Constitutional history of Colombia

The history of Colombian constitutionalism is the process of formation and evolution of the different Constitutions that Colombia has had since its formation. As was the case during independence, and immediately after it, the Church gradually lost its influence, but it continued to be a fundamental part of decision-making. In particular, the Federalists wanted to form a constitution without clerical influence, while the Centralists relied on the Church not only to preserve the faith but as a political vehicle. It should be noted that the minimum geographical hour capable of sending voters to congresses was the parish, a clerical term used to refer to the majority of towns, chotas, municipalities, etc.

The country had been called the Viceroyalty of New Granada and it continued like this for a transition period until August 10, 1819 when the Republican armies arrived in Santa Fe de Bogotá and Viceroy Juan de Sámano fled from this city.

Government Boards of 1810.

Act of the Constitution of the Free and Independent State of Socorro (August 15)

In the town of Socorro another important episode of revolution took place where they began to face the violence exerted by the reigning power against the population. The town council also met, associating six citizens to watch over their defense against said violence, at the same time entrusting the administration of justice to the two ordinary mayors so that they could protect any member of society against another who tried to oppress them.

It was then decided to convene the councils of the cities of Vélez and San Gil so that each one would send two deputies for the respective town who, associated with two others from Socorro, would make up the board of six members and a president that they would name themselves. to plurality of votes.

Constituted the foregoing, it is then proclaimed that each people by natural right must determine the kind of government that best suits them, likewise it must prevent at all costs the violation of freedom, based on this, the Junta del Socorro established a constitution that, among other aspects, advocates the following:

1. Respect for the Christian religion, the person and property, without more limitations than those imposed by the law.
   
2. The right to a living man of his industry and work.
   
3. It is established that the earth is the heritage of man, which must be fruitful with the sweat of his forehead and thus a generation cannot limit or deprive of his free use to the generations to come, with the links, grandeur and other obstacles contrary to the nature and sacred right of property and the laws of succession.
   
4. It is also pointed out that the one who employs his talents and industry in service of the homeland will live from public income.
   
5. The accounts of the public treasury will be printed every year so that society sees that the contributions are invested in their profit, distinguishes the agents of the Fisco who fulfill their duties and keeps those who are missing.
   
6. Any authority that is perpetuated is exposed to tyranny.
   
7. It was defined that the representatives of the people would be elected annually by voting scrutiny of the useful neighbours and their persons would be sacred and inviolable. The first vowels would be until the end of 1811.
   
8. The Legislative Power would have it the Board of Representatives whose deliberations sanctioned and promulgated by it and not claimed by the people will be the laws of the new government.
   
9. The executive branch would be entrusted to the ordinary mayors and the lobbyists with appeal to the people in cases of capital punishment and the others, and to a third court to appoint the Board as appropriate.
   
10. Any authority shall be established or recognized by the people and shall not be removed except by law.
    
11. Only the board will be able to summon the people, and this will not, for now, claim their rights but through the Attorney General's Office, and if a particular person dares to take his or her voice without being authorized to do so, he will be reputed for disturbing public tranquillity and punished with all the rigor of punishment.
    
12. The territory of the relief province may never be increased by the right of conquest.
    
13. The relief government will provide assistance and protection to all people who want to join in enjoying the assets that offer freedom and equality.
    

In this constitution, the Indians of the province are also declared free from the tribute they paid and it is ordered to distribute the lands of the reservations in equal parts so that their property can be assigned to them. With the limitation that they could not dispose of them until 25 years had passed. It also establishes that the Indians from the new constitution can enter society to enjoy the same rights.

Act of the extraordinary Town Hall of Santafé de Bogotá (July 20)

In this widely known historical moment, an act was issued in which the Supreme Government of the Viceroyalty was deposited in the entire Junta in an interim capacity while the Junta itself formed the Constitution that would come to strengthen public happiness, counting on the provinces, to which their deputies would be asked at the moment, signing this body the regulation for the elections in said provinces, and both this and the constitution of government should be formed on the bases of freedom and respective independence of them linked only by the system federation, whose representation should reside in the capital Santa Fe, in order to ensure the security of New Granada, which would not abdicate the imprescriptible rights of sovereignty of the people to someone other than the monarch Fernando VII, provided he came to reign in the colonies, the new government remaining subject for the moment to the Superior Board of Regency.

Constitution of Cundinamarca (March 30, 1811)

The meeting of July 20, 1810, created before the events of the Florero de Llorente, appointed José Miguel Pey de Andrade as head of the Meeting.

In March 1811, what could be called the first National Constituent Assembly and Congress was formed in Santafé de Bogotá, under the name "Colegio Electoral Constituyente del Estado de Cundinamarca" who with great effort, due to disagreements between centralists and federalists, promulgated on April 4, 1811 the first constitution that could have a national scope: the Constitution of the state of Cundinamarca which was based on that of the United States. This assembly-congress appoints the second head of state, Mr. Jorge Tadeo Lozano for a period of three years; however, due to pressure and disagreements, the assembly-congress made him resign on September 19, 1811 and appointed Antonio Nariño in his place.

This constitution, promulgated on April 4, 1811, is broader than those initially seen, it brings together a more specific structure of what a constitution itself can be. Some of the elements that make up this constitution can be summarized as follows:

• Respect for the Spanish monarchy, represented by Fernando VII, continues to be professed.
• It is established as a form of government The representation freely and legitimately constituted by the choice and consent of the people. It is further said that the monarchy of the province will be constitutional, moderating the power of the king a permanent national representation. The executive then corresponds to the king, assisted by his ministries and with the responsibility of these and in default of the king is obtained by the president of the associated national representation of two councils and under the responsibility of the president.
• The independence of the executive, legislative and judicial branches is established, and the latter is in line with the courts of the province.
• It is also recognized as the Catholic religion, and can receive contributions from the province. Other cults, whether public or private, are not permitted. For a more direct relationship with the holy headquarters, a concordat is ordered to avoid a schism and its dire consequences.
• As was initially said, the province of Cundinamarca is erected in a constitutional monarchy for the king to govern him, moderating his authority for national representation. In order to avoid overflows, a number of consequences are set for the king, such as forbidding him to give up for any third party.
• The so-called national representation was composed of a president and vice president, senate of censorship, two executive councillors, members of the legislature and the courts exercising the judiciary.

Note: The Senate of Censorship can be assimilated to what we know today as the Constitutional Court.

