also acquired in 1929, with its own 1914 downtown Seattle building at Pine Street and Fifth Avenue. Frederick & Nelson retained its name, though its logo was soon rewritten in Field's iconic script. Frederick & Nelson created Frango mints, a Seattle tradition then and now. The mints were later also produced in the candy kitchen in the State Street store and became popular in Chicago, too.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Marshall Field & Company became a public company in 1930, early in the "Great Depression". The retailer needed capital due to the expense of opening the massive new Merchandise Mart to house its flagging wholesale division. Ground was broken in 1927 during the boom years of the "Roaring 20s"; when the Mart opened in 1930, it was the largest building in the world. The 1887 Wholesale Store designed by Richardson at Franklin between Quincy and Adams Streets was closed and demolished at this time. But the new building, faced with a change in retail distribution and wholesale patterns in addition to the deepening "Great Depression", could not save Field's wholesale division. Simpson left the Company, and James O. McKinsey, a University of Chicago professor and founder of the McKinsey and Company consulting firm, was hired to reform the Company. The wholesale division, once the core of the Company, was liquidated by 1936. The Davis Store was closed in 1936 as well, and its building was sold to Goldblatts. In 1939, the land underlying the main State Street store was acquired from the Marshall Field Trust. Meanwhile, McKinsey also reorganized the Company's vertically integrated operations, notably by merging the Company's varied textile operations under the Fieldcrest name.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Following World War II, the Merchandise Mart building was sold in 1945 to Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., (1888–1969), significantly improving the Field Company's finances and enabling the store to cope with the post-war suburban residential and commercial boom. Marshall Field's presciently followed its customers to their new homes outwards to the suburbs, including opening a store in 1950 in partnership with pioneering suburban developer Philip M. Klutznick (a famous Jewish leader and later U.S. Secretary of Commerce) at his new Park Forest Plaza, which utilized revolutionary new concepts in land use and architecture.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In 1956, Klutznick and Field's jointly opened Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie, Illinois, a center Klutznick developed on land that Field's already owned; the development included a new Field's store. This was followed by the 1959 opening of a Field's store in the Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, to the northwest, and stores at later Klutznick-led shopping centers opened at Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook, Illinois, in 1962 and River Oaks Center in Calumet City, Illinois, in 1966.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Marshall Field's even expanded further in the Pacific Northwest, acquiring The Crescent department store in Spokane, Washington, in 1962 and in 1970, moved east with the purchase of Halle Brothers Co., a leading department store in Cleveland, Ohio. Field's also continued to expand its hometown base in Illinois, opening a store at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg in 1971.


title: Marshall Field's

text: CherryVale Mall in Rockford and Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills followed in 1973, and stores at Water Tower Place in Chicago and Fox Valley Mall in Aurora opened in 1975. The suburban expansion continued in 1976 with a location at Orland Square Mall in Orland Park, followed by the Louis Joliet Mall in Joliet in 1978. In 1979, Marshall Field's expanded south into Texas with a store at The Galleria in Houston.


title: Marshall Field's

text: The year 1980 saw the rapid acquisition of J.B. Ivey Co., a department store chain with roots in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida; The Union Co. in Columbus, Ohio; the Lipman's stores in Portland, Oregon; and several Liberty House stores in Washington state. Field's existing Frederick & Nelson unit in Seattle absorbed the Lipman's and Liberty House stores under its name, but after initially merging The Union of Columbus, Ohio with its earlier Halle's stores from Cleveland, Field's decided to sell the combined chain in November 1981; the new owners quickly liquidated it.


title: Marshall Field's

text: The early 1980s saw slower expansion, with just two store locations in Illinois added, one in October 1980 at Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee, and one in 1981 at Stratford Square Mall in Bloomingdale. Another Texas store opened at the Dallas Galleria, in Dallas, Texas, in 1982.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In 1982, Marshall Field & Co. ceased to be a public company, being acquired by B.A.T. British-American Tobacco. As part of BATUS Retail Group, the American retailing arm of B.A.T., Field's and its Frederick & Nelson, Ivey's and The Crescent department stores and the John Brueners home furnishings stores joined retailers Gimbels, Saks Fifth Avenue and Kohl's. Field's continued to expand under BATUS, adding stores at Houston's Town & Country Mall in 1983 and at the North Star Mall in San Antonio in 1986.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Only four years after buying Marshall Field's, however, BATUS scaled back its retail operations in 1986, selling Field's former subsidiaries Frederick & Nelson and The Crescent to a local investor group. Frederick & Nelson quickly deteriorated and became defunct in 1992. Its 1914 building, the one acquired by Field's in 1929, was eventually bought by Nordstrom; the structure was renovated and reopened in 1998 as a replacement for Nordstrom's own Seattle parent store.


