REAMBLE
The people of Colombia,
In the exercise of their sovereign power, represented by their delegates to the National Constituent Assembly, invoking the protection of God, and in order to strengthen the unity of the nation and ensure its members life, peaceful coexistence, work, justice, equality, knowledge, freedom, and peace within a legal, democratic, and participatory framework that may guarantee a just political, economic, and social order and committed to promote the integration of the Latin American community, decree, sanction, and promulgate the following
TITLE I
CONCERNING FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
Article 1
Colombia is a legal social state organized in the form of a unitary republic, decentralized, with the autonomy of its territorial units, democratic, participatory and pluralistic, based on respect of human dignity, on the work and solidarity of the individuals who belong to it, and the predominance of the general interest.
Article 2
The essential goals of the state are to serve the community, promote general prosperity, and guarantee the effectiveness of the principles, rights, and duties stipulated by the Constitution; to facilitate the participation of all in the decisions that affect them and in the economic, political, administrative, mid cultural life of the nation; to defend national independence, maintain territorial integrity, and ensure peaceful coexistence and the enforcement of a just order.
The authorities of the Republic are established in order to protect all persons residing in Colombia, their life, dignity, property, beliefs, and other rights and freedoms, and in order to ensure the fulfillment of the social duties of the state and individuals.
Article 3
Sovereignty resides exclusively in the people from whom public power emanates. The people exercise it in direct form or through their representatives within the limits established by the Constitution.
Article 4
The Constitution is the supreme law. In all cases of incompatibility between the Constitution and the law or any other legislation or regulation, the constitutional provisions will apply. It is the duty of citizens and of aliens in Colombia to abide by the Constitution and the laws, and to respect and obey the authorities.
Article 5
The state recognizes, without any discrimination whatsoever, the primacy of the inalienable rights of the individual and protects the family as the basic institution of society.
Article 6
Each person is individually responsible before the authorities for violations of the Constitution and the laws. Civil servants are responsible for the same reason, and likewise for omission or acting "ultra virus" in the exercise of their functions.
Article 7
The state recognizes and protects the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Colombian nation.
Article 8
It is the obligation of the state and of individuals to protect the cultural and natural assets of the nation.
Article 9
The external relations of the state are based on national sovereignty, on respect for the self-determination of peoples, and on the recognition of the principles of international law approved by Colombia. In the same manner, the foreign policy of Colombia will be oriented toward the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Article 10
Spanish is the official language of Colombia. The languages and dialects of ethnic groups are also official in their territories. The education provided in communities with their own linguistic traditions will be bilingual.
TITLE II
CONCERNING RIGHTS, GUARANTEES, AND DUTIES
CHAPTER I
CONCERNING FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Article 11
The right to life is inviolable. There will be no death penalty.
Article 12
No one will be subjected to forced imprisonment, nor submitted to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 13
All individuals are born free and equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection and treatment by the authorities, and to enjoy the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities without discrimination on the basis of gender, race, national or family origin, language, religion, political opinion, or philosophy. The state will promote the conditions necessary in order that equality may be real and effective will adopt measures in favor of groups, which are discriminated against or marginalized. The state will especially protect those individuals who on account of their economic, physical, or mental condition are in obviously vulnerable circumstances and will sanction any abuse or ill treatment perpetrated against them.
Article 14
Every individual has the right to he legally recognized as a person.
Article 15
Every individual has the right to personal and family privacy and to his/her good reputation, and the state will respect them and have these rights and ensure they are respected. Similarly, individuals have the right to know, update, and rectify information gathered about them in data banks and in the records of public and private entities. Freedom and the other guarantees approved in the Constitution will be respected in the gathering, handling, and circulation of data. Correspondence and other forms of private communication are inviolable. They may only be intercepted or recorded pursuant to a court order, following the formalities established by law. For tax or legal purposes and for cases of inspection, supervision, and intervention of the state, the submission of accounting records and other private documents may be required within the limits provided by law.
Article 16
All persons are entitled to their free personal development without limitations other than those imposed by the rights of others and those which are prescribed by the legal system.
Article 17
Slavery, servitude, and the slave trade in all forms are prohibited.
Article 18
Freedom of conscience is guaranteed. No one will be importuned on account of his/her convictions or beliefs or compelled to reveal them or obliged to act against his/her conscience.
Article 19
Freedom of religion is guaranteed. Every individual has the right to freely profess his/her religion and to disseminate it individually or collectively. All religious faiths and churches are equally free before the law.
Article 20
Every individual is guaranteed the freedom to express and diffuse his/her thoughts and opinions, to transmit and receive information that is true and impartial, and to establish mass communications media.
The mass media are free and have a social responsibility. The right of rectification under equitable conditions is guaranteed. There will be no censorship.
Article 21
The right to dignity is guaranteed. The law will provide the manner in which it will be upheld.
Article 22
Peace is a right and a duty whose compliance is mandatory.
Article 23
Every person has the right to present petitions to the authorities for the general or private interest and to secure their prompt resolution. The legislative body may regulate the presentation of petitions to private organizations in order to guarantee fundamental rights.
Article 24
Any Columbian citizen, except for the limitations established by law, has the right to move about freely across the national territory, to enter and exit the country, and to remain and reside in Colombia.
Article 25
Work is a right and a social obligation and in all its forms enjoys the special protection of the state. Every person is entitled to a job under dignified and equitable conditions.
Article 26
Every person is free to choose a profession or occupation. The law may require certificates of competence. The competent authorities will inspect and supervise the exercise of the professions. Occupations, the arts, and work that do not require academic training are to be freely exercised, except for those, which involve a risk to society.
Legally recognized professions may be organized into professional associations. The internal structure and operation of the latter must be democratic. The law may assign public functions to them and establish the appropriate controls.
Article 27
The state guarantees freedom of teaching at the primary and secondary level, training, research and professorship.
Article 28
Every person is free. No one may be importuned in his/her person or family, sent to jail or arrested, nor may his/her home be searched except pursuant to a written order from a competent legal authority, subject to legal process and for reasons previously established by law. A person in preventive detention will be placed at the disposition of a competent judge within the subsequent 36 hours so that the latter may make an appropriate determination within the limits established by law.
In no case may there be detention, a prison term, arrest for debts nor application of sanctions or security measures that are not subject to limitations of time.
Article 29
Due process will apply to all legal and administrative measures. No one may be judged except in accordance with the relevant previously written laws before a competent judge or tribunal following all appropriate formalities in each trial.
In penal cases, a permissive or favorable law, even when ex post facto, will be applied in preference to restrictive or unfavorable alternatives. Every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty according to the law. Everyone criminally charged is entitled to a defense and the assistance of counsel chosen by the accused or assigned during the investigation and trial; to a fair and public hearing without undue delay; to present evidence and to examine witnesses for the prosecution; to challenge the conviction; and not to be subject to double jeopardy for the same act. Evidence obtained in violation of due process is null and void as of right.
Article 30
Whoever is deprived of his/her freedom and believes it to be unlawful is entitled to invoke habeas corpus before any judicial authority, at any time, on his/her own or through a third party, and that judicial authority must decide within 36 hours the lawfulness of the detention.
Article 31
Any lawful conviction may be appealed or reviewed, but for exceptions provided by law. When the accused is the sole appellant, the higher court may not impose a heavier penalty.
Article 32
The criminal who is caught in flagrante delicto may be apprehended and taken before a judge by any individual. Should he/she be pursued by the agents of law and order and take refuge in his/her own home, the law enforcement agents may enter the domicile to apprehend the criminal. Should he/she be caught in somebody else's home, a request to the resident will have to be made before entering.
