Víctor Julio Merchán (1909–1980s), known by pseudonyms 'Enrique Andrade', 'Pedro José Abella' and 'Juan García', was a Colombian politician.
Merchán was born 1909 in San Antonio de Jaima, hailing from a peasant family.[1] A brewery worker and union activist at the Bavaria breweries in Bogotá, Merchán became a member of the in 1929 and in 1930 he joined the Colombian Communist Party.[1] He studied at the International Lenin School in Moscow 1930–1934.[1] [2]
In October 1934, he participated in the Third Conference of Communist Parties of South America and the Caribbean.[1] In the same year, Merchán took part in the Preparatory Committee for South and Central America ahead of the Seventh World Congress of the Comintern.[1]
In 1934, back in Colombia, Merchán worked as a union organizer.[1] He led a strike at Bavaria.[1] Merchán settled in Viotá, a town in Cundinamarca Department.[3]
In Viota, he went on to building an agrarian mass movement in the area, organizing some 80-100 cells and founding different union organizations.[3] He organized coffee plantation workers to seize unused lands of larger estates. In 1935 Merchán was elected as an alternate member of the Viotá municipal council.[4] Soon after his arrival, he was arrested after a coffee plantation workers strike and spent a year in jail.[1] In 1936, after his release from prison, the Communist Party leadership sent Merchán back to the Soviet Union for studies and rest.[1]
In 1942, he became a National Committee member of the National Peasants' and Indian Federation.[1] In 1944, he was elected to the Cundinamarca Department Assembly.[1] By the mid-1940s, Merchán had built peasants' leagues in Tierradentro and helped build a Propaganda Committee to defend indigenous interests in the area.[5] He was arrested on April 12, along with other Communist Party leaders, following the Bogotazo events.[1]
In the Viotá area, Merchán built up a communist-dominated enclave during La Violencia. Merchán's enclave around Viotá, spanning some five square miles, and another communist-dominated area in nearby Sumapaz became popularly known as the 'Republic of Tequendama'.[2] [6] Merchán served as the secretary of the Tequendama regional committee of the Communist Party. In 1958, Merchán became a Central Committee member of the Communist Party.[7] As of the early 1960s, Merchán remained the key leader in the Viotá area and managed a party cadre school there.[8]
As of the 1970s, Merchán was the key agrarian leader of the Communist Party, leading the ANUC.[9]