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Colombia: GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Government Overview: The Republic of Colombia is a constitutional, multiparty democracy under the constitution of July 1991. As a unitary republic with a presidential regime, the national government has executive, legislative, and judicial branches established with separation of powers and with check and balances.
Executive Branch: As chief of state and head of government, the president has executive power and strong policy-making authority. The president is elected for a nonrenewable four-year term. The 1991 constitution reestablishes the position of vice president, who is elected on the same ticket as the president. By law, the vice president will succeed in the event of the president's resignation, illness, or death. The president is assisted by a cabinet, which is headed by the president.
Legislative Branch: The bicameral Congress consists of a 102-member Senate (Senado) and a 161-member House of Representatives (Cámara de Representantes) popularly elected for a four-year term. Senators are elected by nationwide ballot; representatives are elected in multimember districts colocated within the national departments. The Congress meets semi-annually, and the president has the power to call it into special session, if required.
Judicial Branch: The judicial branch's general structure encompasses four distinct jurisdictions (civil, administrative, constitutional, and special). Colombia's highest judicial bodies include the coequal Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia), Council of State (Consejo de Estado), Constitutional Court (Corte Constitucional), and Superior Judicial Council (Consejo Superior Judicial). This quadripartite division sometimes leads to conflicting opinions because there is no court that has clear authority over the decisions of the other three. The 24-member Supreme Court rules on civil, criminal, and labor appeals and on constitutional procedure and administers various district superior, circuit, municipal, and lower courts. The 10-member Council of State supervises a system of administrative courts that scrutinize acts and decrees issued by executive and decentralized agencies. The nine-judge Constitutional Court is responsible for guarding the integrity and supremacy of the national constitution, constitutional control of draft laws, and international treaties. The 13-judge Superior Judicial Council administers and disciplines the civilian justice system. Specialized circuit courts within the civil jurisdiction try cases involving particularly sensitive crimes such as narcotics trafficking and terrorism. Although the judicial branch is largely independent of the executive and legislative branches, Congress elects senior judges on the basis of nominations made by judicial bodies or the president. Serious problems include the suborning and intimidation of judges, prosecutors, and witnesses and a judiciary that remains extremely overburdened, inefficient, and subject to intimidation and corruption by terrorist groups and common criminals, especially drug traffickers
Administrative Divisions: The 1991 constitution converted Colombia’s four intendancies (intendencias) and five commisaryships (comisarías) into administrative departments (departamentos administrativos), thereby increasing the number of departments to 32. They are: Amazonas, Antioquia, Araúca, Atlántico, Bolívar, Boyacá, Caldas, Caquetá, Casanaré, Cauca, César, Choco, Córdoba, Cundinamarca, Guainiá, Guaviare, Huila, La Guajira, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Quíndio, Risaralda, San Andrés y Providencia, Santander, Sucre, Tolima, Valle del Cauca, Vaupes, and Vichada. These departments are divided into municipalities (municipios), each headed by a mayor (alcalde). Colombia had 1,061 municipalities in the 1993 census, but that number has grown to nearly 1,100. The charter also allows the creation of indigenous territories as self-governing territorial entities. Departments, districts, municipalities, and indigenous territories are all defined as territories. The country's capital, Bogotá, is a separate district (Distrito Capital de Bogotá).
Provincial and Local Government: Under the new constitution (Article 260), governors, deputies, mayors, municipal and district councils, and members of local administrative boards are elected directly by citizens. Department governors are popularly elected for a four-year term and may not serve the subsequent term (Article 303). Each department has a popularly elected Departmental Assembly and a popularly elected corporation (Corporación); the latter oversees the actions of the governors (Article 299). Each municipality has a popularly elected mayor and an administrative corporation; both are elected for four-year terms and may not be re-elected for the following term (Article 314). Article 105 allows governors and mayors to hold popular consultations on issues within their purview. Departmental, district, and municipal comptrollers exercise, within their jurisdiction, functions similar to those of the comptroller general of the republic, that is, oversight of fiscal matters. As a separate district, Bogotá elects its own representatives, who may be re-elected indefinitely.
Legal System: The 1991 constitution strengthens the administration of justice by providing for introduction of an oral, accusatory system that will ultimately replace the Napoleonic Code. The legal system is based on Spanish law; a new criminal code, modeled after U.S. procedures, was enacted in 1992–93. The constitution also expands citizens' basic rights, including that of tutela (writs of protection of fundamental rights), under which an immediate court action can be requested by an individual, if he/she feels that his/her constitutional rights are being violated, and there is no other legal recourse. Two investigative and prosecutorial offices are: the Office of the Prosecutor General (Fiscalía), which is headed by an independent attorney general (fiscal), who is elected for a four-year term by the Congress and is tasked with investigating criminal offenses and prosecuting the accused; and the Office of the Inspector General (Procuraduría), also known as the Public Ministry, which investigates allegations of misconduct by public employees, including members of the state security forces.
