TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93CT1651> <title> Colombia--History </title> <history> Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook South America Colombia </history> <article> <source>CIA World Factbook</source> <hdr> History </hdr> <body> During the pre-Columbian period, the area now known as Colombia was inhabited by Indians, mostly primitive hunters or nomadic farmers. The Chibchas, who lived in the Bogota region, attained the highest level of civilization among the various Indian groups. Spaniards first sailed along the north coast of Colombia as early as 1500, but the first permanent settlement, at Santa Marta, was not established until 1525. In 1549, the area was established as a Spanish colony with the capital at Bogota. In 1717, Bogota became the capital of the viceroyalty of New Granada, which included what is now Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. The city became one of the principal administrative centers of the Spanish possession in the New World, along with Lima and Mexico City. On July 20, 1810, the citizens of Bogota created the first representative council to defy Spanish authority. Total independence was proclaimed in 1813, and in 1819 the Republic of Greater Colombia was formed. After the defeat of the Spanish Army, the republic included all the territory of the former viceroyalty. Simon Bolivar was elected first president and Francisco de Paula Santander vice president. In 1822, the United States became one of the first countries to recognize the new republic and to establish a resident diplomatic mission. Ecuador and Venezuela withdrew from the republic in 1830 and became independent states. Panama remained part of Colombia until 1903. Since then, two political parties that grew out of conflicts between the followers of Bolivar and Santander--the Conservatives and the Liberals--have dominated Colombian politics. Bolivar's supporters, who later formed the nucleus of the Conservative Party, advocated a strong centralized government, a close alliance between the government and the Roman Catholic Church, and a limited franchise. Santander's followers, forerunners of the Liberals, wanted a decentralized government, state rather than church control over education and other civil matters, and a broadened suffrage. Those were the principal topics of political debate throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Conservatives established a highly centralized government. The Liberals eventually won universal adult suffrage and a large measure of separation of church and state, although the Catholic Church still retains some important powers, such as the right to give religious instruction in all public schools. Competitively elected Liberal administrations were in power from 1860 to 1884, from 1930 to 1946, and from 1974 to 1982, and from 1986 to the present. The Conservative Party held office from 1884 to 1930, from 1946 to 1953, and from 1982 to 1986. Colombia, unlike many Latin American countries, established early a solid tradition of civilian government and regular free elections. The military has seized power only three times in Colombian history--in 1830, 1854, and 1953. On the first two occasions, the military dictator was overthrown and civilian rule restored in less than a year. Colombia has had only one full-fledged civilian dictatorship (1884-94). Notwithstanding the country's commitment to democratic institutions, Colombia's history has been characterized by periods of widespread violent conflict. Two particularly tragic civil wars resulted from bitter rivalry between the Conservative and Liberal Parties. The War of a Thousand Days (1899-1902) cost an estimated 100,000 lives. During La Violencia (the violence) of the 1940s and 1950s, 200,000-300,000 people were killed. A military coup in 1953 brought Gen. Gustavo Rojas Pinilla to power. Initially, Rojas enjoyed wide popular support, partly for his success in reducing La Violencia. When he did not promptly restore democratic government, however, he was overthrown in 1957 by the military with the backing of both political parties, and a provisional government took office. In July 1957, the most recently elected Conservative President, Laureano Gomez (1950-53), and the most recently elected Liberal President, Alberto Lleras Camargo (1945-46), issued the "Declaration of Sitges" in which they proposed the formation of a "National Front," under which the Liberal and Conservative Parties would jointly govern. Through regular elections, the presidency would alternate between the parties every 4 years; the parties would have parity in all other elective and appointive offices. Colombian voters approved a series of constitutional amendments necessary to effect these proposals and, in 1958, the provisional government relinquished power to Lleras Camargo, who had been elected the first president of the National Front government with 80% of the vote. As specified in the National Front agreement, a Conservative, Guillermo Leon Valencia, was nominated to succeed Lleras Camargo in 1962; he won 62% of the vote. Another Liberal, Lleras Camargo's distant cousin, Carlos Lleras Restrepo, was elected president in 1966 with 71% of the vote. The first three National Front presidents brought an end to La Violencia and the blind partisanship that had afflicted both parties. They committed Colombia to the far-reaching