Colombia is divided into 31 departments and a district. The governors of the departments are elected by direct suffrage. Since independence the two major political parties have been the Conservative Party, which is now the Social Conservative Party of Colombia PSC , which favors a strong central government, and the Liberal Party, which is federalist in outlook.
The former guerrillas of the Movement of 19 April M have also won recognition on the political scene. Agriculture in Colombia Colombian agriculture contributes The agricultural sector is divided into two types of activities : food crop farming and export-oriented farming, carried out on large estates. Two thirds of agricultural production is farming and one third is livestock rearing. The climate and soil are conducive to the growing of a variety of products such as coffee Colombia is the second largest producer in the world, and this is a vital crop due to the amount of farming land it takes up, and the income it generates.
Other crops are : rice, tobacco, cassava, corn, sugar cane 10th largest producer in the world , cocoa 9th largest producer , oilseeds, vegetables. Cattle is also raised. Forest products are becoming more and more important.
As a matter of fact, practically all of Colombia is covered with humid tropical forest containing one of the richest biological reserves in the world. Mangrove and coconut trees adorn the coasts of the Caribbean Sea, but the commercialized trees mahogany, oak, walnut, cedar, pine, and many varieties of balsam grow in the Amazon Forest, and at medium altitude, in the Cordillera.
Current Economic Situation The economic recovery started since due to an increase in agricultural and industrial production. While exports reached a ceiling because of low coffee prices, imports picked up due to the economic expansion, the strengthening of the peso, and the liberalization of the economy. In , the victory of the Liberal Party candidate at the presidential elections led to the adoption of a government program with a strong social component, which did not have a negative impact on the Colombian economy.
Work on new oil deposits offers a favorable outlook in the medium term, and oil is increasingly replacing coffee as the major revenue earner; it now represents nearly half of the country's export earnings. This constitution underwent major amendments in , , , and Finally, in a new charter was promulgated; it has also been amended virtually every year until The Constitution is divided into thirteen sequential titles subdivided into chapters and articles devoted to the political organization of the country and the formal acknowledgment of liberties and freedoms.
Full recognition is given to basic principles, such as the preeminence of human rights, national sovereignty, division of powers, and the representative system. The Constitution also has transitory provisions. Brief descriptions of the three branches of the government:. The Executive power dominates the other branches of government and is vested mainly in the President , the Vice-President, the Ministers, and the directors of administrative agencies.
The President both head of government and chief of state is in charge of the general administration of the country and the protection of the National State interests, and is also the Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces. The President is also empowered to direct foreign relations of the State, to declare a state of emergency and suspend liberties, and to convene extraordinary sessions of Congress. The term of office is 4 years, and the President may be re-elected to a single consecutive term.
The President appoints the Ministers and directors of administrative agencies. In the administrative area, the President is officially empowered to organize public credit, recognize national debt and arrange its service, and regulate international exchange and foreign commerce, customs duties, tariffs, and charges. Exercise of these powers, however, is subordinate to laws passed by Congress. The Vice-President is elected along with the president by popular vote for a four-year term eligible for a second term.
No specific function is constitutionally assigned to the Vice-President who is, nonetheless, empowered to succeed to the Presidency on the death, incapacity, resignation or removal of the President. Ministers are in charge of Ministries devoted to domestic affairs and justice, foreign affairs, defense, finance, education, energy, commerce and industry, culture, environment, communications, transportation, agriculture, and social welfare.
Ministers endorse and authenticate, by virtue of their signatures, certain presidential actions that would not be effective otherwise. As head of a ministry and a member of the cabinet, a minister holds a position that is simultaneously administrative and political. The most important function of the Ministers and directors of administrative agencies are to set national policy in all areas of governmental activity.
An important task of the President and Ministers is to issue regulations reglamentos to specific laws. The approval of these regulations requires that the President and one or more Ministers act jointly. Individually, the President may issue decrees decretos on any governmental activity and the Ministers may issue resolutions resoluciones regarding specific topics of their competence. Whether it is a regulation, a decree or a resolution, the instrument must be published along with the most important documentation from the executive branch in the official journal Diario Oficial before it becomes binding.
The Senate and The House of Representatives. Legislative power is vested in a bicameral Congress composed of a Senate Senado and a House of Representatives Camara de Representantes. Senators and representatives are elected by direct popular vote for four years. Legislative sessions begin annually on Independence Day July A special session may be called in by the Executive. For election purposes, the country is divided into districts and each district elects its members roughly proportional to their population.