As part of the Ministry of Defense, the military justice system falls under the executive branch. The director of the military criminal justice system reports directly to the civilian minister of defense. The military justice system consists of the Supreme Military Tribunal, which serves as the court of appeals for all cases tried in military courts, and 40 military trial courts. The civilian Supreme Court serves as a second court of appeals for cases in which sentences of six or more years in prison are imposed. However, authorities rarely have brought to trial high-ranking officers of the security forces charged with human rights offenses. The military judiciary may investigate and prosecute active-duty military and police personnel for crimes "related to acts of military service." Under new antiterrorist legislation adopted in late 2004, the army was set to gain some judicial powers.
Electoral System: Colombia has a democratically elected representative system with universal adult suffrage; the minimum voting age is 18. The constitution allows citizens to directly elect, at the national level, the president and vice president of the republic as well as senators and representatives. At the departmental and local levels, the constitution allows for citizens to directly elect governors, deputies, mayors, municipal and district council members (concejales municipales y distritales), members of local administrative juntas (juntas administradoras locales), members of the Constituent Assembly (Asamblea Constituyente), and other authorities and officials as the constitution may indicate. Congressional elections were held in March 2002, and presidential elections were held in May 2002; the next elections are scheduled for 2006.
Political Parties: Political institutions have been dominated since the mid-nineteenth century by rival Liberals and Conservatives, specifically the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal—PL) and the Social Conservative Party (Partido Social Conservador—PSC), until July 1986 known as the Conservative Party (Partido Conservador). However, independent political forces have been gaining influence as the credibility of the two main parties has been tarnished by corruption and distinctions between the two have been weakened. Political parties generally operate freely and without government interference. In order to be recognized by the National Electoral Commission (Comisión Nacional Electoral—CNE), a party must garner at least 2 percent of the vote in elections for the House of Representatives or the Senate. If a recognized party fails to gain at least 50,000 votes in a general election, it is dissolved automatically but may reincorporate at any time by presenting 50,000 signatures to the CNE.
Colombia has about 60 formally recognized political parties, most of them small political movements allied with one or the other major party. A relatively recent example of this alliance building among small parties is the Independent Democratic Party (Polo Democrático Independiente—PDI), which was formed in August 2003 by representatives of several small, center-left parties. Most of these minor parties do not have a presence in either house of Congress. Other minor parties include the Conservative National Movement (Movimiento Nacional Conservador—MNC), Progressive National Movement (Movimiento Nacional Progresista—MNP), Citizens’ Defense Movement (Movimiento Defensa Ciudadana—MDC), and Democratic Alternative Movement (Movimiento Alternativa Democrática—AD). An electoral reform introduced in 2003 is designed to consolidate the party system. It bans membership of more than one political organization and, from 2006 onwards, increases the minimum number of votes needed to gain a seat in Congress.
Politics: Ernesto Samper assumed office as president in August 1994. A political crisis related to large-scale contributions to Samper’s campaign from drug traffickers diverted attention from governance programs, slowing progress on the nation’s domestic reform agenda. On August 7, 1998, Andrés Pastrana Arango, a PSC member, became president. His administration was marked by high unemployment, increased countrywide attacks by the guerrilla groups, widespread drug production, and expansion of paramilitary groups. Álvaro Uribe Vélez, an independent, was elected president on May 26, 2002, by pledging to use military force more aggressively to defeat the rebels. He assumed office that August with a strong electoral mandate and a working majority in Congress. In order to address the need for a long-term national security strategy and to reinstate the rule of law and regain control over the country, the Uribe administration developed a "Democratic Security and Defense Policy." In addition to focusing on security and military aspects of the security situation, the Uribe government has been spending time on international trade, supporting alternate means of development, and reforming the judicial system. President Uribe’s high popularity rating in October 2004 suggested that his hard-line approach to tackling the guerrillas had helped to improve public security and confidence in his government.
Mass Media: Major international wire services, newspapers, and television networks have a presence in the country and generally operate free of government interference. Media ownership remains concentrated in the hands of wealthy families, large national conglomerates, or groups associated with one or the other of the two dominant political parties. The first foreign media owner in the country is the Spanish media conglomerate Prisa, which acquired majority ownership of the country's largest radio network. There are public TV and radio networks and two news agencies (Ciep–El País and Colprensa).
Colombia has many national and regional television channels. The National Television Commission oversees television programming. Television stations include Inravisión, a government-owned station that operates two commercial stations and one educational station; Cadena Uno; Telecaribe; RCN TV, which is operated by Radio Cadena Nacional; and Caracol TV, a private commercial network.
The country has two major national radio networks: Radiodifusora Nacional de Colombia, a state-run national radio; and Radio Cadena Nacional (RCN Radio), a medium-wave (AM) network with many affiliates. There are nine other principal networks, including Cadena Super, which includes Radio Super and Super Stereo FM; and Caracol, which runs several stations, including the flagship station Caracol Colombia. Many hundreds of radio stations are registered with the Ministry of Communications.
Several major newspapers and news magazines circulate nationally, and there are many influential regional publications. The press includes five main newspapers in Bogotá: El Espacio, an evening daily; El Espectador, a daily; El Nuevo Siglo, a Conservative daily; La República, a business daily; and El Tiempo, a Liberal Party national daily. Other popular papers include Cali’s El País and Medellín’s El Colombiano, both Conservative dailies. Weekly news magazines published in Bogotá include Cromos and Semana.