social and economic reforms proposed in the charter of the Alliance for Progress and, with assistance from the United States and the international lending agencies, achieved major economic development. In December 1968, after 2 years of effort, President Lleras Restrepo won congressional ratification of important constitutional reforms, which abolished a requirement of a two- thirds majority of congress for passage of major legislation, increased the powers of the executive branch in economic and development matters, and provided for a carefully measured transition from the National Front to traditional two-party competition. The last president under the National Front's alternating system was Misael Pastrana, a Conservative elected in 1970, who won the presidency with 40.3% of the vote, defeating three other candidates. His closest contender was Gen. Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, the candidate of the National Popular Alliance (ANAPO), a populist opposition party. President Pastrana continued the Lleras administration's emphasis on social objectives and economic development, giving high priority to generating employment, primarily by stimulating urban construction. The parity arrangement for other offices has since been phased out. In departmental (state) legislatures and city councils, it ended in 1970, and in the congress, in 1974. Parity in the appointment of the cabinet, governors, and mayors continued until 1978. Although the parity system established by the Sitges agreement is no longer in effect, the Colombian Constitution requires that the losing major political party be given adequate and equitable participation in the government. This was done by both Liberal President Turbay, who took office in 1978, and Conservative President Belisaro Betaneur, elected in 1982. In 1986, however, the Conservative Party declined Liberal President Virgilio Barco's offer of three cabinet positions. Barco's cabinet is the first one-party cabinet in almost three decades. Leftist parties, including the Communist Party of Colombia, rarely have obtained more than a few percentage points of total votes cast. In mid-1985, the Pro-Soviet Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) established a political party, the Patriotic Union (UP). In the 1986 congressional elections, the UP won six seats in the Senate and nine in the House; it received 4.3% of the votes in the presidential elections. The UP, which has tried to distance itself from direct identification with the FARC, won 16 of the 1,009 mayoral positions contested in Colombia's first popular election of mayors on March 13, 1988, according to Colombian Government statistics. The 1886 constitution has been amended frequently and substantially. Major revisions were approved in December 1979, and a revision enacted in January 1986 provided for the direct election of mayors. The Barco administration has presented further major constitutional amendments to the 1988 session of congress. Freedom of religion, speech, and assembly, along with other basic rights, is guaranteed by the constitution. The national government has separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Elected for a 4-year term, the president may not serve consecutive terms. The president's extensive powers include appointing cabinet ministers and departmental and territorial governors without congressional confirmation. No vice president as such exists. Every 2 years, congress elects a "designate" from the president's party to become acting president in the event of the president's resignation, illness, or death. If the president is unable to serve, the acting president must call new elections within 3 months. The designate has no duties, receives no salary, and may hold other public or private positions while serving as designate. If congress fails to elect a designate and the president cannot serve, the foreign minister becomes acting president. Colombia's bicameral congress consists of a 114-member Senate and a 199-member Chamber of Representatives, all elected on the basis of proportional representation. Members and alternates are elected within a few months of or at the same time as the president, but may be reelected indefinitely. If a member of congress is absent temporarily or permanently, the seat is taken by the alternate. Congress meets annually from July 20 to December 16, and the president may call it into special session at other times. Judicial power is exercised by the 24-member Supreme Court of Justice, subordinate courts, and the Council of State. New Supreme Court Justices are selected by justices already in office. Appointments are lifetime until mandatory retirement at age 65. The country is divided into 23 departments, the Federal District of Bogota, 4 intendencias, and 5 comisarias (territories of lesser rank, not having local legislatures). Presidentially appointed governors are considered agents of the national government, although their powers are somewhat limited by elected departmental legislatures, which are elected to 2- year terms. Political Conditions Liberal candidate Alfonso Lopez Michelsen won the 1974 election with 55% of the vote. His administration was noted for its efforts to resolve problems of inflation, unemployment, and inequitable income distribution while cutting government spending and making it more efficient. The liberals also won