• It is pointed out that the exercise of the legislative power corresponds to members appointed by the people for this purpose (19 members). Each year half of the members would be renewed, for which half of the oldest members would be removed. It is stated that the legislative branch is permanent, but that they would only be continually sessitized in the months of May and June of each year.
• The executive, as it happens today, could cite the legislature on matters of manifest urgency.
• It is said that the judiciary consists of the authority to examine differences between citizens, to establish their rights, to judge their claims and complaints and to apply the penalties laid down by the laws to the offenders of them. The exercise of such power, as initially noted, is the responsibility of the higher courts of the province; the judges of the first instance, the lower courts and the municipalities.
• The procedures for the elections are set, noting that the mayor of each parish of those covered in this province would convene every year, from the present of 1811, for the day 3 of November all the parishes for the appointment of electorates of the parish. An Electoral College is established.
• The armed forces are established to defend the State from any attack and any enemy rash, to avoid disturbances and disturbances within and to ensure compliance with the laws. Every citizen is a born soldier of the homeland as long as he is able to carry the weapons, without the possibility of exempting himself from service

For this then, it is ordered to establish schools of first letters and drawing in all the towns with separation of the two sexes. Education is oriented to teach reading, writing, drawing, the first elements of geometry, and above all the Christian Doctrine and the obligations and rights of the citizen, in accordance with the constitution.

Any citizen is allowed to open public schools, subject to the government examination, which is responsible for the inspection of all colleges and/or universities.

• The rights and duties of citizens are also established in the final part.

In this constitution, for not complying with the norms and laws that the people wanted, it was forced to change it in 1821 ten years later.

United Provinces of New Granada (1811)

At the end of 1810 and parallel to the efforts of Cundinamarca, other constitutions arose in different urban centers such as Cartagena, Tunja, Antioquia, Mariquita and Neiva. Some of these, Cartagena, Tunja, Antioquia, Neiva, and Pamplona, sent representatives to the Congress of the United Provinces, which met initially in Santa Fe and later maintained its center in Tunja and Villa de Leyva. This group was the first to advance democratically.

On the second Sunday of October 1811 they held the first elections in Tunja. There were representative voters for every 2,000 inhabitants; And in the event that the municipality did not have this amount of population, it would still choose one. Anyone over the age of 15 who had a modest trade and who was 20 or older could vote. On November 27, the first small republic was officially established: United Provinces of New Granada.

On December 23 they elected their first temporary president, Mr. Pedro Groot, and the following day Antonio Nariño as interim president. In the meeting of October 4, 1812, the United Provinces elected Camilo Torres president, a position he held until October 5, 1814, and declared themselves federalists (in favor of a union of sovereign states) in opposition to the wishes of Antonio Nariño, Simón Bolívar and the centralist ideas that were gaining ground with some difficulty in Santa Fe de Bogotá. This disagreement led them to an armed confrontation at the end of 1812, and then another, now without the presence of Nariño, in 1814.

Once Fernando VII recovered from the attack by the Napoleonic forces, the royalist forces led by Pablo Morillo defeated the independent forces and executed in A August, September and October 1816 to most of the constitutional leaders, including Camilo Torres, and reestablishes the Royal Audience in Santa Fe de Bogotá in March 1817. Nariño continued to be imprisoned in Spain

Act of Federation of the United Provinces of New Granada

November 27, 1811

Aspects such as the long series of events that occurred in the Spanish peninsula, an ancient metropolis, since its occupation by the arms of the Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte; the new and various forms of government that quickly succeeded each other without any of them having been able to save the nation, the annihilation of its increasingly scarce resources, and the indisputable rights that the people have to look after their self-preservation and to give itself the form of government that best suits it.

Among the points that stand out the most in this act are the following:

• To create a confederation called "Provincias Unidas de la Nueva Granada", accepting for it all the provinces that, at the time of the revolution of the capital Santa Fe on July 20, 1810, were reputed and considered as such and that in continuation and use of that right they assumed from that time their previous government and administration. But those who had a link with the nation by their geographical location or trade would also be admitted.
• The Catholic religion is preserved.
• The united provinces are ordered to ignore the Spanish regime.
• The independence, equality and sovereignty of each of the united provinces are recognized, ensuring the integrity of their territories, their internal administration and a form of republican government. They are empowered to give themselves the most appropriate government, but always popular, representative and analogous to the Union.

• it is defined that all provinces will be able to defend the union, providing for it all the human and economic resources of the case.
• a Congress of the union consists of one or two members of each province.
• It is established as the fundamental objective of the union the defense of the same and therefore of each of the provinces, therefore it is urged that each of them be joined and organized their respective armies.
• Being a fundamental defense, Congress is empowered to establish the national treasure, and can in turn establish taxes, demand contributions.
• The possession of land by indigenous people is respected, giving them the possibility of civilization and religion.
• It is expected that once the revolution comes forward, the congress will have as its task to adopt the sciences and the arts that were unknown to them, promote agriculture, trade, make channels of communication, make rivers navigable, widen, abbreviate and improve the roads.
• There is also concern to maintain relations with the holy headquarters, leaving the congress as a task to keep the same ones to order, so as to obtain the appointment of bishops and other prerogatives.
• It is also left to the Congress the definition of the patronage that the kings of Spain had exercised in America to date.
• The Congress is responsible for resolving the conflicts between provinces and also those between individuals.

As can be seen, this was an act that gave congress broad powers.

Constitution of the Republic of Tunja

December 9, 1811

• It is established in this constitution in its first two chapters, concerning the rights and duties of man in society. It begins to emphasize the pre-existence of the norms, which touches the principle of the fundamental characteristic legality of a rule of law.
• This constitution declares the independence of the Province of Tunja, of the Spanish regime and of any other nation, but subjecting itself on this point to what it determines by the two thirds of the Provinces of the New Kingdom of Granada, which legitimately meet through their deputies at the General Congress of the New Kingdom or their United Provinces.
• It is defined that the tunja government will be popular and representative. It also states that the executive, legislative and judicial branches must be divided into different corporations or subjects.
• He further states that he wants to be governed by a President Governor, elected by the provincial electoral congress, must be 35 years old, the property of 4,000 pesos, 4 years of residence in the province; he will also elect a Lieutenant Governor to replace his absences or impediments; there will be a senate composed of five individuals; a House of Representatives; an Appeals Tribunal, a Chamber of Disputes for the last appeals; a district of mayors
• In judicial matters the governor first knew of all the administrative and economic political matters that are reduced to contention. With possibilities of appeal to the High Court of Justice.

The village mayors were to be elected by the residents of each place, they would know up to the sum of 200 pesos in civil matters and in criminal matters they would stick as up to now, to the formation of summary proceedings, arrest and confession, giving an account in this state to ordinary justice.

The Ordinary Mayors, two or three were elected in each department in whose court all contentious matters that occurred in the district would be decided in the first instance, to prevention with the pedáneos, in the cases that belonged to these.