Foreign Relations: Colombia has generally adopted a low profile, relying on international law and regional and international security organizations. The country traditionally has had good relations with the United States. Although relations were strained during the presidency of Ernesto Samper Pizano (1994–98) because of his alleged drug connections, relations have been excellent since the Pastrana administration in 1998–2002. In January 2000, the Clinton administration pledged more than US$1 billion of mainly military assistance to Colombia to assist the antidrug component of President Pastrana's peace strategy known as Plan Colombia. Relations with the United States are the foreign policy priority of the Uribe administration, and President Uribe is an important ally in President George W. Bush’s “war on terrorism.” In March 2002, in response to a request from President Bush, the U.S. Congress lifted restrictions on U.S. assistance to Colombia to allow it to be used for counterinsurgency in addition to antidrug operations. U.S. support for Colombia’s antidrug-trafficking efforts included slightly more than US$2.5 billion between 2000 and 2004, as compared with only about US$300 million in 1998. In addition to the challenge posed to the United States by Colombian drug trafficking, illegal Colombian immigrants in the United States are an issue in U.S.-Colombian relations. An estimated one million illegal Colombian immigrants were in the United States by 1999. In early 2003, Colombia ranked among the top seven countries in the world exporting illegal aliens to the United States.
Regional relations remain good despite occasional issues with neighbors, especially regarding spillover from Colombia’s civil conflict, including cross-border guerrilla crossings, the flow of refugees, and the spread of drug crops. These issues are of particular concern to the bordering countries of Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. For example, Ecuador has closed its main border crossing with Colombia every night since August 2002, when evidence emerged that Colombian guerrillas and paramilitaries were asserting control over Ecuador’s border communities. On May 1, 2004, Ecuador placed further stringent visa restrictions on Colombians seeking to enter Ecuador. Relations with Nicaragua and Venezuela have been strained over territorial disputes. Bilateral committees are negotiating the dispute with Venezuela over waters in the Gulf of Venezuela. Other issues with Venezuela include the ambivalent stance of the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, toward the Colombian guerrillas, the presence of undocumented Colombians in Venezuela, and activities of Colombian narcotics traffickers.
Under the Uribe administration, Colombia’s relations with the European Union (EU) have been cool, and the EU has become increasingly critical of President Uribe's hard-line antiguerrilla strategy. The EU is particularly concerned that President Uribe's approach increases the potential for human rights abuses within Colombia. In 2004 the EU withheld its support of the Uribe government’s peace initiative with paramilitaries for lack of a credible and comprehensive peace strategy. EU aid to Colombia has been limited to social investment. The replacement of Spanish right-wing Prime Minister José María Aznar by left-wing José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in March 2004 prompted Spain to adopt a cool stance toward Colombia.
Membership in International Organizations: The major organizations in which Colombia is a member include: the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, Andean Pact, Caribbean Development Bank, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Group of 3, Group of 11, Group of 24, Group of 77, Inter-American Development Bank, International Atomic Energy Agency, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Chamber of Commerce, International Civil Aviation Organization, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, International Criminal Police Organization, International Development Association, International Finance Corporation, International Fund for Agricultural Development, International Labour Organization, International Maritime Organization, International Maritime Satellite Organization, International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Olympic Committee, International Organization for Migration, International Organization for Standardization, International Telecommunication Union, International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, Latin American Economic System, Latin American Integration Association, Non-Aligned Movement, Organization of American States (OAS), Permanent Court of Arbitration, Rio Group, United Nations (UN), UN Conference on Trade and Development, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UN Industrial Development Organization, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, Universal Postal Union, World Confederation of Labor, World Federation Of Trade Unions, World Health Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization, World Meteorological Organization, World Tourism Organization, and World Trade Organization. An OAS observer has monitored the government's peace process with the paramilitaries, lending the negotiations much-needed international credibility. The United States helps Colombia secure favorable treatment from the IMF.
Major International Treaties: Defense treaties to which Colombia is a party include the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance of 1947 (the Rio Treaty). Regional treaties include the Andean Pact, now known as the Andean Community, which also includes Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela and the bodies and institutions making up the Andean Integration System (AIS). Colombia has signed free-trade agreements with Chile, Mexico, and Venezuela. The country has a strong bilateral trade agreement with Venezuela. The Uribe administration strongly favors extending these bilateral trade agreements across the hemisphere. Trade agreements include the Agreement on Trade, Economic, and Technical Cooperation Between the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) and the Government of the Republic of Colombia.
Colombia has also signed and ratified 105 international treaties or agreements relating to the environment. These include the Antarctic Treaty and Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and conventions on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, and Wetlands. It has signed, but not ratified, the Antarctic-Environmental Protocol and conventions on Law of the Sea and Marine Dumping. Colombia also has signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Tlatelolco Treaty. By 1975 signatories to the 1974 Declaration of Ayacucho, of which Colombia was one, had decided on limitations to nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
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