El bombardeo del Lazareto de Caño de Loro, Cartagena de Indias, 1950: un experimento sanitario y militar

The article analyzes the bombing operation of the leprosarium in Caño de Loro (Tierra Bomba, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia), which took place in September 1950. It examines the reasons cited by the national government for carrying out this action, each stage of the process, the type of aircraft used in the maneuver, the explosives and disinfectants employed, as well as the procedure for evacuating the sick population from Caño de Loro to Agua de Dios (Cundinamarca) and the reactions this operation provoked among some scientists dedicated to the study of leprosy in the country. Likewise, the text seeks to decipher why the area was bombed and why such an extreme measure was taken for sanitation purposes. It proposes the idea that this bombing by the Colombian Air Force can be considered the first experiment of its kind conducted in Colombia with the support of the United States links the objectives of public health with those of militarization and national security doctrine. It would precede others that—without sanitary objectives—would be carried out years later in different regions of the country, although under a different political context and strategy, as they were conducted for counterinsurgency purposes and the eradication of communism in these territories.