| RMSPCo “PARA” (Colombian War of a Thousand Days, Spanish La Guerra De Los Mil Dias 1899-1903) Colombia 10c rate cover pmk’d Cartagena FEB 20 1900 with purple handstruck "PARA" mailboat arriving Weymouth MR 15 1900. (Civil War between Liberals and mainly Conservative Government that resulted in between 60,000 and 130,000 deaths, extensive property damage and national economic ruin. The Liberal party represented the coffee plantation owners and import-export merchants, and due a drastic downturn in the international price of coffee many growers were operating at a loss by 1899. The Conservatives, suffering from reduced customs revenues, responded by issuing unbacked paper currency, causing the value of the peso to drop precipitously and war broke out, the first phase, lasting about seven months, ended with defeat of the Liberal forces at Palonegro on 25 May 25 1900. During the next two years guerrilla-style warfare raged in the rural areas being finally ended by the Conservatives offering amnesty and political reform on 12 June 1902). Michael Rego research shows that RMSP had no Atlantic main line packet link to South America and German vessels filled the gap from 1897 to 1914. The HAPAG monthly route during this period was Hamburg, St. Thomas, Trinidad, La Guaira, St. Thomas, La Havre, Hamburg. HAPAG ship Valdivia sailed from Colombia, Venezuela, Curacao for St. Thomas and landed there 1 March 1900. The mail from Venezuela for the UK was probably landed at Trinidad and transferred to Barbados for connection with RMS Para. The RMS Para left Southampton on a fortnightly service on JA 24 1900, landed Barbados FE 4 1900 for Jacmel, back to Barbados, Plymouth MR 15 1900. (In 1900 the RMSP no longer called at Colombia, Venezuela or St. Thomas, but stuck to a short time-table with main ports). £625 | |