Each department is considered an electoral district and elects at least two representatives. Others are added to each district on the basis of population numbers. Up to five additional house seats will be reserved for ethnic groups, political minorities, and Colombians residing abroad.
Currently, there are seats in the House. There are a constitutionally established number of seats in the Senate and 2 more have been added in representation of indigenous communities. Each senator represents the entire country rather than just one department. Besides its legislative tasks, the House has budgetary responsibilities; it is also empowered to elect the General Ombudsman Defensor del Pueblo or to indict the President and other high officers, and to handle complaints submitted by the Prosecutor General Fiscal General and individual citizens against high officers.
The law-making process is comprised of seven steps: initiative, debate by each chamber of Congress , voting, passing, sanction, enactment, and publication. Bills are submitted to the office of the secretary general of either chamber or to members of either chamber meeting in plenary session. A number is assigned to them before submission to a technical, material, and formal analysis by a standing committee of the chamber where the bill was introduced.
Bills are distributed among the committees according to subject matter. Each chamber counts with 7 standing committees specializing in different fields: internal affairs, foreign affairs, finance, agriculture and environment, communications, labor, and education and culture.
Bills are sent at this point to the government printing office for publication in the congressional gazette Gaceta del Congreso. Members of the committee in charge of the bill will then submit a report also published in the congressional gazette to the full committee. If the bill survives debates within the committee, it will be sent for a general or article by article discussion in a plenary session of the chamber.
Although there is room for modifications, the chamber may decide to send the bill back to the committee whenever its text becomes significantly different from the one originally submitted. Once the bill is approved by one chamber, it will undergo the same treatment by the pertinent standing committee and plenary sessions of the other chamber.
The President has a number of days which varies on the basis of the length of the statute to sanction or promulgate any bill approved by both chambers, propose amendments to it or ask for a reconsideration of any of its provisions. The President may ask Congress to reconsider any statute or parts of it found objectionable. The laws become mandatory as of the date of their publication in the Diario Oficial, or at a date indicated in the respective text. A special procedure is required for constitutional reforms.
The purpose of a constitutional reform is to effect a partial revision of the Constitution and a replacement of one or more of its provisions, without modifying the fundamental principles and structure of the constitutional text. Constitutional reform bills must be processed in two ordinary and consecutive terms.
The final bill approval requires a majority vote in both chambers. Once approved, the bill may be submitted to a popular vote in order to determine if a constitutional assembly will be organized. A positive vote of a third of registered voters will be sufficient to call the convention. The assembly members will be elected by direct vote in a separate election. The hierarchy of Colombian norms is fairly typical of civil law jurisdictions.
The supreme set of norms is the Constitution. Under this scheme, Congress should pass the laws or statutes leyes with an internal hierarchy: Most statutes are ordinary acts or ordinary laws leyes ordinarias. These are common laws, in the essential meaning of the word, originating from Congress, in exercise of its primary legislating function. They deal with all subjects, except those which will be specifically dealt with by other categories of laws.
Approval requires the vote of a simple majority, and sanction by the President of the Republic. Enabling laws leyes habilitantes are those enacted by an absolute majority of the membership of both chambers to establish the guidelines, purposes and framework for matters that are being delegated to the President, so that decrees with the rank and force of law may be issued. These decrees are issued by the President by means of that delegation of competence from Congress.
The legislative branch of government in Colombia is responsible for enacting laws and policies. This is carried out by the bicameral Congress, which is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate members and the Representatives are elected by the general population to serve a 4-year term.
Congress has the power to make amendments to the Constitution and to hold the executive branch accountable for carrying out public law correctly. Members of Congress meet twice a year, from July 20th to December 16th and from March 16th to June 20th. Additionally, Senators and Representatives are assigned to 1 of 7 of the current, permanent Commissions. They then work together to address specific issues, depending on the Commission assigned.
These issues range from finance to foreign policy and from social security to agriculture. Coat of Arms of Republic of Colombia. Grades each country on a scale of 0 to , based on ten freedoms, with representing the greatest amount of economic autonomy from government intervention. Source: Heritage Foundation Political and economic uncertainties and an occasionally difficult business environment can affect corporate payment behavior.
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