Article 33
No one may be forced to testify against himself/herself or his/her spouse, permanent companion, or kin to the fourth level of consanguinity, affinity two ranks removed, or one rank removed in civil law.
Article 34
Deportation, life imprisonment, or confiscation of property are prohibited. However, a judicial sentence may nullify ownership of property acquired by unjust enrichment, when it is injurious to the public treasury or seriously harmful to social morality.
Article 35
Native-born Colombians may not be extradited. Aliens will not be extradited for political crimes or for their opinions. Colombians who have committed crimes abroad, considered as such under national legislation, will be tried and sentenced in Colombia.
Article 36
The right of asylum is recognized within the limits provided by law.
Article 37
Any group of individuals may gather and demonstrate publicly and peacefully. The law alone may establish in specific manner those cases in which the exercise of this right may be limited.
Article 38
The right of free association for the promotion of various activities that individuals pursue in society is guaranteed.
Article 39
Workers and employers have the right to form trade unions or associations without interference by the state. Their legal status will be recognized by the simple registration of their constituent act. The internal structure and functioning of the trade unions and social or labor organizations will be subject to the legal order and to democratic principles. The cancellation or suspension of legal status may only occur through legal means. Jurisdiction and other guarantees necessary for the performance of their functions is recognized to trade union representatives. Members of the public force (national police and armed forces) do not have the right to form associations.
Article 40
Any citizen has the right to participate in the establishment, exercise, and control of political power. To make this decree effective the citizen may
1. Vote and be elected.
2. Participate in elections, plebiscites, referendums, popular consultations, and other forms of democratic participation.
3. Constitute parties, political movements, or groups without any limit whatsoever; freely participate in them and diffuse their ideas and programs.
4. Revoke the mandate of those elected in cases where it applies and in the form provided by the Constitution and the law.
5. Act in public bodies.
6. File public actions in defense of the Constitution and the law.
7. Hold public office, except for those Colombian citizens, native-born or naturalized, who hold dual citizenship. The law will regulate this exception and will determine the cases where it applies. The authorities will guarantee the adequate and effective participation of women in the decision making ranks of the public administration.
Article 41
In all educational institutions, public or private, the study of the Constitution and civics will be mandatory. In this way, democratic practices will be promoted through the teaching of principles and the value of the citizens' participation will be promoted. The state will publicize the Constitution.
CHAPTER 2
CONCERNING SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Article 42
The family is the basic nucleus of society. It is formed on the basis of natural or legal ties, by the free decision of a man and woman to contract matrimony or by their responsible resolve to comply with it. The state and society guarantee the integral protection of the family. The law may determine the inalienable and unsuitable family patrimony. The family's honor, dignity, and intimacy are inviolable. Family relations are based on the equality of rights and duties of the couple and on the mutual respect of all its members. Any form of violence in the family is considered destructive of its harmony and unity, and will be sanctioned according to law. The children born of a matrimony or outside it, adopted or conceived naturally or with scientific assistance, have equal rights and duties. The law will regulate responsibility to the offspring. The couple has the right to decide freely and responsibly the number of their children and will have to support them and educate them while they are minors or non-self-supporting.
The forms of marriage, the age and qualifications to contract it, the duties and rights of the spouses, their separation and the dissolution of the marriage ties are determined by civil law. Religious marriages will have civil effects within the limits established by law The civil effects of all marriages may be determined by divorce in accordance with civil law.
Also, decrees of annulment of religious marriages issued by the authorities of the respective faiths shall have civil effects within the limits established by law. The law will determine matters relating to the civil status of individuals and the consequent rights and duties.
Article 43
Women and men have equal rights and opportunities. Women cannot be subjected to any type of discrimination. During their periods of pregnancy and following delivery, women will benefit from the special assistance and protection of the state and will receive from the latter food subsidies if they should thereafter find themselves unemployed or abandoned. The state will support the female head of household in a special way.
Article 44
The following are basic rights of children life, physical integrity, health and social security, a balanced diet, their name and citizenship, to have a family and not be separated from it, care and love, instruction and culture, recreation, and the free expression of their opinions. They will be protected against all forms of abandonment, physical or moral violence, imprisonment, sale, sexual abuse, work or economic exploitation, and dangerous work. They will also enjoy other rights upheld in the Constitution, the laws, and international treaties ratified by Colombia. The family, society, and the state have the obligation to assist and protect children in order to guarantee their harmonious and complete development and the full exercise of their rights. Any person may request the Competent authority to enforce these rights and to sanction those who violate them. The rights of children have priority over the rights of others.
Article 45
The adolescent is entitled to protection and integral development. The state and society guarantee the active participation of adolescents in public and private organizations that are responsible for the protection, education, and progress of youth.
Article 46
The state, the society, and the family will all participate in protecting and assisting senior citizens and will promote their integration into active and community life. The state will guarantee them services of social security and food subsidies in cases of indigence.
Article 47
The state will promote a policy of planning, rehabilitation, and social integration for those who are physically, emotionally, or psychologically handicapped and will provide the specialized attention that they need.
Article 48
Social Security is a mandatory public service, which will be delivered under the administration, coordination, and control of the state, subject to the principles of efficiency, universality, and cooperation within the limits established by law. All the population is guaranteed the irrevocable right to Social Security. With the participation of individuals, the state will gradually extend the coverage of Social Security to include the provision of services in the form determined by law . Social Security may be provided by public or private entities, in accordance with the law. It will not be possible to assign or use the resources of the Social Security institutions for other purposes. The law will define the means whereby the resources assigned to retirement benefits may retain their constant purchasing power.
Article 49
Public health and environmental protection are public services for which the state is responsible. All individuals are guaranteed access to services that promote, protect, and rehabilitate public health. It is the responsibility of the state to organize, direct, and regulate the delivery of health services and of environmental protection to the population in accordance with the principles of efficiency, universality, and cooperation, and to establish policies for the provision of health services by private entities and to exercise supervision and control over them. In the area of public health, the state will establish the jurisdiction of the nation, territorial entities, and individuals, and determine the shares of their responsibilities within the limits and under the conditions determined by law. Public health services will be organized in a decentralized manner, in accordance with levels of responsibility and with the participation of the community. The law will determine the limits within which basic care for all the people will be free of charge and mandatory. Every person has the obligation to attend to the integral care of his/her health and that of his/her community.
Article 50
Any child under a year old who may not be covered by any type of protection or social security will be entitled to receive free care in all health institutions that receive state subsidies. The law will regulate the matter.
Article 51
All Colombian citizens are entitled to live in dignity. The state will determine the conditions necessary to give effect to this right and will promote plans for public housing, appropriate systems of long-term financing, and community plans for the execution of these housing programs.
Article 52
The fight of all individuals to recreation, sports, and leisure time is recognized. The state will promote these activities and will inspect sports organizations, whose structure and attributions should be democratic.
Article 53
The Congress will issue a labor statute. The appropriate law will take into account at least the following minimal fundamental principles Equality of opportunity for workers; minimum basic remuneration, flexible and proportional to the amount and quality of work; stability in employment; irrevocability of minimum benefits established in labor regulations; provision of a means to arbitrate conflicting rights; a situation more favorable to the worker in case of doubt in the application and interpretation of the formal bases of the law; the primacy of facts over established formalities in issues of labor relations; guarantees of social security, training, instruction, and adequate rest time, special protection of women, mothers, and minor-age workers.
The state guarantees the right of appropriate payment and the periodic adjustment of legal retirement benefits. International labor agreements duly ratified part of domestic legislation.
The law, contracts, agreements, and labor settlements may not infringe on the freedom, human dignity, or rights of workers.
Article 54
It is the obligation of the state and employers to offer training and professional and technical skills to whoever needs them. The state must promote the employment of individuals of working age and guarantee to the handicapped the right to employment appropriate to their physical condition.
