During the second half of the twentieth century, Colombian society underwent a number of deep transformations in its population distribution, economy, and social behaviour. World events (war and economic movements) that had taken place during the previous decades made it necessary to introduce policies involving industrialisation, based on import substitution, an approach which was officially adopted into Colombian policies under the orientation and sponsorship of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL). This led to the so-called “Intermediate Industrialisation” phase (1945-1968) (Cuervo and González 1997: 320), and as occurred in many Latin American economies, it led to one of the most prosperous and stable periods in modern history.