• With regard to treasure, it is expressly stated that there would be no new contributions to the existing date.
• With regard to the armed forces, the fact that every citizen is a born soldier is ratified and the obligation to take arms is imposed when the needs so require.
• With regard to public education, the need for a school to teach the first letters, religion, the rights and duties of men is ratified. Discrimination between whites, Indians or other kinds of people is also established. Young people will be distinguished by their talents and talents they do in their own illustration.
• The existence of the electoral congress is ratified, which should meet on 25 November of all years and make the elections

Constitution of the State of Antioquia 1812

March 21, 1812 and accepted by the people on May 3, 1812'

• It establishes in its beginnings, as Tunja does, the rights of man in society and the duties of the citizen.
• As to the form of government it states that it will be the one expressly delegated by the General Congress of New Granada or by the United Provinces. The government would be popular and representative.
• The legislature would reside in a Senate and a chamber or hall of representatives, which would be called "the legislature of Antioch." Being the senate the first room and the chamber the second. For every ten thousand souls a representative would be chosen.
• The executive resides in a magistrate, who would be called President of the State of Antioch, associated with two advisers who would have a forced consultative vote on all the serious businesses that occur and the others who would like to consult them.
• As for the judiciary, the maximum court would be "the Supreme Court of Justice," composed of five ministers and a prosecutor, who would at the same time carry the voice in the civil, criminal, in the matter of government and finance.

The High Court of Justice, the Judges of First Instance, and some general precautions about the judicial power were also established, such as those of not subjecting the person to torture, the equality of the sentence for the commoner, as for the noble. Imprisonment, arrest and detention are established as ways of depriving liberty.

• As for the public treasury, it is stated that every citizen has an obligation to contribute to the divine worship and subsistence of the ministers of the Sanctuary; for the expenses of the state; for the defense and security of the homeland, for the decorum and permanence of his government and for the administration of justice.
• As far as the armed forces are concerned, it is said that the object of the armed forces is to defend the State from any enemy attack and rash and to avoid internal shocks, keeping order and ensuring the enforcement of the laws. It is expressed that the public force is obedient and that in no case has the right to deliberate, for it must always be submissive to the orders of its leaders.

The postulate that every citizen is a born soldier is ratified once again, as long as he is capable of bearing arms.

• As for the Public Instruction, the provisions of previous constitutions are noted.

• This constitution is called federal.

Treaties of the Supreme Executive Branch of Cundinamarca

Treaties between the Supreme Executive Power of Cundinamarca and the Commissioners appointed by the General Deputation of the Provinces, resident in Ibagué (May 18, 1812)

It was established in said treaty that the deputies of Cundinamarca would immediately march to join those of the other provinces to install the congress, in the place that they determined by mutual agreement. It was also expressed that any place chosen by the congress for its residence would be during it independent of the Government of Cundinamarca, and under the sole dependence of the congress, which would agree with the same government on the extension of the territory, depending on the point chosen and attended to its circumstances, unless it was the capital, which would not be under the jurisdiction of the congress, although in such a case everything concerning its security, decorum and powers would be agreed in the same way. This treaty is signed by Antonio Nariño, President of the State; Manuel Benito de Castro, Director; José Diago, Director; Fruits JoaquÍn Gutiérrez and José María del Castillo.

Constitution of the State of Cartagena de Indias

June 15, 1812

President Governor of this Secret Manuel Rodríguez Torices. This Constitution brings as a novelty the inclusion of a three-paragraph preamble, which advocates for the existence of the body politic and to provide individuals with the enjoyment of peace, security and the goods of life. It is stated that the body politic is formed by the voluntary association of individuals, it is a social pact in which the totality of the people stipulates with each citizen and each citizen with the totality of the people, that everything will be governed by certain laws for the good common.

There is also an express invocation to the supreme authority, God, called in this constitution the Supreme Legislator and Arbitrator of the Universe. The Catholic religion is also recognized as the only one in the country.

• It establishes a title of nominee General Convention of Powers, which consists of: The president governor of the State who is his born president and the two councillors of the executive branch; the president of the conservative Senate, which is his vice president and the four senators, of the members of the legislature and those who exercise the judicial power in the supreme court of justice.

Note: The Conservative Senate is assimilated to what we now know as the Constitutional Court.

• It establishes for the first time a constitutional procedure for the formation of laws and their respective sanction.
• The judiciary is composed of higher courts, first instance judges, lower courts and municipalities.
• A comprehensive electoral regime is established.
• In relation to the armed forces, the same principles are maintained that have surrounded those already dealt with.
• The public treasure also makes up the obligatory contribution that every citizen should make for the financing of the State.
• Public instruction also preserves the principles of previous constitutions.
• It is stated, that the constitution may only be revised by the Electoral College, but it may not touch the primary bases and that in any case there could be no revision until before the 18th of 1814.

Constitution of the Republic of Cundinamarca

July 18, 1812

The primitive constitution of said State was revised, which was published on April 4, 1811, by the National Representation, considering that it was made hastily to satisfy the wishes and requests of the peoples who promptly demanded to give them some.

This constitution establishes points such as the following:

1. The rights of man and his duties.
2. It defends the Catholic religion as the only religion.
3. Structure as a form of government, a republic whose government is popular and representative. It then establishes the division of powers into legislative, executive and judicial, which are independent. The senate of censorship is preserved for the defense of the constitution.
4. It defines a title concerning the National Representation, which would be composed of the three powers and its president would be that of the same state. It was said that she should only join to give the head of State possession, to receive an ambassador, and in the other solemn cases defined by the legislator.
5. The legislature consists of two chambers, one of senators and the other of representatives.
6. It defines for the legislature the procedure of the laws and their respective publication, which must be done by the executive once the two chambers sanction it. This publication was made on the third day.
7. The executive branch was composed of the president and two advisors, all three with a deliberative vote.
8. The judiciary was thus integrated: By the higher courts of the province, composed of the appeals chamber, the replacement, the protection, the war council and the commission of residence; they are also part of the judiciary, the judges of the first instance, the lower and those of the municipalities.
9. It defines what concerns disciplined militias, such as infantry and cavalry, to enjoy a military jurisdiction. As regards the armed forces, the provisions of previous constitutions are established.
10. Likewise, the principles of public treasure are preserved.
11. Public instruction is also defined as earlier constitutions did.
12. The election regime defines the possibility of voting at age 21. Primary and secondary elections are established.
13. The electoral school is established.

Reform of the Federal Act

Reform of the Federal Act made by the Congress of the United Provinces of New Granada September 23, 1814

• As far as the executive branch is concerned, it is pointed out that the deliberative body will choose three subjects within or outside the body in which the power for the Union will reside, of which one will be renewed each year, appointed at the beginning and then by antiquity.
• From the judiciary it was expressed, that the executive branch, with the consent of the deliberative body, shall appoint individuals to make up the high court of justice. The deliberative body will create the other courts it deems necessary.
• In each province there must be a governor, appointed by the electoral college, who will set the time of its duration.
• As for the legislatures of the provinces, it is stated that in the deliberative body or general government the branches of the hacienda and the war are concentrated, not being relevant to reform civil and criminal legislation.