Article 55
The right of collective bargaining to regulate labor relations, with the exceptions provided by law, is guaranteed. It is the duty of the state to promote negotiation and other measures necessary for the peaceful resolution of collective labor conflicts.
Article 56
The right to strike is guaranteed, except in the case of essential public services defined by the legislature. The law will regulate this right.
A permanent commission composed of the government, the representatives of employers and of workers, will promote sound labor relations, contribute to the settlement of collective labor disputes, and coordinate wage and labor policies. The law will regulate its membership and functioning.
Article 57
The law may establish incentives and means so that workers may participate in the management of enterprises.
Article 58
Private property and the other rights acquired in accordance with civil laws may not be ignored or infringed upon by subsequent laws. When, in the application of a law passed on account of public necessity or social interest and recognized as essential, a conflict should occur about the rights of individuals, the private interest will yield to the public or social interest. Property is a social function that implies obligations. As such, an ecological function is inherent to it. The state will protect and promote associational and collective forms of property. Due to public necessity or social interest as defined by the legislator, expropriation will be possible pursuant to a judicial determination and prior indemnification. The latter will be determined in consultation with the interests of the community and of the affected party. In cases determined by the legislator, such expropriation may occur by administrative means, subject to a subsequent administrative legal challenge, including with respect to price. In any case, the legislator, for reasons of equity, may make a determination that there are no grounds for indemnification through an affirmative vote of the absolute majority of the members of both chambers. Reasons of equity, as well as motives of public necessity or social interest invoked by the legislative body, will not be subject to judicial scrutiny.
Article 59
In case of war and exclusively to meet its requirements, the need for expropriation may be decreed by the national government without prior indemnification. In the above case, immovable property alone may be occupied temporarily to meet the requirements of war or to assign facilities to it. The state will always be responsible for expropriations effected by the government on its own or through its agents.
Article 60
The state will promote access to property in accordance with the law. When the state sells its interest in an enterprise, it will take measures to promote the democratization of the ownership of its shares and will offer its workers and the workers' organizations special terms to make it possible for them to accede to the said proprietary shares. The law will regulate the matter.
Article 61
The state will protect intellectual property for the relevant period using the means established by law.
Article 62
The fate of intervolves or testamentary donations, effected according to the law for social purposes, may not be altered or modified by the legislative body, unless the purpose of the donation should no longer be applicable. In this case, the law will assign the property in question to a similar purpose. The government will oversee the management and investment of such donations.
Article 63
Property in public use, natural parks, communal lands of ethnic groups, security zones, the archaeological resources of the nation, and other property determined by law are inalienable, imprescriptible, and unsuitable.
Article 64
It is the duty of the state to promote the gradual access of agricultural workers to landed property in individual or associational form and to services involving education, health, housing, social security, recreation, credit, communications, the marketing of products, technical and management assistance with the purpose of improving the incomes and quality of life of the peasants.
Article 65
The production of food crops will benefit from the special protection of the state. For that purpose, priority will be given to the integrated development of agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, forestry, and agro-industrial activities as well as to the building of physical infrastructural projects and to land improvement. Similarly, the state will promote research and the transfer of technology relating to the production of food crops and primary resources of agricultural origin in order to increase productivity.
Article 66
The provisions enacted in the field of private or public credit may regulate the special conditions of agricultural credit, taking into account the cycles of harvests and prices as well as the risks inherent in farming activities and environmental disasters.
Article 67
Education is an individual right and a public service that has a social function. Through education individuals seek access to knowledge, science, technology, and the other benefits and values of culture.
The Colombian citizen will be educated in the respect for human rights, peace, and democracy, and in the use of work and recreation for cultural, scientific, and technological improvement and for the protection of the environment. The state, society, and the family are responsible for education, which will be mandatory between the ages of five and 15 years and which will minimally include one year of preschool instruction and nine years of basic instruction. Education will be free of charge in the state institutions, without prejudice to those who can afford to defray the costs.
It is the responsibility of the state to perform the final inspection and supervision of education in order to control its quality, to ensure it fulfills its purposes, and for the improved moral, intellectual, and physical training of those being educated; to guarantee an adequate supply of the service, and to guarantee to minors the conditions necessary for their access to and retention in. the educational system.
The nation and the territorial entities will participate in the management, financing, and administration of the state educational services within the limits provided in the Constitution and the law.
Article 68
Individuals may create educational institutions. The law will establish the conditions for their creation and management.
The educational community will participate in the management of the educational institutions.
Education will be in the care of individuals of recognized ethical and pedagogical principles. The law guarantees the professionalism and dignity of the teaching profession.
Parents will have the right to select the type of education for their minor children. In state institutions, no person may be obliged to receive religious instruction. The members of ethnic groups will have the right to training that respects and develops their cultural identity.
The eradication of illiteracy and the education of individuals with physical or mental deficiencies or with exceptional capabilities are special obligations of the state.
Article 69
The autonomy of universities is guaranteed. The universities will be able to administer and govern themselves through their own bylaws, in accordance with the law. The law will establish a special regime for state universities.
The state will facilitate scientific research in the public and private universities and will offer special conditions for their development.
The state will assist those financial arrangements that make possible the access of all individuals qualified for advanced education.
Article70
The state has the obligation to promote and foster the equal access of all Colombians to their culture by means of permanent education and scientific, technical, artistic, and professional instruction at all stages in the process of creating the national identity. Culture in its diverse manifestations is the basis of nationality. The state recognizes the equality and dignity of all those who live together in the country. The state will promote research, science, development, and the diffusion of the nation's cultural values.
Article 71
Freedom in the search for knowledge and artistic expression is recognized. Plans of economic and social development will include the promotion of the sciences and of culture in general. The state will create incentives for individuals and institutions which develop and foster science and technology and other cultural manifestations and will offer special incentives to individuals and institutions which pursue these activities.
Article 72
The nation's cultural heritage is under the protection of the state. The nation's archaeological heritage and other cultural resources that shape the national identity belong to the nation and are inalienable, unseizable, and imprescriptible. The law will establish the mechanisms to restore control over those that are in the hands of individuals and will regulate the special rights that ethnic groups may enjoy when they occupy territories of archaeological wealth.
Article 73
Journalism will enjoy such protection as necessary to guarantee its freedom and professional independence.
Article 74
Every person has a right to access to public documents except in cases established by law.
Professional secrets are inviolable.
Article 75
The electromagnetic spectrum is an inalienable and imprescriptible public resource subject to the management and control of the state. Equality of opportunity is guaranteed in the access to its use within the limits determined by law. To guarantee genuine pluralism and competence, the legislature will dictate the modalities of state intervention to avoid monopolistic practices in the use of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Article 76
State intervention in the electromagnetic spectrum used by the television services will be under the control of a public agency with a legal and administrative identity, ownership rights and technical autonomy, subject to its own legal regime. This agency will develop and execute the state's plans and programs in the services referred to in the previous clause.
Article 77
The aforementioned agency will be responsible for the development of the policy regarding the use of television, as determined by the law, however without diminishing the freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution Television will be regulated by an autonomous entity at the national level, subject to its own legal regime. The management and operation of the entity will be the responsibility of an executive board, which will appoint its director. The members of the executive board will serve for a fixed period. The national government will appoint two of the Board members. Another member will be designated by the regional television stations. The law will stipulate how the other members of the board are to be appointed. A law will regulate the organization and operation of the entity.
CHAPTER 3
CONCERNING COLLECTIVE RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Article 78
The law will regulate the control of the quality of goods and services offered and provided to the community as well as the information that must be made available to the public in their marketing. Those who in the production and marketing of goods and services may jeopardize the health, safety, and adequate supply to consumers and users will be held liable in accordance with the law.