title: Marshall Field's

text: BATUS closed its Gimbels division in 1986 and transferred five former Gimbels locations in Wisconsin to its Marshall Field's division: downtown Milwaukee, Northridge Mall and Southridge Mall in Milwaukee, Hilldale Shopping Center in Madison and in downtown Appleton. The former Gimbels Northridge and Southridge locations were retained by Field's for only three years; due to poor performance, they were sold in 1989 to H.C. Prange Co. of Sheboygan.


title: Marshall Field's

text: The Evanston and Oak Park stores were closed in 1986, their 1929 buildings deemed out of date and too costly to operate. A major restoration and renovation of the State Street flagship store led by Director of Construction and Maintenance Bill Allen commenced in 1987.


title: Marshall Field's

text: BATUS initially kept Saks Fifth Avenue, Marshall Field's, and Ivey's; however, it sold all its remaining U.S. retail assets in 1990, with Saks going to Bahrain-based Investcorp, Ivey's sold to Dillard's, and Marshall Field's sold to then Dayton-Hudson Corporation (now Target Corporation).


title: Marshall Field's

text: Dayton-Hudson Corporation renamed itself Target Corporation in 2000 and renamed its Dayton's and Hudson's department stores Marshall Field's in 2001. These stores were outside of Field's existing markets. Target Corporation introduced some of the brands carried there to the Marshall Field's stores, displacing some of Field's more expensive merchandise.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In 2004 Target Corporation sold the Marshall Field's chain to May Co., thereby exiting the department store business entirely. It was hoped that aligning with the May Company instead of the discounter Target would "let Field's be Field's" and allow it to recapture its former cachet and upper-class customer base. However, Federated Department Stores, Inc. acquired the May Company in 2005.


title: Marshall Field's

text: After the Federated purchase, Marshall Field's stores joined L. S. Ayres and existing Macy's stores in the new Macy's North Division. During 2006, all Marshall Field's stores, most Filene's and all the stores of nine other May-owned chains were renamed Macy's, the conversion officially occurred on September 9, 2006. Many Chicagoans resented the New York City brand replacing their local brand. Hundreds of protesters gathered under Marshall Field's famous clock that day, and returned on the one-year anniversary, September 9, 2007. Dozens attended "Field's Fans" rallies each anniversary from 2008 to 2012.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Many Chicagoans felt betrayed by Macy's takeover of Marshall Field’s when the company began to change its aesthetics and customer service standards, and demoted many Chicago-based brands. In December 2006, Macy's reported 30% slower sales in former Marshall Field's stores; the focus shifted to promoting the State Street location in 2007.


title: Marshall Field's

text: The Marshall Field and Company Building at State and Washington Streets in Chicago was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and is part of the Loop Retail National Historic District. The building was designated a Chicago Landmark on November 1, 2005. With approximately two million square feet of available floor space, the building is the second-largest department store in the United States.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In 1987, while under BATUS ownership, Field's State Street store underwent significant restoration. In 2004, while Field's was still owned by Dayton Hudson/Target, another extensive restoration of the landmark State Street store, costing $115 million, was begun; the last of the renovation was completed after the May acquisition. The 2004 renovations included the installation of new lower-level shops, removal of steel grates from the upper portions of the store's historic light wells, and the addition of an eleven-story atrium in what had been an alley and mid-store light shaft.


title: Marshall Field's

text: In 2004, Field's also introduced significant upgrades to merchandise and the introduction of luxury vendor relationships, in which 10% of the floor space was leased to outside vendors in a manner similar to Selfridge's in London (Selfridge's was founded by former Field's executive Harry Selfridge, who based his business model on Marshall Field's; likewise, the Selfridge's building in London was based on the architecture of the Marshall Field's store).