Regulations for the exercise of powers and attributions

Regulations for the exercise of the faculties and attributions of the General Government of New Granada on the bases of reform agreed by the Congress and by virtue of the concentration of the Branches of finance and War that the United Provinces have made in the same Congress October 21, 1814

• It is established that the general government or executive power of the United Provinces of New Granada resides in three members elected by the congress within or outside of its own, making the functions of the electoral assembly on behalf of the same provinces. It is defined as functions to the general government, the supreme head of the State, the forces of the sea and land, and civil, political and judicial is the first magistrate.
• It is pointed out as a special duty to reside in the same place as the Congress and that none of its members could leave the territory of the United Provinces but after having ceased to function and justified their conduct in the residence.
• It is stated that provincial governments or governors of the provinces are natural agents and immediate subordinates of the general government.
• As to the treatment and honors of the general government, it is stated that the president will be given the treatment of excellence and the other members will have the honorary one.

Constitution of the State of Mariquita

June 21, 1815

• This constitution also brings a preamble.
• In his first title he consecrates the declaration of rights of the inhabitants of the Republic of Mariquita and later the duties of man in society.
• It also defines that the one religion is the Catholic one.
• It declares through the constitution the independence of every civil authority in Spain.
• It establishes as a form of government called domestic and representative, bearing in mind that the executive, legislative and judicial branches should be separate and independent and could not be exercised by the same person.
• The executive would be composed of a president governor, a lieutenant governor who supposes his absences and impediments. It also wishes this constitution to have a legislative body, a conservative Senate, a supreme court of appeals, a high court of supplications, a court of conjudges for the latest resources, and finally by the senior justices of peace, ordinary mayors and pedanites, all according to the powers that would be pointed out to them in the same constitution or by the laws of the province.
• The legislature was composed of two chambers: Senate and a chamber of representatives.
• The procedure for the formation of laws and their respective penalties is also established, as well as the publication of the acts and regulations of the legislature
• It is established that any public official in the province is subject to residence upon termination of employment.
• It also defines the question of elections, Consecting that the citizen who has the qualities prescribed in the constitution has the right to concur himself or by means of taking over the election of public officials. Slaves, wage earners, vagos, those who have pending criminal case or who have committed a sentence or cause of infamy, the insane and those who have been proven to buy or sell votes are excluded.
• A title dedicated to the promotion of literature is established.
• The oath is given to persons who are elected governor, lieutenant, congress representative, legislator or minister of the judiciary, before the governor of the State.
• it is stated that the revision of the constitution corresponds to the electoral commission. Review that cannot affect your primary bases. There will be no revision until March 3, 1817.
• With regard to the representation of the State at the Congress of the New Granada, it was up to the electoral convention to elect representatives to be sent by the State to the Congress of the New Granada.

Provincial Constitution of the Province of Antioquia

June 10, 1815

• This constitution establishes in its beginnings everything concerning the rights of man in society and the duties of the citizen.
• As a form of government it defines that the province of Antioquia is part of the free sovereign and independent republic of the New Granada. And that the Congress of the United Provinces of New Granada is the supreme authority of the nation. Your government will be popular and representative.
• It establishes the independence of powers, executive. Legislative and judicial.
• It defines that the Catholic religion is the only and true.
• All matters relating to the electoral regime were enshrined, establishing primary and secondary levels.
• It states that the legislature will reside in the House of Representatives which would be called Antioquia Legislature. The Chamber is granted the power to be a custodial court that would judge its own members, the governor, the lieutenant governor, the ministers and prosecutors of the court of justice, provided that they are charged with violation of the constitution, for misconduct in their jobs, for bribery or any other crimes.
• The residence court is also established.
• The executive branch would reside in a magistrate who would be the governor of the province. Chosen every two years, without the possibility of being re-elected until after a biennium.
• The existence of a Lieutenant Governor is also established.
• The judiciary is constituted by the supreme court of justice, the judges of the first instance. And general preventions are defined for the judiciary.
• As for the municipalities, it is stated that they will consist of two ordinary mayors, six governors and a syndic attorney general without a vote.
• In connection with the deputies for the general congress of the United Provinces of New Granada, two deputies would be elected for two years.
• As far as the public treasure is concerned, what is defined in the past, in the sense that all citizens must contribute to divine worship, for the expenses required by the defense and security of the homeland, decorum and permanence of the government. The figure of the Treasurer and an accountant who would be called a public finance minister is established.
• For the armed forces it is defined that every citizen by the association covenant has to defend and care for the political body.
• Public instruction does not undergo changes in its structural bases.
• With regard to the reform of the constitution, it is established that it is the chamber to absolute plurality of votes, which defines possible reforms.
• Freedom of printing is established as the strongest support of the wise and liberal government
• The oath is also given to officials who enter the office.

Plan to reform or review the Constitution of the province of Cundinamarca of 1812

July 13, 1815

What is related to the legislative and sensory body is consecrated, one senator legislator for every fifty thousand inhabitants, that is, the legislative body would be made up of five members, since it was assumed that for the time there were two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants.

The required requirements were to be a resident of Cundinamarca, over 28 years of age, probity, enlightenment and notorious patriotism.

• As for the executive branch, the governor would exercise it throughout the province, appointed by the electoral college, it is defined as a special mission to establish a single opinion by extinguishing parties and ensuring the punishment of those who promote divisions as enemies of independence. It will also have to comply with the orders of the general government in the ramos of hacienda and war.
• The executive also defines the existence of the lieutenant governor, who will be a major judge at first instance in all contentious business of government, finance and police. It will also supply the governor's faults by dispatching in the executive branch.
• Civil and criminal justice is established, which will be headed by two regular mayors elected annually. The judicial branch of the appeals court is composed and the court is supplicated.

Reform of the General Government of the United Provinces of New Granada

November 15, 1815

This reform is made in response to the suggestions of the provinces of Cartagena, Antioquia, Cundinamarca, among others, in the sense that the general government remains concentrated in a single person.

The following is then established:

• The general government is concentrated in a single person who would choose the congress and take the title of president of the United Provinces of New Granada, for a period of six months with possibilities of re-election. It also defines the creation of the figure of the vice president, for cases of temporary impediment of the president.
• The Council of State, composed of the vice president of the United Provinces, would be its president and of the members who had just been of the general government and of the three secretaries of the office. This would be consulted by the government but the concepts emanated would not force it.