The state will guarantee the participation of the consumer organizations in the study of the provisions that concern them. In order to enjoy this right the organizations must be of a representative nature and observe internal democratic procedures.
Article 79
Every person has the right to enjoy a healthy environment. The law will guarantee the community's participation in the decisions that may affect it.
It is the duty of the state to protect the diversity and integrity of the environment, to conserve areas of special ecological importance, and to foster education for the achievement of these ends.
Article 80
The state will plan the handling and use of natural resources in order to guarantee their sustainable development, conservation or replacement.
Additionally, it will have to prevent and control the factors of environmental deterioration, impose legal sanctions, and demand the repair of any damage caused. In the same way, it will cooperate with other nations in the protection of the ecosystems located in the border areas.
Article 81
The manufacture, importation, possession, and use of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons are prohibited as is the introduction into the national territory of nuclear and toxic wastes.
The state will regulate the importation and exportation of genetic resources and their use, in accordance with the national interest.
Article 82
It is the duty of the state to protect the integrity of public space and its assignment to common use, which has priority over the individual interest.
Public entities will participate in the profits generated by their urban planning activities and will regulate the use of the soil and the urban air space in order to protect the common interest.
CHAPTER 4
CONCERNING THE PROTECTION AND APPLICATION OF RIGHTS
Article 83
The activities of individuals and public authorities must conform to the postulates of good faith, which will he presumed in all dealings that the former engage in with the latter.
Article 84
When a right or an activity has been regulated in a general way, the public authorities may not establish or demand permits, licenses, or impose additional conditions for its exercise.
Article 85
The rights mentioned in Articles 11, 12,13, 14,15, 16,17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 37 and 40 are applicable immediately.
Article 86
Every person has the right to file a writ of protection before a judge, at any time or place, through a preferential and summary proceeding, for himself/herself or by whomever acts in his/her name for the immediate protection of his/her fundamental constitutional rights when that person fears the latter may be violated by the action or omission of any public authority. The protection will consist of all order issued by a judge enjoining others to act or refrain from acting. The order, which must be complied with immediately, may be challenged before a superior court judge, and in any case the latter may send it to the Constitutional Court for possible revision. This action will be available only when the affected party does not dispose of another means of judicial defense, except when it is used as a temporary device to avoid irreversible harm. In no case can more than 10 days elapse between filing the writ of protection and its resolution. The law will establish the cases in which the writ of protection may be filed against private individuals entrusted with providing a public service or whose conduct may affect seriously and directly the collective interest or in respect of whom the applicant may find himself/herself in a state of subordination or vulnerability.
Article 87
Any person may appear before the legal authority to demand the application of a law or fulfillment of an administrative act. In case of a successful action, the sentence will order the DELINQUENT authority to perform its mandated duty.
Article 88
The law will regulate popular actions for the protection of collective rights and interests related to the homeland, space, public safety and health, administrative morality, the environment, free economic competition, and others of a similar nature.
It will also regulate the actions arising out of harm caused to a large number of individuals, without barring appropriate individual action. In the some way, it will define cases of CIVIL LIABILITY for damage caused to collective rights and interests.
Article 89
In addition to what is mentioned in the previous articles, the law will determine the other resources, actions, and procedures necessary so that the individual rights of groups or collectivities may be legally protected against deeds of commission or omission by the public authorities.
Article 90
The state will answer materially for any type of damages that can be attributed to an illegal action, or caused by deeds of commission or omission by the public authorities. In the event that the state is ordered to compensate damage which may have been the consequence of the fraudulent or seriously criminal behavior of one of its agents, the former will have to claim restitution from the latter.
Article 91
In the case of a manifest infraction of a constitutional precept to the disadvantage of any person, an order from a superior does not absolve the executing agent from responsibility.
The military in the service are exempted from this provision. As far as they are concerned, responsibility will fall exclusively on the superior officer who gives the order.
Article 92
Every person or legal entity may solicit from the competent authority the application of penal or disciplinary sanctions by reason of the behavior of the public authorities.
Article 93
International treaties and agreements ratified by the Congress that recognize human rights and that prohibit their limitation in states of emergency have priority domestically.
The rights and duties mentioned in this Charter will be interpreted in accordance with international treaties on human rights ratified by Colombia.
Article 94
The enunciation of the rights and guarantees contained in the Constitution and in international agreements in effect should not be understood as a negation of others which, being inherent to the human being, are not expressly mentioned in them.
CHAPTER 5
CONCERNING DUTIES AND OBLIGATIONS
Article 95
To be Colombian is an honor for every member of the national community of Colombia. Everyone has the duty to respect and dignify this honor. The exercise of liberties and rights recognized in this Constitution implies responsibilities. Every person has the duty to respect and obey the Constitution and the laws. The following are duties of each person and each citizen
1. To respect others' rights and not abuse one's own.
2. To strive in accordance with the principle of social solidarity, to respond with humanitarian actions when faced with situations that endanger the life or health of individuals.
3. To respect and support the legitimately constituted democratic authorities in their efforts to maintain national independence and integrity.
4. To defend and foster human rights as a basis of peaceful coexistence.
5. To participate in the country's political, civic, and community life.
6. To strive toward the achievement and maintenance of peace.
7. To cooperate for the sound operation of the administration of justice.
8. To protect the country's cultural and natural resources and watch over the conservation of a healthy environment.
9. To contribute to the financing of state expenditures and investments in accordance with the principles of justice and equity.
TITLE III
CONCERNING THE POPULATION AND THE TERRITORY
CHAPTER 1
CONCERNING NATIONALITY
Article 96
The following hold Colombian citizenship
1. Citizens by birth
a. Native-born Colombians, according to one of these two conditions that the father or mother should have been natives or Colombian citizens or that, being the offspring of aliens, either of the parents was domiciled in the Republic at the time of birth;
b. The children of a Colombian father or mother who were born abroad and then became domiciled in the Republic.
2. Citizens by naturalization
Aliens who apply for and obtain their naturalization card, in accordance with the law, which will establish those cases where Colombian citizenship is lost through naturalization;
Citizens by birth from Latin America and the Caribbean who are domiciled in Colombia and who, with the government's authorization and in accordance with the law and the principle of reciprocity, request that they be registered as Colombians in the municipality where they reside; Members of the indigenous (Indian) peoples who share border areas, with application of the principle of reciprocity according to public treaties. No Colombian by birth may be stripped of his/her citizenship. The status of Colombian citizenship cannot be lost by virtue of the fact of acquiring another citizenship. Citizens by naturalization will not be obligated to renounce their citizenship of origin or naturalization. Whoever has renounced his or her Colombian citizenship may recover it in accordance with the law.
Article 97
Even when he/she has renounced citizenship status, the Colombian who acts in opposition to the country's interests when Colombia is involved in a foreign war will be tried and sentenced as a traitor. Colombian citizens by naturalization and aliens domiciled in Colombia cannot be obligated to take up arms against their country of origin; neither may Colombians who have acquired citizenship abroad against the country of their new citizenship.
CHAPTER 2
CONCERNING CITIZENSHIP
Article 98
Citizenship is lost de facto when an individual has renounced it, and its exercise may be suspended by virtue of a legal decision in the cases determined by law. Those persons whose citizenship has been suspended may request its restoration Paragraph. Unless the law states otherwise, citizenship status will be exercised beginning at age 18.
Article 99
Being a citizen in good standing is a prior and indispensable condition for exercising one's right of suffrage, to be elected, and to hold public office involving authority or jurisdiction.
