for the presidency in 1880 and won the election, despite many leaders of his own party opposing him. Núñez was re-elected in 1884 with the support of the Conservative Party, and began the process known as the Regeneration (), in which a new constitution was written. The modern Republic of Colombia was founded with a centralized and protectionist government, and an education system managed by the Catholic Church. Universal suffrage, "contradictory with the hierarchical nature of the society", was abolished in 1880. Only those over the age of 21 with a "legitimate" trade or profession as means of subsistence, literate, earning at least $500 Pesos yearly (a substantial sum at the time) or owner of estates valued over $1500 Pesos could vote. Conservative Hegemony Following the events of the Regeneration, the Conservative Party remained in power in Colombia until 1930. During this period the country lost Panama to the United States. The overt partisanship and the use of the state power exacerbated old tensions, which would ultimately lead from small scale conflicts like the war of 1895 to historical periods such as "La Violence". Two notable violent episodes occurred in this period: the Thousand Days' War and the Banana massacre. During the Hegemony, the Central Bank (later the Bank of the Republic) was established, and the rail transport system that now crossed the country continued to improve. However, the emerging working class felt irritated with the consecutive conservative governments and began supporting the Liberal Party, winning the presidency with Enrique Olaya Herrera in 1930. La Violencia In 1946, after sixteen years of liberal governments, the conservative candidate Mariano Ospina Pérez won the presidency because the Liberal Party presented two candidates Gabriel Turbay and Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, neither of whom could gain a majority. Political violence had been on the rise during Ospina's term, and Gaitán became a victim of it during his second presidential bid. He was murdered in Bogotá on April 9, 1948. After his assassination, the period known as La Violencia began, in which popular unrest in cities caused uprisings like the Bogotazo riots. In the rural areas, members of the Liberal Party formed peasant guerrilla forces, which were then targeted by conservative and paramilitary forces. The Liberal Party boycotted the presidential election of 1950, which was won by the radical conservative Laureano Gómez. Gómez became the leader of the most radical faction of the Conservative Party, while