This has been a broad tour of the foundations of Colombian constitutionalism, which supports what are currently our state institutions in different orders. The constant reforms that occurred at the time of independence, to the constitutional order, are a clear example of the inexperience of those men who were beginning to have the idea of consolidating an independent State, governed through the very rules that emanated from their bosom.

But in addition to this inexperience, one can also deduce the anxiety of an enlightened class, to consolidate the power of the nascent republic. Many of the articles of the constitutions are plagued by the clearest social discrimination, an issue that would generate the bases of what would be the internal conflicts, which to this day subsist, without the definitive solutions to them being observed in the national panorama..

Gran Colombia

Congress of Angostura

The congress of Angostura was based more than anything on its economy by Colombia giving contributions to its inhabitants after 1810. In 1819, despite still being under Spanish control, the impetus for independence continued and constitutional spirits were reactivated. On February 15, 1819, six months before the Battle of Boyacá, representatives of Venezuela (currently Venezuela), Nueva Granada (currently Colombia) and Quito (currently Ecuador) in Angostura, Venezuela, where what has historically been called the Congress of Angostura was installed to work on the development of a "Fundamental Law" (Constitution). The representatives of Quito were very few since it was still under Spanish control.

The decisions initially made were as follows:

• The New Granada was renamed Cundinamarca and its capital, Santa Fe renamed Bogotá. The Capital of Quito would be Quito. The Capital of Venezuela would be Caracas. The Capital of the Great Colombia would be Bogotá.
• It creates the Republic of Colombiathat would be ruled by a president. There would be a Vice-President who would supplant the President in his absence. (Historically, it is customary to call Colombia of the Congress of Angostura La Gran Colombia)
• The governors of the three departments would also be called Vice-Presidents.
• The presidents and vice presidents would be elected with indirect vote, but for the purpose of starting, the congress elected them as follows: President of the Republic: Simón Bolívar and Vice President: Francisco de Paula Santander. In August Bolívar continues his liberating task and leaves for Ecuador and Peru, and leaves the president to Santander.
• Bolivar is given the title of "Liberator" and his portrait would be exhibited in the meeting room with the motto "Bolívar, Libertador de Colombia and father de la Patria"

After the battles of the Pantano de Vargas and the Battle of Boyacá, on Saturday, August 7, 1819, the Congress of Angostura formally declared the Republic of Colombia created.

At the end of the sessions, Congress agreed that it would meet again in Cúcuta, in January 1821, to issue the new constitution.

On March 23, 1820, Antonio Nariño was released in Spain after six years of captivity where he drew up a draft constitution that he presented for consideration in Cúcuta without receiving attention.

Congress of 1821

Cover of the Constitution of 1821

Text of the Constitution of Cúcuta, signed by Simon Bolivar and ministers.

The Congress elected in Angostura meets this time in Villa del Rosario, at the beginning of 1821.

After the Battle of Carabobo, on June 24, 1821, which officially gave the independence of Venezuela, and after the liberation of Caracas, Cartagena, Popayán and Santa Marta, on July 18 the works resumed with greater impetus constitutional provisions in Cúcuta to include the newly emancipated regions.

On August 30, 1821, the Constitution of 1821 was proclaimed and issued on July 12. This has been considered the first Constitution of Colombia that was in force during Gran Colombia until its dissolution in 1831. This constitution consisted of 10 chapters and 191 articles:

• It proclaimed the progressive liberation of slavery: the children of slave parents would be free upon reaching the age of 18, and created a fund to ensure that the freed slaves had the means to survive. The fund collected percentages ranging from 0.15 per cent to 10 per cent of inheritance. This was 42 years before the abolition of slavery in the United States.
• He ended the Inquisition and made reforms concerning the bishops, archbishops and some of the Church's assets.
• The Government of Colombia declared itself popular and representative.
• It ratified being made up of three large departments: Cundinamarca, Venezuela and Quito. The large departments were divided into 7 current departments without counting those of Panama and Quito that were to be defined; three of Venezuela: Orinoco, Venezuela and Zulia, and four of Cundinamarca: Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Cauca and Magdalena. Each Department It was divided into provincesprovinces cantons and the cantons in lobbyists and Municipalities, and these were parishes or were divided into parishes. Venezuela was made up of 10 provinces, Cundinamarca for 13 to which 2 would be added from Panama, and Quito for 7.
• Each parish would have an assembly that would meet every four years, the last Sunday of the month of July. Members of these Assemblies would designate the voters of the cantons, which should be more than twenty-five years old, possess in real estate more than five hundred piasters or three hundred rents.
• These would be constituted in the Provincial Assembly of electors to meet every four years on the first day of October to elect the President and Vice-President of the Republic, the senator of the Department and the representative or representatives of the province. These departmental officials would serve for four years.
• They could vote for those over twenty-one years who could read and write and possess a hundred footsteps.
• The Congress would consist of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators would be appointed for an eight-year period and representatives for a four-and-a-half-year period
• To be a senator, it was required to be thirty years old, to be Creole by birth, to own real estate worth four thousand piastras or an annual rent of five hundred piastras, to exercise a liberal profession, and in case of being a foreigner, to carry twelve years established in the country and own real estate worth sixteen thousand piastras.
• Four senators would be elected by department: two for eight years and two for four. These differences would be misleading to fate, says the law, that the Senate will be renewed every four years.
• The House of Representatives would consist of Members elected at the rate of one per 30 000 inhabitants. When representatives reached a hundred, a deputy would be elected for every 40 000 inhabitants and even for every 50 000, until the House was composed of one hundred and fifty deputies.
• To be a deputy, it was necessary to have twenty-five years and properties worth two thousand piastras or five hundred piastras of income, or to be a teacher. He had to have resided two years before the election, or eight years in case he had not been born in Colombia, and in this, in addition, had real estate worth ten thousand piastras.
• The House of Representatives would have the exclusive power to accuse the President, the Vice President of the Republic and the Ministers of the High Court of Justice before the Senate.
• For both Chambers, the Constitution provides that the sessions shall be public; that the main public officials shall be excluded from the legislative functions; that their members shall enjoy immunity as long as their functions last, and that they shall be paid.
• The executive branch consists of a president and a vice president, elected for four years, who cannot be re-elected and who, in case of death, are replaced by the president of the Senate. The president would have a salary of thirty thousand piastras per year, and the vice president, of sixteen thousand.
• Each department was administered by an Intendent appointed by the president and a Governor who was under the orders of the mayor.
• It establishes the posts of ministers, council, supreme court and rules each of the charges.
• The Congress elected Simon Bolivar as President of the Republic and Vice President Francisco de Paula Santander, but as Bolivar was absent Santander took the presidency and Nariño the vice president.