title: Marshall Field's

text: Among the "firsts" by Marshall Field's was the concept of the department store tea room. In the 19th century, ladies shopping downtown returned home for lunch; having lunch at a downtown restaurant unescorted by a gentleman was not considered ladylike. But after a Marshall Field's clerk shared her lunch (a chicken pot pie) with a tired shopper, Field's hit on the idea of opening a department store tea room, so that women shoppers would not feel the need to make two trips to complete their shopping. To this day, the Walnut Room serves the traditional Mrs. Herring's chicken pot pie.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Marshall Field's had the first European buying office, which was located in Manchester, England, and the first bridal registry. The company was the first to introduce the concept of the personal shopper, and that service was provided without charge in every Field's store, right up to the chain's last days under the Marshall Field's name. It was the first store to offer revolving credit and the first department store to use escalators. Marshall Field's book department in the State Street store was legendary; it pioneered the concept of the "book signing." Moreover, every year at Christmas, Marshall Field's downtown store windows were filled with animated displays as part of the downtown shopping district display; the "theme" window displays became famous for their ingenuity and beauty, and visiting the Marshall Field's windows at Christmas became a tradition for Chicagoans and visitors alike, as popular a local practice as visiting the Walnut Room with its equally famous Christmas tree or meeting "under the clock" on State Street.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Marshall Field was famous for his slogan "Give the lady what she wants." He was also famous for his integrity, character, and community philanthropy and leadership. After his death, the company remained to the very end a major philanthropic contributor to its Chicago-area community.


title: Marshall Field's

text: Field, the store he created and his successor John G. Shedd, helped establish Chicago's prominence throughout the world in business, art, culture, and education. The Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum of Natural History (as renamed in 1905 for its first major benefactor), the Museum of Science and Industry, the John G. Shedd Aquarium and the University of Chicago have all been aided by the philanthropy of Marshall Field's. Marshall Field was also a major sponsor of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.


title: Issues (band)

text: Issues is an American metalcore band based in Atlanta, Georgia, founded in 2012. The band currently consists of guitarist and vocalist AJ Rebollo, bassist and vocalist Skyler Acord, and drummer Josh Manuel. They are known for their combination of metalcore, nu metal, pop and contemporary R&B.


title: Issues (band)

text: Following original member Michael Bohn and Tyler Carter's departure from Woe, Is Me, the duo formed Issues with keyboardist Ben Ferris, bassist Cory Ferris, guitarist AJ Rebollo, and drummer Case Snedecor, subsequently signing to Rise Records. The Ferris brothers departed from the group prior to the release of the "Black Diamonds" EP, in 2012. Snedecor left the band in 2013 and was replaced by drummer Josh Manuel while Ben and Cory Ferris were replaced by keyboardist and disc jockey Tyler Acord and bassist Skyler Acord, respectively. The band released their self-titled debut studio album in 2014, which was praised for its DJ-based breakdowns and mixture of metalcore and electronica, charting at number-nine on the US "Billboard" 200. They released their remix album, "Diamond Dreams", in November 2014. Their sophomore studio album, "Headspace", was released in May 2016. On January 4, 2018, it was revealed the band had fired Michael Bohn due to "wanting to go in a different direction". The following year, the group released their third studio album, "Beautiful Oblivion", on October 4, 2019. In September 2020, Tyler Carter was fired from the band for multiple accusations of grooming and sexual misconduct.


title: Issues (band)

text: Issues has won two accolades, including the Alternative Press Music Award for Artist of the Year in 2015 and for Best Bassist the following year, and altogether has been nominated for seven Alternative Press Music Awards. The group was nominated for Best New Talent at the 2014 "Revolver" Golden Gods. The band has performed at various music festivals including the Vans Warped Tour, the Reading and Leeds Festivals, and Slam Dunk Festival.


title: Issues (band)

text: The project was first announced by former Woe, Is Me vocalist Tyler Carter in 2012, stating that he had plans to create a band with other former members of the band. This included; Michael Bohn, Cory Ferris and Ben Ferris. Before the band started to record their debut EP, titled "Black Diamonds", both Cory and Ben Ferris were unable to attend the recording sessions and ultimately left the band. Ben Ferris departed from the band early in September 2012, while Cory Ferris decided to stay with the band until he announced his departure in November 2012. Skyler Acord played bass guitar on the band's debut EP, while his brother Tyler Acord played keyboards and turntables. Both of the Acord brothers were later asked to join the band after the departure of bassist Jake Vintson in early 2013.


