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Republic of Colombia Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on Republic of Colombia
Official Name: Republic of Colombia
Capital: Bogotá
Area: 1,138,910 square kilometres (439,736 square miles)
Major cities (Population)
Bogotá 4,921,264 (1992 estimate)
Cali 1,624,401 (1992 estimate)
Medellín 1,581,364 (1992 estimate)
Barranquilla 1,018,763 (1992 estimate)
Cartagena 688,306 (1992 estimate)
Population: 35,101,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 1.7 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: Republic; executive branch dominates government structure
Independence: 20 July 1810 (from Spain)
Constitution: 5 July 1991
Voting Rights: Universal and compulsory at age 18
Government
Colombia has a bicameral Congress, with a 102-member Senate and 161-member Chamber of Representatives, elected for four-year terms. The president is head of state and head of government, and both the president and a cabinet run the government. The judicial branch is independent. All citizens may vote at the age of 18. Colombia has 32 states, called departamentos, and a capital district.
Recent History
Independence from Spanish rule was claimed in 1810, but was not finally achieved or recognized until an army led by Simón Bolívar defeated Spanish troops at the Battle of Boyacá in 1819. Bolívar established the new republic of Gran Colombia (Greater Colombia). In 1948 the civil war known as La Violencia (“the violence”) broke out and continued for more than a decade, until the Conservatives and Liberals reached an agreement on sharing power. Under this agreement a National Front government was installed in 1958, and the presidency alternated between the two parties until 1974. Elections have been held regularly ever since.
In the 1970s and 1980s violence returned to Colombia. Marxist guerrilla movements, most notably the M-19 guerrilla movement, waged campaigns of terror and insurgence, while at the same time the Medellín and Cali drug cartels became immensely powerful and were responsible for the murders of judges, generals, and ministers. After the assassination in 1990 of a third presidential candidate in only nine months, the government cracked down on intimidation and violent action of the cartels. One Medellín leader was extradited to the United States to stand trial, and two other leaders were shot dead in street battles, including Pablo Escobar, the head of the cartel, who had been jailed in 1991 but escaped in 1992.
The 1986 elections gave seats in Congress to members of the Patriotic Union, the political arm of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and in 1989 the M-19 guerrilla movement decided to pursue its aims through the political process. In 1990 the presidential election was won by a Liberal, César Gaviria Trujillo, and in December of that year a national assembly was formed to rewrite the 1886 constitution. For the first time, nearly all segments of the population—including former terrorists, Native Americans, and non-traditional political parties—were represented in the process. The new constitution took effect in July 1991. It encourages political pluralism, the rule of law, and special rights for the long-ignored Native Americans. In 1994 Colombia’s black and Native American population eventually received official recognition and was granted special rights, such as reserved seats in Congress. Elitism is discouraged and a measure to prohibit nepotism specifies that no two members of the same family may be a member of Congress at the same time.
In the early 1990s, as guerrilla groups joined the political process, many drug traffickers responded to the government's offer of leniency in return for their commitment to retire from the drug business. But, as opposing factions fought for control of the drug industry, there was an increase in drug-related violence in 1992 and 1993, which subsided only after the death of Escobar in 1993. Meanwhile guerrilla groups still committed to an armed struggle sabotaged oil fields and other sites of economic importance. In 1994 Colombia elected another Liberal, Ernesto Samper Pizano, as president, although his victory was marred by allegations that his campaign might have been financed in part by drug money.
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