To learn more about the Constitution of 1821 refer to the document "Gaspard-Théodore Mollien's journey through the Republic of Colombia in 1823" - Chapter IX of the Luis Ángel Arango Library of Bogotá.

On May 24, 1822 Quito sealed its independence in the Battle of Pichincha; and on December 9, 1824, that of Peru (today Peru and Bolivia) was sealed in the Battle of Ayacucho. Peru and Bolivia never became part of Greater Colombia but share with Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia the title of Bolivarian Countries for having been republics liberated by Simón Bolívar who deserved the title of Liberator and be considered the first official president of each of them.

Separation of Ecuador and Venezuela (1830)

What accelerated the separation of Venezuela and Quito (now Ecuador) was the discrepancy (difference of ideas) of opinions between federalists and centralists. Quito had not had a real representation in the constitutional deliberations and it was not until 1822 that it joined the Gran Colombia. Despite the existence of support for the constitution of La Gran Colombia in Quito, more specifically in Guayaquil, Quiteños and Venezuelans longed for a federalist constitution, that is, one that would allow them to have regional control and freedom without strong central impositions; in particular the Venezuelan military corps hoped to exercise more power in its region.

Members of the army had been allowed to vote in the elections since the constitution of Cúcuta, especially as fair recognition of the efforts made in the liberation campaigns. In 1827 Congress decided to reduce that right and made a constitutional change to exclude sergeants from below, since excluding the military leadership was a very daring move.

In April 1828, the representatives of the municipalities (parishes) met in Ocaña (Norte de Santander) (Colombia) to elect the constituent congress that would reform the constitution of Cúcuta. The Santanderistas (federalists) achieved great representation. The discontent of the Bolivarians was such that they decided to abandon the deliberations, for which reason a quorum was not achieved. This inability to exercise democracy and to resolve conflicts through dialogue, negotiation and voting, opting rather for abandonment, was a behavior that persecuted traditional parties like an evil ghost during the 19th and 20th centuries and was the cause of of violence. In spite of everything, the members are appointed in the elections of July 1, 1828.

Bolívar with his fervent desire to see a united Greater Colombia decides to impose his will in a dictatorial manner as a last resort and presents, in August 1828, a constitution that he had developed in which Peru and Bolivia were included (since Bolivia already had seceded from Peru), with a strong central government and a lifetime presidency in which the president might have the power to name his successor. That was the final spark that set fire to the Santanderistas, since they saw in this proposal a setback to a monarchy and reached the point of trying to assassinate the liberator on September 25. Additionally, the Venezuelan leaders viewed Bolívar's intentions with considerable suspicion and in November In 1829 they decide to separate from La Gran Colombia and so they let it be known at the convention in January. Bolívar finally resigned from his position during the January 1830 constitutional convention held in Bogotá (also called the Admirable Congress ), additionally, he began to appear ill.

The Quiteños, knowing that Venezuela had seceded and that Bolívar was withdrawing permanently, made the decision to secede. And with this Gran Colombia vanishes after 11 years of existence.

The military discontent and that of the liberal groups is accentuated and leads to the dictatorship of General Rafael Urdaneta. Finally, in Santa Marta, in December 1830, the liberator Simón Bolívar died. In turn, the Admirable Congress had approved on May 5 a new constitution that maintained the union of Gran Colombia but it did not enter into force.

The centralists and the church began to distinguish themselves as conservatives and their opponents, the federalists, as liberals.

Republic of New Granada

Constitution of 1843

During the presidency of General Pedro Alcántara Herrán, the power of the president was strengthened in order to maintain order throughout the national territory, which at that time was at war; an intense educational reform was carried out and authoritarianism and centralism were imposed throughout the national territory that conservatism used to its advantage.

Between 1849 and 1853 the number of provinces in New Granada increased from 32 to 56.

Most important events:

• Finish the state council.
• Extend the regular session time of the congress.
• Give extraordinary powers to the president to appoint provincial governors.
• Declaring the Catholic religion as an official and rebirth is born.

Constitution of 1853

In this liberal constitution that started federalism. In it slavery was eliminated, suffrage was extended to all men, direct popular vote was imposed, there was a separation between the Church and the State and administrative freedom was a fact the constitution of 1853 was the third constitution that was made in Colombia during the 19th century.

One of the most important events in the constitution of 1853 are:

• Slavery was eliminated.
• They joined the conservatives with the liberals.
• All men over the age of 21.
• The popular vote was imposed to elect congressmen, governors and magistrates.
• Administrative freedom and religious freedom were established.
• There was a separation from the State and the Church, and the legal personality of the Catholic Church ended

Something worth noting is that some of these advances were reversed in the constitution of 1886.

Constitution of 1858

Under the mandate of the conservative Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, in this constitution the country is officially called the Grenadian Confederation. The confederation was made up of eight states. Greater representation and power were granted to the provinces: each state could have independent legislative attributes and the possibility of electing its own president.

The vice presidency was abolished and replaced with that of a congressionally appointed designee. The president and senators would be elected for four-year terms and the chamber for two years.

United States of Colombia

Constitution of Rionegro (1863)

Cover of the Constitution of the United States of Colombia.

The country is officially called the United States of Colombia on February 3, 1863 by the Constitution of Rionegro, which was promulgated on May 8 by the radical liberals who had just won the war civilian from 1860 to 1863.

Proclaimed freedom of thought in oral or written form, freedom to work or organize any business, freedom of the press, freedom to travel through the territory, enter or leave it, freedom of education, freedom of worship, freedom of association, freedom to own arms and ammunition.

He established a federal system with a two-year central presidency (union presidency) and no immediate reelection. The election of the president of the union was indirect: each of the nine states (Santander, Panama, Magdalena, Bolívar, Boyacá, Antioquía, Cundinamarca, Tolima and Cauca) chose their candidates following the particular electoral procedures of each state; then each of the nine states cast a vote to elect the president of the union. The winning candidate was the one who had the absolute majority of votes, if an absolute majority was not achieved, the congress would be the one that would choose him from the same group of candidates.

On May 12, four days after the constitution was proclaimed, the 61 delegates elected Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera to rule for one year until April 1, 1864, at which time the new regulations for naming president would begin be used. Mosquera gave the anticlerical tone of liberalism and the conservatives the pro-clerical tone that would continue for many decades.

Reform of 1876

The federal period produced forty-two new state constitutions and before 1876 the elections were almost continuous, since the different states did not vote simultaneously even for the election of the president of the union. So that a constitutional change was made so that the elections for president of each state were held at the same time for all the states, it was declared that for each state a candidate would go to popular vote for the rest of the states of the country after being approved. The president-elect had to assume his position taking into account the decisions of the congress and the house of representatives.

Republic of Colombia

Constitution of 1886

Cover of the Constitution of the Republic of Colombia, 1886.