title: Issues (band)

text: The band first started touring as a support act with Attila on their "Party with the Devil Tour", along with support acts Make Me Famous, Ice Nine Kills and Adestria. Their debut EP, "Black Diamonds", was released on November 13, 2012. The lead single for "Black Diamonds", titled "King of Amarillo", was released on October 2, 2012, along with a lyric video. The band was featured on the "Punk Goes Pop 5" compilation album covering "Boyfriend", originally by Justin Bieber.


title: Issues (band)

text: Issues' first release of 2013 was a stand-alone single titled "Hooligans", which was released on July 5 and was accompanied with a music video. In May, drummer Case Snedecor left the band due to musical differences. But in the next month, his successor, Josh Manuel, was announced as the new drummer of the band, making this the fourth lineup change in the band's short history. On May 19, 2013, the band participated in the Vans Warped Tour.


title: Issues (band)

text: The band confirmed that they would be releasing an EP full of acoustic versions of songs from their debut EP 'Black Diamonds', which was later released on, November 18, 2014. The band was initially set to release their debut album in November, however it was pushed back to January 2014. It was revealed in December that the album was set to be released on February 18, 2014, along with the album details and track list, revealing it to be a self-titled album.


title: Issues (band)

text: Issues made another release through Fearless Records on the "Punk Goes Christmas" album, released on November 2, with song "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays". It was later announced that they would be joining Beartooth on Of Mice & Men UK headlining tour in April as a support act. It was also announced that they will be joining Bring Me the Horizon and Of Mice & Men on their 'American Dream Tour' beginning February with fellow supporting acts Letlive and Northlane. The band also confirmed that they will be performing the entire Vans Warped Tour 2014.


title: Issues (band)

text: The band's debut album "Issues" was released on February 18, 2014. In April, it was announced that the band would perform at 2014's Reading and Leeds Festival. The band were a support act for the Wembley Arena performance in London on December 5 supporting Bring Me the Horizon along with Young Guns and Sleepwave. The band will be headlining in America dubbed the "Journeys Noise: Thanks for the Invite" tour and will be supported by I Killed The Prom Queen, Ghost Town, Marmozets and Nightmares and takes place late October to mid December.


title: Issues (band)

text: On October 17, 2014, the band confirmed they'd be releasing their first acoustic EP, "Diamond Dreams", produced and mixed by the band themselves along with Matt Malpass and various other personnel. The EP was officially released on November 17.


title: Issues (band)

text: On January 2, 2015, Issues were featured in an article on Alternative Press, in which they stated that the writing and pre-production for their second album would begin on January 23. Ty Acord announced that he wouldn't be touring with Issues during 2015, in order to focus on his work as a music producer. However, he stated that he would still be a member of the band in the studio, and will co-produce the upcoming album, titled "Headspace"


title: Issues (band)

text: Drummer Josh Manuel said that the band was in the studio writing for their second album and that they had booked time, once again, with Kristofer Crummett and Erik Ron in July 2015 to record it. In November 2015, they announced that they will be a five piece, with Ty leaving to focus on producing music and working with Issues only as a collaborator.


title: Issues (band)

text: Issues announced the release of their first single off the album "The Realest" to be on March 24, 2016. A few days later, the band released other 3 track from the upcoming album: "Coma", a heavier song called "Blue Wall" and a deep and emotional song called "Slow Me Down". The album was released on May 20.


title: Issues (band)

text: Between recording sessions and the release of the band's upcoming third studio album, vocalist Tyler Carter released his debut solo studio album, "Moonshine", on February 1, 2019, on Rise Records.