CHAPTER 3
CONCERNING ALIENS
Article 100
Aliens in Colombia will enjoy the same civil rights as Colombian citizens. Notwithstanding, for reasons of public order, the law may impose special conditions on or nullify the exercise of specific civil rights by aliens. Similarly, aliens will enjoy, in the territory of the Republic, guarantees granted to citizens, except for the limitations established by the Constitution or the law. Political rights are reserved to citizens, but the law may grant to aliens resident in Colombia the fight to vote in elections and in popular consultations at the municipal or district level.
CHAPTER 4
CONCERNING TERRITORY
Article 101
The borders of Colombia are those established in international treaties approved by the Congress, duly ratified by the President of the Republic, mid those defined by arbitration awards in which Colombia takes part. The borders identified in the form provided for by this Constitution may he modified only by treaties approved by the Congress and duly ratified by the President of the Republic. Besides the continental territory, the archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia. Santa Catalina, and Malpelo are part of Colombia, in addition to the islands, islets, keys, headlands, and sand banks that belong to it. Also part of Colombia is the subsoil, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the exclusive economic zone, the airspace, the segment of the geostationary orbit, the electromagnetic spectrum and the space in which it operates, in accordance with international law or the laws of Colombia in the absence of international regulations.
Article 102
The territory, together with the public resources that are part of it, belong to the nation.
TITLE IV
CONCERNING DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION AND POLITICAL PARTIES
CHAPTER 1
CONCERNING THE FORMS OF DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION
Article 103
The following are the people's means of participating in the exercise of their sovereignty the vote, the plebiscite, the referendum, the popular consultation, the open town council meeting, the legislative initiative, and the recall of officials. The law will regulate these matters. The state will contribute to the organization, promotion, and guidance of professional, civic, trade union, community, youth and charitable or nongovernmental public-purpose associations, without prejudicing their authority so that they may constitute democratic means of representation in the various functions of participation, agreement, control, and supervision of the public activities that they undertake.
Article 104
The President of the Republic, with the approval of the ministers and the prior approval of the Senate of the Republic, may consult the people on matters of great national importance. The people's decision will be binding. Such consultation may not be concurrent with an election.
Article 105
Upon the fulfillment of the requirements and formalities prescribed by the general statute of the territorial organization and in the cases determined by the latter, the governors or mayors, as the case may be, will be entitled to hold popular consultations to decide issues failing under the jurisdiction of their respective department or municipality.
Article 106
Upon the fulfillment of the requirements that the law prescribes, the people of the territorial entities may present bills concerning issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the respective public entity, which is obligated to implement them.
CHAPTER 2
CONCERNING PARTIES AND POLITICAL MOVEMENTS
Article 107
All citizens are guaranteed the right to establish, organize, and promote parties and political movements and the freedom to become affiliated with them or to withdraw from them. Social organizations are also guaranteed the right to demonstrate and to participate in political events.
Article 108
National Electoral Council will recognize is a legal entity parties and political movements that may be organized to participate in the country's democratic life when they substantiate their existence with no fewer than 50,000 signatures or when in the previous election they obtained at least the same number of votes or achieved representation in the Congress. In no case may the law impose rules of internal organization on parties and political movements or demand affiliation with them to participate in elections. The parties and political movements with a legal status may register candidates without any additional requirements whatever.
Social movements and significant groups of citizens may also register candidates.
The law may establish requirements to guarantee the seriousness of the registrations.
A registered candidate will cease to be such if he/she fails to obtain the requisite number of votes or fails to be elected as a member of Congress.
A registered candidate will also lose this status if in the relevant election, his/ her party or political movement fails to garner at least 50,000 votes or fails to elect a member to Congress.
Article 109
The state will contribute to the financing of election campaigns of parties and political movements with a legal status. The other parties, movements, and significant groups of citizens which run candidates will enjoy this privilege as soon as they secure the percentage of votes established by the law. The law may limit the amount of expenses that the parties, movements, or candidates may incur in election campaigns as well as the maximum amount of individual contributions. The parties, movements, and candidates will have to render public account of the total, sources, and location of their revenues.
Article 110
Public employees are prohibited from making any contribution whatever to the parties, movements, or candidates or to induce others to do so, with the exceptions established by law. Noncompliance with any of these prohibitions will be cause for dismissal from office or loss of investiture.
Article 111
The parties and political movements with a legal status have the right to use public mass communications media at all times in accordance with the law. The latter will likewise establish the cases and the form in which the duly registered candidates will have access to the said media.
CHAPTER 3
CONCERNING THE STATUS AND GUARANTEES OF THE OPPOSITION
Article 112
The parties and political movements that do not participate in the government may exercise freely the opposition function vis-à-vis the latter and plan and develop alternative policies. For these purposes, except for legal restrictions, they are guaranteed the following rights access to official information and documentation use of public mass communications media in accordance with the representation obtained in the elections for Congress immediately beforehand; response in the public mass communications media to grave and obvious distortions of fact or public attacks leveled by senior officials; and participation in the electoral organs.
The parties and political movements will have the right to participate in the executive bodies of the various associations according to their representation in them.
A statute will regulate the subject matter in its entirety.
TITLE V
CONCERNING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE
CHAPTER 1
CONCERNING THE STRUCTURE OF THE STATE
Article 113
The branches of government are the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary. In addition to the organs which constitute them, there are others, autonomous and independent, for the execution of other functions of the state. The various organs of the state have separate functions but cooperate harmoniously for the realization of their goals.
Article 114
It is the responsibility of the Congress of the Republic to amend the Constitution, pass laws, and exercise political control over the government and the public administration. The Congress of the Republic will be composed of the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives.
Article 115
The President of the Republic is the chief of state, head of government, and supreme administrative authority. The national government is composed of the President of the Republic, the Cabinet ministers, and the directors of administrative departments. The President and the minister or director of the appropriate department represent the government on any particular issue. No act of the President, except the appointment and dismissal of ministers and directors of administrative departments and those acts decreed in his capacity as head of state and supreme administrative authority, will have any value or force whatever as long as it is not countersigned and communicated by the minister of the respective office or by the director of the appropriate administrative department who, by virtue thereof, become responsible for same. Govern orates and mayoralties as well as the superintendence (superintendencias), public establishments, and industrial or commercial enterprises of the state are part of the executive branch.
Article 116
The Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Council of State, the Superior Council of the Judicature, the Office of the General Prosecutor (Fiscalía General de la Nación), the courts, and judges all administer justice. The military criminal justice system also administers justice. The Congress will exercise specific judicial functions. Exceptionally, the law may assign jurisdiction of specific subject areas to specified administrative authorities. However, they will not be allowed to hold hearings of civil law proceedings nor penal proceedings. Individuals may be invested on a temporary basis with the function of administering justice as mediators or as qualified arbitrators by the parties involved to hand down verdicts whether at law or in equity, within the limits determined by law.
Article 117
The Public Ministry and the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic are supervisory agencies.
Article 118
The Public Ministry will be made up of the National Attorney General, the Ombudsman, the assigned public prosecutors, and the agents of the Public Ministry before the legal authorities, as well as by municipal representatives and other officials determined by the law. It is the responsibility of the Public Ministry to defend and promote human rights, to protect the public interest, and to oversee the official conduct of those who perform public functions.
Article 119
The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic has the duty to oversee fiscal management and to control administrative performance.
Article 120
The electoral organization consists of the National Electoral Council, the Office of the National Registrar of Civil Status, and of the other organs established by law. It is responsible for the organization of elections, their direction and supervision, as well its matters relating to personal identification.
Article 121
No authority of the state may exercise functions different from those assigned to it by the Constitution and the law.