The coalition of moderate Conservatives and Liberals that put an end to liberal hegemony and brought Rafael Núñez to power dismantled the Constitution of Rionegro. The country is officially called the Republic of Colombia. The Constituent Assembly was made up of delegates from the nine states: two from each state.

Rafael Núñez announced a national Regeneration program that changed the country from a decentralized federal system, that is, of independent states (sometimes with more power than the country itself), to a centralized system with a central and unique presidency. The presidential term changed from two to six years. The President of the Republic is elected by Congress. The state president was renamed governor who from that moment on was appointed by the president of the Republic and chose the mayors of his department, except the mayor of Bogotá who was chosen by the president. So that the president in turn could have some control over the executive branch. In addition to this, the re-election of the president in immediate terms was authorized.

The chamber, departmental assemblies, and municipal councils were elected by popular vote. The Senate was elected by departmental assemblies. Suffrage for elections at the national level was limited to men over the age of 21 who could read and write. The restriction of knowing how to read and write did not apply in regional elections. Restriction proposed by Caro so that the elected leaders would know that they were chosen by people who understood the conflicts through which the country was passing.

The figure of the vice president was recreated, which was initially occupied by Eliseo Payán.

The Catholic religion became the official religion and recovered the rights lost in the past. In 1887 President Núñez established a concordat with the Holy See in which he returned those rights.

This continuous method of making constitutional changes based on the partisan wind of the moment, without having been the fruit of representative agreements of the different forces of the nation, improved the differences between the parties since with the previous constitutions the country suffered from wars civilians and after the constitution was established, the civil wars that were almost always initiated by partisan differences had a recession. The population followed the patterns of the parties, although Núñez with this constitution raised the creation of a third party that brought together the moderate liberals and the conservatives. The ultra-liberals never resigned themselves to the loss of power and on three occasions, from 1885 to 1895, they tried to retake power through violence. After a conservative division 44 years after this constitution, in 1930, the liberals returned to power and began a vengeful extermination against conservative peoples, citizens and leaders in various parts of the country.

The constitution of 1886 remained in force for more than a hundred years, guiding the mandate of twenty-three presidents of the Republic.

Separation of Panama (1903)

In the Herrán-Hay treaty signed on January 22, 1903, it proposed that Colombia would lease a strip of land to the United States for life for the construction of a canal in the department of Panama. Under this agreement, the United States would pay Colombia $10 million dollars and after nine years an annuity of $250,000 dollars, a deal that was rejected by the Colombian congress as it was considered disadvantageous for the country, not only because of the money that would be received but also because leaving a strip for life to a foreign country was considered a loss of national sovereignty.

On November 3, 1903, Panama separated from Colombia with the support of the United States. On November 6, the United States recognizes the sovereignty of Panama. On November 11, the United States informed Colombia that it would oppose Colombian troops entering to recover Panama. The War of the Thousand Days had left Colombia too weak to avoid separation. On November 18, the United States signs the Hay-Bunau-Varilla agreement with Panama for the construction of the canal.

According to the Herrán-Hay treaty, "The United States shall have the exclusive right for a term of 100 years, extendable at its sole option, if it so desires, and for periods of equal duration, to excavate, construct, preserve, exploit, direct, and protect the maritime canal. Likewise and for the same duration, they will have the right to a strip of land along the canal that is being built 5 km wide on each side of the road and at least 3 miles in both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean".

Reform of 1905

In December 1904, a few months after being elected president, Rafael Reyes closed the congress dissatisfied with the opposition or slowness in approving the reforms he wanted to impose and convened, at the beginning of 1905, a National Constituent Assembly made up of three representatives of each department (provinces) selected by the departmental administrators.

The assembly, by legislative act number 5 of March 1905, decided to end the system of majority ballots by individuals or by nominees in single-member or multi-member constituencies for the Chamber and the provincial or state legislatures, and eliminated the Council of State. Reyes managed to get the Assembly to extend his presidential term for four additional years, from 1910 to December 31, 1914, however he retired in 1909.

1910 reform

Faced with the surprising retirement into exile of General Rafael Reyes on June 13, 1909, the congress elected its vice president, the conservative General Ramón González Valencia, on August 3, 1909, to govern during the year remaining to complete the six-year term of Kings.

Ramón González convened, in 1910, a National Assembly (elected through municipal councils) to reform the Constitution of 1886, which was installed on May 15 and began reporting the results on May 25. This important reform, inspired by the members of the Republican Union (which in practice was a third party with bipartisan principles, in favor of free elections and religious tolerance), prohibited the participation of the military in politics, established the direct popular election of the president of the republic, departmental assemblies and municipal councils; it reduced the presidential term from 6 to 4 years, prohibited the immediate reelection of presidents, eliminated the figure of the vice president and replaced it with that of a designated person who would be chosen by congress; established the system of proportions for the appointment of members of public corporations according to the votes obtained, ensuring a minimum of one third for what was then called the minority party: the opposing party; it granted congress the power to elect the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, consecrated constitutional control to the Supreme Court of Justice and diffuse control through the courts. So with these reforms the presidential powers were reduced.

Before this reform, the president was elected through the electoral colleges, which represented the electoral districts, and the president who won the elections basically had all the control even to secure power in the following term.

Despite the achievements obtained, this reform maintained the restrictions for voting, which were: knowing how to read and write, having an annual income of at least 300 pesos or having real estate worth no less than 1000 pesos. Likewise, the power of the president to appoint governors (who in turn appointed mayors), corregidores, administrators, postmasters, prison chiefs, bank managers, and others, was maintained, and Colombian culture continued to accept this as something natural..

It was not until August 27, 1932, during the government of Olaya Herrera, that it was regulated by law no. 7, that the number of seats to be assigned in congress would be proportional to the number of votes achieved by each list; however, guaranteeing a third party for the opposition had unintended side effects for maintaining democracy. During the conservative governments, it became customary for the liberal party to abandon the electoral process as a means of protest in several cases, knowing that in any case it would obtain a third of the seats in congress, on some occasions not even a third was accepted. Appointment Required

Finally, to begin the transition period, the National Constituent Assembly makes an exception in the popular election of presidents and elects by vote the first president of the Republican Union, Mr. Carlos Eugenio Restrepo, on July 15, and also elects the first and second designated.

1936 reform

During the government of Alfonso López Pumarejo, on August 1, 1936, they carried out several reforms. The right to vote was extended to all men over 21 years of age, eliminating the restriction of knowing how to read and write to exercise it. This right was used for the first time in the presidential elections of 1938 in which the liberal Eduardo Santos won.