the 1978 election behind Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala, with 49.5% of the vote to the Conservative Party's 46.6%. Several radical parties split the remainder of the vote. The Liberals failed in their attempt to win three consecutive presidencies when they lost the 1982 election behind Alfonso Lopez Michelsen. Conservative candidate Belisario Betaneur won 47% of the popular vote to Lopez' 41%. Luis Carlos Galan, who had split from the Liberal Party and formed his own New Liberal Party, took 10% of the vote. The Liberals won a majority of House and Senate seats from the Conservatives, with leftist front and independent candidates winning only two seats in each chamber. In 1988, the New Liberals were reincorporated into the Liberal party. President Betaneur raised Colombia's international profile with his often outspoken opinions on events in Central America through his position as a member of the Contadora group. He also stressed combating Colombia's insurgency through a cease-fire arrangement that included the release of many guerrillas imprisoned during the Turbay years. The cease-fire was signed in 1984 but began to unravel when the M-19 guerrillas resumed fighting in 1985, by which time violence had reached levels prior to the cease-fire. Meanwhile, the growing wealth of Colombian narcotics chiefs in the early 1980s, from the sale of cocaine to the United States and other industrialized countries, was accompanied by a marked increase in the wealth of guerrilla groups, especially the FARC, through their participation in the illicit cocaine industry. This wealth has led to a marked growth in the power of these two illegal entities to operate with impunity in Colombia. A vicious attack on the Supreme Court by the M-19 on November 6-7, 1985, shocked Colombia. Of the 115 people killed, 11 were Supreme Court Justices. Although the government and the FARC, the largest guerrilla group, renewed their truce indefinitely in March 1986, peace with the M-19, the EPL, and dissident factions of other guerrilla groups seemed remote as Betaneur left office. In September 1988, President Barco unveiled a new peace plan requiring insurgents to cease antigovernment violence as a condition to negotiations. As of June 1989, the only group to accept this requirement was the M- 19, which currently is negotiating with the government. Voters elected Liberal Virgilio Barco to the presidency in 1986 by the largest margin of victory ever. The Barco administration has found that its greatest challenge is from narcotics producers/processors and guerrillas. Violence emanating from both groups has increased sharply. Like the Betaneur administration from 1984 to 1986, the Barco government places a high priority on combating the production and trafficking of illegal narcotics. Statistics for drug and chemical seizures and cocaine labs destroyed have steadily risen over time. In 1986, 4.3 metric tons of cocaine were seized; in 1988, that figure had reached 15.5 metric tons; as of April 1989, 23 metric tons had been seized. Between 1981 and September 1988, 60 metric tons of cocaine, 17,760 metric tons of marijuana, and more than 4,000 cocaine labs were destroyed. Lab seizures on the Magdalena River in April and May 1988 and January and February 1989 rivaled the Tranquilandia raids of 1984. Police and military units have destroyed numerous other significant labs. Their antinarcotics activity has grown in scope and effectiveness over time, spear- headed by a special National Police Anti-Narcotics Unit. Colombian importance as a marijuana supplier has been reduced through a vigorous herbicidal eradication program. More than 38,000 hectares of marijuana have been eradicated. No safe and effective herbicide for coca has yet been identified. Narcotics activity is responsible for most of the violence in Colombia. Narcotraffickers are at war with the police and the military, with guerrilla groups (some of which also are involved in narcotics), and with other drug lords. Narcotics-related violence includes the murders of Attorney General Carlos Mauro Hoyos-Jimenez and UP President Jaime Pardo Leal. Narcotraffickers also have subverted and intimidated the Colombian judicial system, and they remain a pervasive influence in much of Colombian society. To address the problems of guerrilla violence and political and economic underdevelopment, the Barco administration has pursued long-range policies designed to deliver resources to the poorest areas of the country while bringing them into the political mainstream of the nation. The first popular election of mayors in Colombia's more than 1,000 municipalities took place on March 13, 1988. This political reform is expected to extend real power and decisionmaking to the local level in order to spread the country's democratic institutions to all areas of the country. By the early 1980s, it had become obvious to Colombia's political elite that many democratic institutions were atrophying; that for democracy to work it had to be infused with new life through real political competition at the local level in order to make national level parties more responsive. The mayoral elections were carried out peacefully with the Liberals winning 445 mayoralties, the Conservatives 413, the UP 16, and other candidates 135. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, February 1990. </body> </article> </text>