CHAPTER 2
CONCERNING THE CIVIL SERVICE
Article 122
Every public position will have its duties determined by law or regulation. Remunerated positions must be included in the respective work plan and their payment provided for in the corresponding budget Omitted article. No public servant will occupy his position without swearing to comply with and defend the Constitution and fulfill his duties. Before occupying his position, upon retirement from it, or when requested to vacate it by a competent authority, he will declare the total of his goods and income under oath. Such declaration may only be used for the purposes stated under the rules governing public employees. Without prejudice to any other sanctions established by law, every public servant who is criminally charged with an offence against the public treasury is disqualified from occupying public office.
Article 123
The members of public entities, employees and workers of the state and of their territorially decentralized branches and service branches are public servants. Public servants are in the service of the state and of the community; they will perform their functions in the form prescribed by the Constitution, laws, mid regulations. The law will determine the regime applicable to individuals who fulfill public functions temporarily and will regulate the exercise of their functions.
Article 124
The law will determine the responsibility of public servants and the manner to make it effective.
Article 125
Employees in the organs and entities of the state are career civil servants. Those popularly elected, those who are freely appointed and dismissed, those of official workers, and others determined by law are excepted.
The officials whose system of appointment has not been determined by the Constitution or the law will be appointed on the basis of a public competitive examination.
Entry to career positions and promotion in same will be made after fulfilling the requirements and conditions determined by the law to ascertain the merits and qualifications of the applicants. Termination will occur for unsatisfactory performance on the job, for violation of the disciplinary code, and for other causes prescribed in the Constitution or the laws. In no case may the political affiliation of citizens determine their appointment to a career position, their promotion, or their termination.
Article 126
Public servants may not appoint as employees individuals to whom they are related up to the fourth level of consanguinity, affinity two ranks removed, or one rank removed in civil law, or with whom they are bound through marriage or permanent union. Neither may they designate individuals related in like manner to public servants who are in a position to intervene in their designation. Excepted from what is prescribed in this article are those appointments that are made in application of existing regulations relating to entry or promotion through merit.
Article 127
Public servants may not enter into, on their own or through intermediating individuals or in representation of another, any contract with public entities or private individuals who handle or administer public funds, except when legal exceptions apply. All state employees and employees of decentralized institutions which exercise civil or political authority, employees which exercise administrative positions or which hold judicial, electoral, or control positions, are prohibited from participating in partisan activities or in political debates, without prejudice to their right to freely exercise their right to vote. All public employees not included in this prohibition may participate in such activities in accordance with the conditions established by law. Use of employment in a position to pressure any citizen to support a political cause or campaign constitutes misconduct.
Article 128
No one may hold simultaneously more than one public position nor receive more than one salary originating from the public treasury, or from enterprises or institutions in which the state is a majority owner, except in cases expressly determined by the law. Public treasury means that of the nation, that of the territorial entities, or that of the decentralized entities.
Article 129
Public servants are not entitled to accept positions, honors, or compensation from foreign governments or international organizations or enter into contracts with them without prior authorization from the governments or international organizations or enter into contracts with them without prior authorization from the government.
Article 130
There will be a National Civil Service Commission responsible for the administration and supervision of the careers of public servants, except for those in a special category.
Article 131
It is incumbent on the law to regulate the duties performed by the Notary Public and Registrars, the definition of the labor regime for their employees, and the system of levies of the Notary Public for the purpose of the administration of justice. Appointment to the status of Notary Public will be effected on the basis of a competitive examination. It is the responsibility of the government to create, eliminate, and merge the offices of Notary Public and Registrar and to determine the number of notaries and registry offices.
TITLE VI
CONCERNING THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
CHAPTER 1
CONCERNING ITS STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS
Article 132
Senators and Representatives will be elected for a term of four years beginning on July 20 following the election.
Article 133
Members of collective bodies directly elected represent the people and will act in a manner consonant with justice and the common good. The elected official is responsible before society and vis-à-vis his/her voters for the execution of the obligations of his/her investiture.
Article 134
Vacancies due to an absolute deficiency of congressmen will be made up by nonelected candidates, according to the order of registration on the corresponding list.
Article 135
Each chamber will have the following powers
1. To elect its executive committees.
2. To elect its Secretary General for periods of two years starting from July 20. The Secretary General will have the same qualifications as those required to be a member of the respective chamber.
3. To solicit from the government the information that the chamber may need, except for what is provided in paragraph No. 2 of the article that follows.
4. To determine the holding of sessions reserved on a priority basis in order to deal with oral questions by the congressmen addressed to the ministries and the answers of the latter. By-laws will establish the modalities of these sessions.
5. To fill the positions established by law for the execution of its functions.
6. To strive to obtain from the government the cooperation of the organs of the public administration for the best execution of its responsibilities.
7. To organize its internal police force. To summon the ministers to attend the sessions. The summons will be made not less than five days prior to a session and will take the form of a written notice. In the case that the ministers do not attend, without an excuse accepted by the respective chamber, the latter may propose a motion of non-confidence. The ministers will he heard at the session for which they were summoned, without barring the discussion from continuing at subsequent sessions, following a decision of the respective chamber. The discussion may not extend to items outside the notice and will head the session's agenda. To propose a motion of non-confidence with respect to ministers for matters related to functions that pertain to their responsibility. If proposed, the motion of non-confidence must be moved by at least one-tenth of the members who make up the respective chamber. The vote will be taken between the third and 10th day following the termination of the discussion, in plenary session, with the respective ministers attending. Approval of the motion will require an absolute majority of the members of each house. Once the motion is approved, the minister is relieved of his position. If it is voted down, no other motion of non-confidence may be proposed concerning the same issue unless new facts justify it.
Article 136
The Congress and each of its chambers are barred from doing the following
1. Intervening by means of resolutions or laws in matters that fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of other authorities.
2. Demanding from the government information regarding instructions in diplomatic matters or negotiations of a classified nature.
3. Taking votes of approval on official acts.
4. Decreeing on behalf of individuals or entities contributions, bonuses, subsidies, indemnifications, pensions, or other levies that are not made to satisfy credits or recognized claims in accordance with prior law. Decreeing proscriptive or persecutory measures against individuals or legal entities.
5. Authorizing trips abroad with funds from the public treasury, except for special missions approved by at least three-quarters of the membership of the respective chamber.
Article 137
Any permanent committee may summon any person or legal entity so that the latter may provide at a special session oral or written statements that may be required under oath on matters directly related to the investigations pursued by the committee. If anyone summoned should give an excuse for not attending and should the committee insist in summoning that person, the issue must be definitively resolved by the Constitutional Court within 10 days. The reluctance of those summoned to appear or to make the required statements will be sanctioned by the committee in accordance with the penalty provided by the regulations for cases of contempt of the authorities. If in the course of the investigation there should be required for its conclusion, or for the prosecution of possible criminal infractions, the assistance of other authorities, the latter will be requested to intervene accordingly.
CHAPTER 2
CONCERNING SESSIONS AND OPERATIONS
Article 138
As of right, the Congress will meet in ordinary sessions during two periods a year, which will constitute one legislative term. The first period of sessions will begin on july 20 and conclude on December 16 while the second session will begin on March 16 and conclude on June 20. If for any reason no meetings are possible on the dates indicated, they will be convened as soon as possible within the respective periods. The Congress will also meet in special sessions by convocation of the government and for the period that the latter stipulates. During these special sessions, the Congress will be entitled to discuss only the issues submitted by the government for its consideration, without prejudice to the function of political control vested in it and which it may exercise at all times.
Article 139
The sessions of Congress may be convened and adjourned jointly and publicly by the President of the Republic, without such ceremony being essential for the Congress to exercise its functions legally.