Women were granted the right to hold the majority of public positions, despite the fact that they were not considered citizens for the purposes of suffrage, since women who attended the University were already beginning to appear; Privileges for the Catholic Church were eliminated and consequently freedom of worship was established. It was provided that in order to regulate relations between the Church and the State, the Government could enter into agreements with the Holy See, subject to subsequent approval by Congress on the basis of mutual respect. Freedom of education, free primary education in state schools, and compulsory education to the degree indicated by law were established.

In economic matters, the 1936 reform introduces state interventionism, defines property as a social function that implies obligations, establishes intervention in education, social conflicts, worker-employer relations and economic life as a function of the State to rationalize the economy and defines work as a social obligation that enjoys the special protection of the State. It can be affirmed that this reform, promoted by López Pumarejo, lays the foundations for the construction of a social state.

1954 reform

During the government of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla and at his suggestion, the National Constituent Assembly (ANAC) unanimously recognized the political rights of women through legislative act number 3 of August 25, 1954. Women exercised this right for the first time during the plebiscite on December 1, 1957 to approve the constitutional change that would allow the two traditional political parties, Conservative and Liberal, to establish the National Front.

Three attempts to recognize the right to vote for women had failed before: The first in 1934 during the government of Alfonso López Pumarejo where a bill was presented to congress that did not pass, and it did not pass in the constitutional reform of that year. The second was the proposal presented by the liberal Alberto Lleras Camargo in 1944 but was postponed under the excuse that the regulation would not be made before 1948. The third was the proposal presented by the liberal Alfonso Romero Aguirre in 1948 which was supported but to be implemented gradually, which in reality was another postponement.

1957 reform

The temporary Military Junta that succeeded Rojas Pinilla and by agreement of the traditional political parties, authorized, in October 1957, a constitutional reform plebiscite through Legislative Act No. 0247 to establish the parity of the parties with in order to find a way out of the country's problems. This agreement and the corresponding period was called the National Front.

The plebiscite of December 1, 1957 approved, with close to 94% of votes in favor, the constitutional reform for parity between the two traditional political parties, the liberal and the conservative, in the Public Corporations for a period of 12 years and determined that the elections for President of the Republic, Congress, Departmental Assemblies and Municipal Councils would be held during the first semester of 1958.

1958 reform

The first popularly elected Congress within the National Front makes a constitutional change to extend the term of the National Front from 12 to 16, and further decides that the first president would be a liberal and not a conservative as previously agreed.

1968 reform

Although the National Front would end in 1974, constitutional reforms to prepare for the transition began in 1968 during the government of Carlos Lleras Restrepo, the penultimate president of the National Front.

In order to regulate the electoral competition between parties, the reforms projected the elimination of the distribution by halves "In the elections for Departmental Assemblies and Municipal Councils that take place as of January 1, 1970, and in those of the Senate and the House of Representatives, as of January 1, 1974, the transitory rule on the parity composition of said corporations will cease to apply and, consequently, the electoral quotient system will be applied in its entirety to ensure representation proportionality of political parties" and included some measures to recognize minority parties. In some other areas of the constitution, the required reforms were postponed, in some cases indefinitely, as was the case of the first ordinal of article 120 of the Constitution, which maintains "The fair and equitable participation of the second party in voting" which limited the participation of minority parties and therefore citizen participation. Likewise, Article 17 that regulated Article 83 provided that absolutely all free appointment and removal positions would be maintained only for Liberals and Conservatives until 1978. Practice would show that in spaces such as the Federation of Coffee Growers such a bipartisan proportion would be maintained until the first decades of the XXI century.

It established that subsequent reforms to the constitution could be carried out by congress, as long as the reform was approved by an absolute majority (two-thirds) of all members of the Senate and the House voting in two consecutive ordinary legislative sessions.

1986 Reform

During the government of Belisario Betancur, the popular election of mayors was established on November 21, 1986, in order to reduce or eliminate the central control of the parties over their nominations and expand regional democracy.

1991 Constitution

Cover of the Constitution of the Republic of Colombia, 1991.

The Constitution of 1991 is also called the "Constitution of Rights", because it recognizes and consecrates not only the fundamental rights, classics since the French Revolution for which Don Antonio Nariño had fought so much, but the economic and social rights of the Social Rule of Law, enshrined in article 1 of the Constitution and the collective rights, or of third generation, within which public morality, free economic competition and the right to a healthy environment are highlighted. It also creates the necessary mechanisms to ensure and protect those rights, including Tutela Action, Compliance Action, People ' s Action and Group Action..

From a student movement formed in 1989, a National Constituent Assembly was convened in 1990 by direct popular vote, which promulgated in Bogotá in 1991 the Political Constitution of Colombia. It preserves the denomination of Republic of Colombia.

In the process of peace negotiations with the various armed groups during the term of President Virgilio Barco Vargas, the guerrilla group M-19 had insisted that one of the main requirements for deposing weapons was the creation of a National Constituent Assembly to modify the constitution which until then did not guarantee the creation and development of other political parties other than the two traditional parties, nor did it provide space for representation of minorities. In the face of the government's refusal to make a popular consultation authorizing constitutional change, including an option in the ballots for the president of the republic, the students, in particular those of the universities, decided to make a national movement for the population to include a Seventh ballot by ordering the executive to form a National Constituent Assembly. The proposal was received and the victory came for those young Colombians who asked for the constituent, more than 50% of the voters included the “Septima Trash” with which the president in turn, César Gaviria Trujillo, was forced to fulfill the popular mandate. In this way the history of Colombia had an unprecedented turn, since not only a constitutional change was achieved but also that the guerrilla group M-19 surrendered the weapons and integrated into national political life, and that indigenous communities were guaranteed representation at the Congress of the Republic.

2004 reform

In 2004, the then president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe Vélez, impulsed in Congress a constitutional reform to allow the election of the President of the Republic for up to two periods (article 197 Political Constitution of Colombia). The reform, contained in legislative act 2 of 2004, was brought before the Constitutional Court, which declared it exequitable by judgement C-1040 of 2005. The first president re-elected in the framework of this reform, was the same Alvaro Uribe Vélez in the electoral contest of May 28, 2006 where he reached a 62.1% vote so that no second electoral round was required. Carlos Gaviria Díaz, a candidate for the Alternative Democratic Pole, left-wing party, won 22%. abstentionism reached 53.53%.

The fact that Uribe and Gaviria belonged to independent parties, that is, different from the traditional Liberal and Conservative, marked an important era of ideological transformation in the history of Colombia, so much so that some media announced that bipartidism had been killed.

They also highlighted the maturity that the electoral process had reached at that time, which had earned the trust of the population and the opposing parties. The speed in the delivery of electoral data by the National Registry was also highlighted. To cite an example, Colombians abroad listening to Colombian radio on the Internet learned in less than two hours after the polls closed, even with sunlight in Colombia, the results of 85% of the polling stations.