title: Issues (band)

text: On April 9, 2019, Issues announced that they had completed recording sessions and tracking for their upcoming third studio album. In a statement from bass guitarist Skyler Acord, he stated: "We finished our album yesterday, almost two years to the day from the first writing session. It (literally) almost killed us in more ways than one but good art comes from conflict. I can't wait for you to hear what we went through, woven into the music we're all so proud of." On the same day, the band confirmed that they would release a new single "coming soon." Before the album's announcement or promotional tour, the group is set to tour as support on American metalcore band I Prevail's Trauma U.S. Tour, from April 24 to August 9, 2019. While taking online polls via Instagram on what the setlist should be for the upcoming tour, it was announced that the first single for the upcoming album would be released on May 3, 2019, titled "Tapping Out". On August 11, it was announced that the album would be titled "Beautiful Oblivion" and be released on October 4.


title: Issues (band)

text: On September 1, 2020, the band announced that founding member and vocalist Tyler Carter had been kicked from the band due to accusations of grooming and sexual misconduct. Following Carter's departure from the band, the three remaining members released an album of instrumental tracks from "Beautiful Oblivion" on November 20, 2020. Bassist and vocalist Skyler Acord began working with American musical duo Twenty One Pilots in 2021.


title: Issues (band)

text: Issues has often been associated with metalcore, having a blend of nu metal, pop, electronic and R&B. AllMusic said the band mixed these genres to obtain "new nu metal", which has also been termed nu metalcore. The band themselves has commented that they wanted to mix metal and "Top 40" music in the same way that nu metal mixed heavy metal music with hip hop music. Other than being labelled as nu metal, Issues has also been labelled as metalcore, "pop/metal" and "R&Bcore". They are influenced by artists and groups such as Korn, Katy Perry, Linkin Park, Michael Jackson, Slipknot, Miley Cyrus, and Kesha.


title: Professional Children's School

text: Professional Children's School (PCS) is a not-for-profit, college preparatory school geared toward working and aspiring child actors and dancers in grades six through twelve. The school was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an academic education to young people working on the New York stage, in Vaudeville, or "on the road".


title: Professional Children's School

text: PCS was co-founded in 1914 by Jean Greer and Jane Harris Hall when they learned that children who were working in entertainment were not able to attend traditional school. The school's original premises were at The Rehearsal Club on West 45th Street before it moved to 1860 Broadway, near 61st Street on the Upper West Side. Its curriculum and hours have changed over time.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek "kryptos" – , 'hidden').


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: The term is especially applied historically to Spanish Jews who outwardly professed Catholicism, also known as Conversos, Marranos, or the Anusim. The phenomenon is especially associated with Renaissance Spain, following the Massacre of 1391 and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: Officially, Jews who converted in Spain during the 14th and 15th centuries were known as "Cristianos Nuevos" (New Christians), but were commonly called "conversos" (converts [to Christianity]). Spain and Portugal passed legislation restricting their rights in the mother countries of Spain and Portugal and their Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Americas.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: Although only Cristianos Viejos (Old Christians) who could prove limpieza de sangre (cleanliness of blood) descent from Christian Iberian European ancestry only, without tainting of any Jewish ancestry or Muslim Berber/Arab ancestry, were allowed to officially migrate to the New World Spanish colonies, many Jewish-origin Christian conversos nevertheless ventured directly to the Spanish colonies on forged limpieza de sangre documents, or they entered the Spanish colonies via Brazil. The entry requirements to the Portuguese colony of Brazil were more lax and also less rigorously enforced.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: Despite the dangers of the Inquisition in Spain and its franchises in the Americas, many "conversos" continued to secretly and discreetly practice Jewish rituals in the home, such as the Festival of Santa Esterica, a disguised version of Purim to celebrate the Jewish Queen Esther with a fictional “Catholic” Saint Esterica.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: After the Alhambra decree of 1492, numerous "conversos", also called Xueta (or Chueta) in the Balearic Islands ruled by Spain, publicly professed Roman Catholicism but privately adhered to Judaism, even through the Spanish Inquisition. They are among the most widely known and documented crypto-Jews.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: Crypto-Judaism existed also in earlier periods, whenever Jews were forced or pressured to convert to the majority religion by the rulers of places where they resided. Some of the Jewish followers of Sabbatai Zevi (Sabbateans) formally converted to Islam and were known as Dönmeh. Later followers of Jacob Frank ("Frankists") formally converted to Christianity but maintained aspects of practice of their versions of Judaism.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: Crypto-Jews persisted in Russia and Eastern European countries influenced by the Soviet Union after the rise of Communism with the Russian Revolution of 1917. The government, which included secular Communist Jews, did not force Jews to convert to the Russian Orthodox Church but regarded the practice of any religion as undesirable. Some faiths were allowed to continue under strict supervision by the regime. Since the end of Communism, many people in former Soviet states, including descendants of Jews, have publicly taken up the faith of their ancestors again.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: The "Belmonte Jews" of Portugal, dating from the 12th century, maintained strong secret traditions for centuries. A whole community survived in secrecy by maintaining a tradition of endogamous marriage and hiding all external signs of their faith. They and their practices were discovered only in the 20th century. Their rich Sephardic tradition of crypto-Judaism is unique. Some now profess Orthodox Judaism, although many still retain their centuries-old traditions.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: As one of the towering figures in Judaism and the author of the Mishneh Torah commentary on the Talmud, Maimonides also issued a landmark doctrinal response to the forced conversions of Jews in the Iberian peninsula by the Almohads:


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: In his "Epistle on Martyrdom," however, Maimonides suggested that the persecuted Jew should publicly adopt Islam while maintaining crypto-Judaism and not seek martyrdom unless forced to transgress Jewish commandments in public. He also excoriated one writer who advocated martyrdom for "long-winded foolish babbling and nonsense" and for misleading and hurting the Jews. In a sweeping view of the Jewish past, Maimonides marshals examples of heretics and sinners from the Bible to show that even oppressors of Israel were rewarded by God for a single act of piety or respect. How much greater then, he argues, will be the reward of the Jews "who despite the exigencies of forced conversion perform commandments secretly."


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: Maimonides championed rationalism over the then-accepted practice of martyrdom when facing religious adversity. This consequently legitimized crypto-Judaism by the religion's standards and provided doctrinal backing for Jews during the centuries of the Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834).


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, several incidents of forced conversions happened prior to 1492 and outside of Iberia. One of the earliest conversions happened a century after the Fall of Rome and was in Clermont-Ferrand. After a member of the Jewish community in Clermont-Ferrand became a Jewish Christian and was persecuted by other members of the community for doing so, the cavalcade in which he was marching persecuted his persecutors in turn:


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: The participants in the procession then made an attack "which destroyed [the synagogue] completely, razing it to the grounds." Subsequently, Bishop *Avitus directed a letter to the Jews in which he disclaimed the use of compulsion to make them adopt Christianity, but announced at the end of the missive: "Therefore if ye be ready to believe as I do, be one flock with us, and I shall be your pastor; but if ye be not ready, depart from this place." The community hesitated for three days before making a decision. Finally the majority, some 500, accepted Christianity. The Christians in Clermont greeted the event with rejoicing: "Candles were lit, the lamps shone, the whole city radiated with the light of the snow-white flock" (i.e., the forced converts). The Jews who preferred exile left for *Marseilles (Gregory of Tours, Histories, 5:11). The poet Venantius Fortunatus composed a poem to commemorate the occasion. In 582 the Frankish king Chilperic compelled numerous Jews to adopt Christianity. Again the anusim were not wholehearted in their conversion, for "some of them, cleansed in body but not in heart, denied God, and returned to their ancient perfidy, so that they were seen keeping the Sabbath, as well as Sunday" (ibid., 6:17).


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: The Clermont-Ferrand conversions preceded the first forced conversions in Iberia by 40 years. Forced baptisms of Jews took place in Iberia in 616 at the insistence of Visigoth monarch Sisibut:


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: Persistent attempts to enforce conversion were made in the seventh century by the Visigoths in Spain after they had adopted the Roman Catholic faith. Comparatively mild legal measures were followed by the harsh edict issued by King Sisibut in 616, ordering the compulsory baptism of all Jews. After conversion, however, the anusim evidently maintained their Jewish cohesion and religious life. It was undoubtedly this problem that continued to occupy Spanish sovereigns at the successive Councils of Toledo representing both the ecclesiastical and secular authorities...Thus, steps were taken to secure that the children of converts had a Christian religious education as well as to prevent the older generation from continuing to observe the Jewish rites or from failing to observe the Catholic ones. A system of strict supervision by the clergy over the way of life and movements of the anusim was imposed...