Article 140
The Congress will have its seat in the capital of the Republic. By mutual agreement. the chambers may transfer their seat to some other location and, in case of disruption of the public order, they may meet at a site designated by the President of the Senate.
Article 141
The Congress will meet as a single body solely for the convocation and adjourning of its sessions, to install the President of the Republic, to receive heads of state or government of other countries, or to elect the Comptroller General of the Republic and the Vice President, should it be necessary to replace the elected official and decide on a vote of non-confidence in accordance with Article 135. In such cases the Presidents of the Senate and of the Chamber of Representatives will be the President and Vice President of the Congress, respectively.
Article 142
Each chamber will elect, for the respective constitutional period, permanent committees that will effect the first reading of proposed legislative bills.
The law will determine the number of permanent committees mid the number of members as well as the subject areas in which each of them will engage.
When the permanent constitutional committees hold joint sessions, the decisive quorum will be that required for each of the committees considered individually.
Article 143
The Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Representatives may decide that any of the permanent committees should hold meetings issues pending from the previous period, during the recess in order to debate the issues pending from the previous period, to undertake studies that the respective body may determine, and to prepare bills with which the chambers may entrust them.
Article 144
The sessions of the chambers and their permanent committees will be public, within the limits determined by their bylaws.
Article 145
The Congress as a whole, the chambers or their committees may not open sessions or deliberate with fewer than a quarter of their membership present. Decisions may only be made by the majority of members of the respective body, unless the Constitution determines a different quorum.
Article 146
In the Congress as a whole, in the chambers and in their permanent committees, decisions will be made by the majority of votes of those attending, unless the Constitution expressly determines a special majority.
Article 147
The executive committees of the chambers and of their permanent committees will be replaced each year for the legislative session beginning on July 20, and none of its members may be reelected within the same constitutional four-year period.
Article 148
The provisions regarding the quorum and decisive majorities will also apply to the other popularly elected public bodies.
Article 149
Any meeting of members of Congress which, with, the purpose of exercising the functions proper to the legislative branch of government, is held outside the constitutional prescriptions, will be invalid. Any decisions it may take will have no effect whatsoever, and whoever participates in such deliberations will be sanctioned according to the law.
CHAPTER 3
CONCERNING THE LAWS
Article 150
It is the responsibility of Congress to enact laws. Through them its exercises the following functions
1. Interpreting, amending, and repealing laws.
2. Issuing codes in all areas of legislation and amending their provisions.
3. Approving the national development plan and public investments that must be undertaken or continued, with the determination of resources and appropriations authorized for their execution and the measures necessary to promote their implementation.
4. Defining the general division of the territory in accordance with what is prescribed in the Constitution, setting the bases and conditions to create, eliminate, modify, or merge territorial entities and determining their jurisdictions.
5. Granting special powers to the departmental assemblies.
6. Moving the present seat of the higher national authorities under extraordinary circumstances and for grave reasons of public convenience.
7. Determining the structure of the national administration and creating, eliminating, or merging ministries, administrative departments, superintendence, public establishments, and other national entities, stipulating their goals and organic structure; regulating the creation and functioning of the Regional Autonomous Bodies within a regime of autonomy; similarly, creating or authorizing the bylaws of industrial and commercial enterprises of the state and joint (private-public) companies.
8. Issuing the regulations to which the government will he subjected for the exercise of its functions of inspection and supervision as established in the Constitution.
9. Granting authorization to the government to enter into contracts, to negotiate loans, and to sell national resources. The government will periodically make reports to the Congress on the exercise of these activities.
10. Vesting for a period of up to six months, in the President of the Republic, specific extraordinary powers to issue decrees with the force of law when public necessity or convenience advises it. Such powers must be requested expressly by the government and their approval requires the vote of an absolute majority of the membership of both chambers.
At all times and on its own initiative, the Congress may amend the decrees issued by the government while using its extraordinary powers.
These powers may not be conferred to issue codes, statutes, organic laws, those prescribed in paragraph No. 20 of the present article, nor to levy taxes.
11. Establishing national revenues and determining the expenditures of administration.
12. Establishing fiscal contributions and, exceptionally, Para fiscal contributions in cases and under the conditions established by law.
13. Determining the legal tender, convertibility, and the scope of exemptions, and determining the system of weights and measurements.
14. Approving or disapproving contracts or agreements which, for reasons of evident national necessity, the President of the Republic may have entered into with individuals, companies, or public entities without prior authorization.
15. Decreeing honors to citizens who have rendered services to the nation.
16. Approving or disapproving treaties which the government makes with other states or international organizations. By means of said treaties, the state, on the basis of equality, reciprocity, and national convenience, may transfer specific powers to international organizations whose object it is to promote or consolidate economic integration with other states.
17. Granting by a two-thirds majority of the votes of the members of one or the other chamber and for serious reasons of public convenience, amnesties or general commutations of sentences for political crimes. In the case that those favored may be exempted from civil responsibility regarding third parties, the state will be obliged to make the appropriate compensation.
18. Dictating the regulations regarding the appropriation or adjudication and recovery of uncultivated land.
19. Dictating general regulations and stipulating in them the goals and criteria to which the government must be subjected for the following purposes
a. Organizing public credit;
b. Regulating foreign trade and determining the international exchange schedule, in accordance with the functions which the Constitution assigns to the board of directors of the Bank of the Republic;
c. Modifying, for reasons of commercial policy, tariffs, duties, and other provisions related to customs regulations;
d. Regulating financial activities, the stock exchange, insurance, and any other activities connected with the management, use, and investment of resources involving the public;
e. Determining the wage level and social benefits of public servants, members of the National Congress and of the police forces and the army;
f. Regulating the minimum social benefits of official workers. The powers relating to social benefits may not be delegated to public territorial entities nor may these offices appropriate such powers.
20. Creating the administrative and technical services of the chambers.
21. Issuing the laws of economic assistance provided for in Article 334, which must specify their purposes, ranges and limits to economic freedom.
22. Issuing the laws connected with the Bank of the Republic and with the functions that its board of directors must perform.
23. Issuing the laws that regulate the exercise of the public functions and the provision of public services.
24. Regulating industrial property, patents and trademarks, and other forms of intellectual property.
25. Streamlining and making uniform the regulations concerning traffic police in the entire territory of the Republic.
It is the responsibility of Congress to establish general rules for the contracting with the public administration and especially with the national administration.
Article 151
The Congress will issue organic laws regulating the exercise of legislative activity. They will establish the bylaws of Congress and of each chamber, regulations concerning the preparation, approval, and execution of the Budgetary Revenues and Appropriations Law, the execution of the general development plan and the regulations relative to the assignment of regulatory responsibilities to the territorial entities. The organic laws will require, for their approval, an absolute majority of the votes of the members of both chambers.
Article 152
By means of statutory laws, the Congress of the Republic will regulate the following subject areas
a. Fundamental rights and duties of individuals and the procedures and actions for their protection;
b. Administration of justice;
c. Organization and regulations of parties and political movements; the guarantees of the opposition and the electoral functions;
d. Institutions and machinery of citizens' participation;
e. States of exception.
Article 153
The approval, amendment, or repeal of the statutory laws requires an absolute majority of the votes of the members of Congress and must be completed within a single legislative term. Such procedure will include the prior review by the Constitutional Court to of the viability of the proposal. Any citizen may intervene to defend it or to oppose it.
Article 154
Laws may originate in either of the chambers by the proposal of their respective members, the national government, the entities stipulated in Article 156, or through popular initiative in the cases provided by the Constitution.
However, the government may dictate or amend only those laws covered by Nos. 3, 7, 9, 11, and 22 and by subparagraphs (a), (b), and (e) of paragraph No. 19 of Article 150; those which decree contributions to national revenues or transfers of same; those which authorize contributions or grants by the state to industrial or commercial enterprises; and those which decree exemptions from taxes, contributions, or national levies.
