Carlos Cortés Vargas (1883-1954) was a Colombian general, most noted for ordering the Santa Marta massacre in response to a strike of United Fruit workers in 1928. Cortes took responsibility for 47 casualties, but the exact number of casualties will probably never be known. , co-author of the most comprehensive and detailed study of the 1928 strike, has put together the various estimates given by contemporaries and historians, ranging from 47 to 2,000. * v * t * e