The ideological-cultural cold war in Latin America: the controversy of the Simpatía Project in Colombia

Abstract

This article studies the controversy surrounding the Simpatía Project in Colombia, which is part of a series of projects that were implemented in Latin America in the 1960s. The ruling class and the American power elites were trying to predict the causes of the insurgency in the region, and so the Camelot Project in Chile, the Colonia Project in Peru, and the Marginalidad Project in Argentina, among others, were formulated for these purposes. Shortly before, the studies related to these investigations came from a long process of transformation in the United States. There was a correlation between the social sciences and politics. In the Colombian case, a group of anthropologists and psychologists participated in carrying out the research, however, when it was carried out, it gave rise to a social and political controversy, with repercussions at the national and international level. Three groups are distinguished: 1) Social scientists: anthropologists and psychologists; 2) The deputies of the Congress of the Republic of Colombia and 3) The political-media press: El Tiempo, El Espectador and La Nación.