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: The Neofiti were a group of crypto-Jews living in the Kingdom of Sicily, which included all of Southern Italy from the 13th to the 16th centuries.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: The ancestral line Sus, Süßkind and Lindauer was a crypto-Jewish susitic ancestral line that settled in the Holy Roman Empire and lived as Catholic or Protestant crypto-Jews. Secondary lineages of the Lindauer are: Lindauere, Lindouer, Lindaer, Linduaer, Lindeaur, Lindeauer, Lindhauer, Linndauer, Lindayer as well as Lindaurr.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: There have been several communities of crypto-Jews in Muslim lands. The ancestors of the Daggatuns in Morocco are thought to have kept up their Jewish practices a long time after their nominal adoption of Islam. In Iran, a large community of crypto-Jews lived in Mashhad, near Khorassan, where they were known as ""Jedid al-Islam""; they were mass-converted to Islam around 1839 after the Allahdad events. Most of this community left for Israel in 1946. Some converted to Islam and remained in Iran.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: In 1494, after the signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas, authorized by Pope Alexander VI, Portugal was given the right to found colonies in the Eastern Hemisphere. In his lecture at the Library of Congress, Professor Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Chair in Social Sciences at University of California, Los Angeles, explains that crypto-Jews were especially attracted to India because not only was it a center of trade, but India had established an ancient Jewish settlements along its Western coast. The presence of these communities meant that crypto-Jews, who had been forced to accept Catholicism but did not want to emigrate to tolerant countries (e.g. Morocco, Poland, Ottoman Empire, etc.), could operate within the Portuguese Empire with the full freedom of Catholic subjects but away from the Inquisition while collaborating with existing Jewish communities to hide their true beliefs.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: The presence of crypto-Jews in Goa angered the Archbishop of Goa, Dom Gaspar Jorge de Leão Pereira, and other Europeans like Francis Xavier who wrote polemics and letters to Lisbon urging that the Inquisition be brought to Goa. Crypto-Jews presented a security threat to the Kingdom of Portugal, because Sephardic Jews had an established reputation in Iberia for joining forces with Moors to overthrow Christian rulers. The Goan Inquisition commenced in 1560 and ended in 1812. It targeted crypto-Jews, crypto-Muslims, and crypto-Hindus. Of the 1,582 persons convicted between 1560 and 1623, 45.2% were convicted for offenses related to Judaism and Islam. A compilation of the auto-da-fé statistics of the Goa Inquisition reveal that a total of 57 persons were burnt in the flesh and 64 in effigy (i.e. a statue resembling the person). All the burnt were convicted as relapsed heretics or for sodomy.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: Crypto-Judaism was documented chiefly in Spanish-held colonial territories in northern Mexico. Numerous conversos joined Spanish and Portuguese expeditions, believing there was an economic opportunity in the new lands, and that they would have more freedom at a distance far from Iberia. Different situations developed in the early colonial period of Mexico, the frontier province of Nuevo León, the later northern frontier provinces, and the colonial experience of the Mexican Inquisition The crypto-Jewish traditions have complex histories and are typically embedded in an amalgam of syncretic Roman Catholic and Judaic traditions. In many ways resurgent Judaic practices mirrored indigenous peoples' maintaining their traditions practiced loosely under a Roman Catholic veil. In addition, Catholicism was syncretic, absorbing other traditions and creating a new creole religion.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: The traditional Festival of Santa Esterica was preserved among the Conversos who migrated to the New World and is still practiced today among their descendants.


title: Crypto-Judaism

text: Some of the Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain went to Portugal, but in 1497 that country effectively converted all remaining Jewish children, making them wards of the state unless the parents also converted. Therefore, many of the early crypto-Jewish migrants to Mexico in the early colonial days were technically first to second-generation Portuguese with Spanish roots before that. The number of such Portuguese migrants was significant enough that Spanish colonists began to use "Portuguese" as a synonym for "Jewish" for their settlers. Immigration to Mexico offered lucrative trade possibilities in a well-populated colony with nascent Spanish culture. Some migrants believed that this region would be more tolerant since the lands were overwhelmingly populated by non-Christian indigenous peoples and it was far removed from the metropole.