How did falling coffee prices contribute to the War of a Thousand Days?

The War of a Thousand Days (1899–1903) was significantly fueled by the economic distress of the Liberal Party, which represented coffee plantation owners and merchants. By 1899, a drastic downturn in international coffee prices meant that many growers were operating at a loss, creating deep dissatisfaction with the ruling Conservative government.1

The Conservative administration, already facing reduced customs revenues due to the economic slump, attempted to manage the crisis by issuing unbacked paper currency. This policy caused the value of the peso to plummet, further destabilizing the national economy and exacerbating the grievances of the Liberal faction. These combined economic pressures—falling commodity prices and monetary instability—helped trigger the outbreak of the civil war in the coffee-growing regions in 1899.1