Uribismo and the Wounds of the Colombian Conflict in Santiago Gamboa’s Plegarias nocturnas

Abstract

Santiago Gamboa’s Plegarias nocturnas (Night Prayers) (2012) depicts Álvaro Uribe’s years in power and the systematic stigmatisation of dissent perpetuated during his mandate (2002–2010). By offering a reading of the text, this article addresses the novel’s cultural representation of Uribismo, the set of beliefs, ideals, and ideological structures at the heart of Uribe’s power and rooted in two centuries of entrenched oligarchical power. The article contends that the novel’s criticism of Uribe’s “peace through war” is best understood through the concepts of state of exception and as an expression of necropolitics. The article also discusses the novel’s depiction of the formation of reactionary sentiments within the ranks of the impoverished urban middle class which supported the ascension of Uribe to power. Finally, the article argues that, diverging from the discourse of today’s Colombian urban political and economic elites represented by the former President Juan Manuel Santos, which have relegated the vicissitudes of the conflict to oblivion in order to project the idea of a modern Colombia open for global business, Gamboa’s novel sheds light on the process of subjugation and silencing of the marginal, underprivileged, and underrepresented sectors of Colombian society.