The chambers may introduce amendments to the bills presented by the government. Legislative bills concerning taxes will be initiated in the Chamber of Representatives while those involving international relations will be initiated in the Senate.
Article 155
Legislative bills or those involving constitutional amendments may be introduced by a number of citizens equal to or greater than five percent of the existing electoral rolls on the relevant date or by 30 percent of the councilors or deputies of the country. The popular initiative will be executed by the Congress, in accordance with the provisions in Article 163 with respect to bills that have been the subject of a declaration of urgency.
The proposing citizens will have the right to designate a spokesman who will be heard by the chambers at all stages of the proceedings.
Article 156
The Constitutional Court, the Superior Council of the Judicature, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Council of State, the National Electoral Council, the National Attorney General, and the Comptroller General of the Republic have the right to introduce bills in subject areas related to their functions.
Article 157
No bill will become law without meeting the following requirements
1. Being published officially by the Congress before being sent to the respective committee.
2. Being approved at the first reading in the appropriate permanent committee of each chamber. The bylaws of the Congress will determine the cases in which the first reading will be held in joint session of the permanent committees of both chambers.
3. Being approved in each chamber at the second reading.
4. Securing the approval of the government.
Article 158
Every legislative bill will have to refer to a single issue and any provisions or amendments not germane to it will be inadmissible. The chairman of the appropriate committee will reject the initiatives that are not in harmony with this principle, though his/her decisions will be subject to appeal before the same committee. The law which has been the subject of partial modification will be published as a single text incorporating the approved amendments.
Article 159
The legislative bill that may have been rejected at the initial reading may be considered by the respective chamber at the request of its author, a member of the chamber, the government, or the spokesman of its proponents in the case of a popular initiative.
Article 160
Between the first and second readings, a period of no less than eight days must have elapsed, and between the approval of the bill in either of the chambers and the initiation of the debate in the other, at least 15 days must have elapsed. During the second reading, either chamber may introduce amendments, additions, and omissions that it deems necessary. In the report to the chamber as a whole for the second reading, the committee spokesman will have to present all the proposals that were considered by the committee and the reasons why they were rejected. Every legislative bill or legislative act must include a report from the committee spokesman in the respective committee charged with passing it and must complete all necessary steps.
Article 161
When differences occur in the chambers with respect to a bill, each will form a special committee which, meeting jointly, will draft the text which will be submitted for a final decision in the plenary session of each chamber. If following the repetition of the second reading the differences should persist, the bill will be considered as defeated.
Article 162
Legislative bills which failed to pass in one legislative term and which have been debated once in either chamber will continue their course in the subsequent term in whatever state they may be. No bill may be considered in more than two legislative terms.
Article 163
The President of the Republic may solicit the urgent passage of any legislative bill. In such a case, the respective chamber must decide about same within a 30-day limit. Even within this deadline, a declaration of urgency may be reiterated at all constitutional stages of the bill. Should the President insist on the urgency, the bill will have priority in the day's agenda such as to exclude the consideration of any other matter until the respective chamber or committee reaches a decision on it. If the legislative bill to which the message of urgency refers is under study by a permanent Committee, the latter, at the request of the government, will deliberate jointly with the corresponding committee of the other chamber in order to complete the first reading.
Article 164
The Congress will give priority to the passage of legislative bills that approve treaties involving human rights which are submitted to its consideration by the government.
Article 165
Once a legislative bill is approved by both chambers, it will be transmitted to the government for its approval. Should the latter have no objections, it will approve the bills promulgation as law; if it objects to it, the bill will be returned to the chamber in which it originated.
Article 166
The government has a six-day deadline to return with its objections any bill which does not include over 20 articles; a 10 day deadline for a bill including 21 to 50 articles; and up to 20 days for a bill of over 50 articles. Once the stipulated deadlines are reached and the government has not returned a bill with objections, the President must approve it and promulgate it. If the chambers should begin a recess within the stated deadlines, the President will be obligated to publish the approved or disapproved bills within the above-mentioned deadlines.
Article 167
The legislative bill to which the government objects totally or in part will be returned to the chambers for a second debate. The President will sign without being able to present objections to the bill which, when once reconsidered, is approved by half plus one of the members of both Chambers. An exception to this rule is the case where the bill may raise objections on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. In such a case, should the chambers insist, the bill will he sent to the Constitutional Court so that the latter, within the six subsequent days, may decide on its constitutionality. The affirmative decision of the Court obligates the President to approve the law. If the Court declares the bill unconstitutional, it will be tabled. If the Court decides that the bill is unconstitutional in part, it will so indicate to the chamber where the bill originated so that, once the responsible minister is heard, the chamber may redraft and integrate the affected provisions in terms consonant with the dictates of the Court. Once this is done, the chamber will transmit the bill to the Court for its definitive ruling.
Article 168
If the President should not fulfill his duty to approve the bill within the deadlines and according to the conditions established by the Constitution, the President of the Congress will approve and promulgate them.
Article 169
The title of the laws will have to correspond precisely with their content, and the following caption will precede the text "The Congress of Colombia decrees".
Article 170
A group of citizens corresponding to one-tenth of the electoral rolls may solicit from the electoral organization the holding of a referendum for the repeal of a law. This law will be repealed if half plus one of the voters who participate in the referendum so decide as long as and whenever a quarter of the citizens making up the electoral rolls participate in the referendum. There can be no referendum with respect to laws approving international treaties or the budget or laws relating to fiscal or tax matters.
CHAPTER 4
CONCERNING THE SENATE
Article 171
The Senate of the Republic will be made up of 100 members elected in one national electoral district. There will be an additional two senators elected in a special national electoral district for indigenous (Indian) communities. Colombian citizens who happen to be or reside abroad may vote in elections for the Senate of the Republic.
The special national electoral district for the election of Senators by the indigenous communities will proceed according to the electoral quotient system.
The representatives of the indigenous communities who wish to present themselves as members of the Senate of the Republic will have occupied a traditional post of authority in their respective communities or will have been leaders of an indigenous organization, as recognized by means of a certificate from such organization and authenticated by the government Ministry.
Article 172
In order to be elected Senator, the candidate must be a Colombian citizen at birth, a citizen in good standing, and be over 30 years of age oil the date of the election.
Article 173
The following are the powers of the Senate
1. To approve or reject the resignation from their office by the President of the Republic or the Vice President.
2. To approve or disapprove military promotions granted by the government, from the rank of general officers and flag officers of the public force, up to the highest rank.
3. To grant permission to the President of the Republic to take temporary leave from his office where it is not due to sickness, and to consider the qualifications of the Vice President to serve as President of the Republic.
4. To allow the transit of foreign troops across the territory of the Republic.
5. To authorize the government to declare war on another state.
6. To elect the judges of the Constitutional Court.
7. To elect the National Attorney General.
Article 174
It is the responsibility of the Senate to take cognizance of charges brought by the Chamber of Representatives against the President of the Republic or whoever replaces him/her, against the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, of the Council of State and the Constitutional Court, against the members of the Superior Council of the Judicature, and against the Attorney General of the Nation, even though they may have ceased exercising their duties. In this case, the Senate will be informed of actions or omissions that occurred in the performance of the duties of the accused.
Article 175
The following rules will be observed in legal proceedings before the Senate
1. The accused is automatically suspended from his/her office whenever the charge is made public.
2. If the charge refers to crimes committed in the exercise of his/her functions or he/she becomes unworthy to serve because of a misdemeanor, the Senate may only impose the sanction of discharge from office or the temporary or absolute suspension of political rights. But the accused will be brought to trial before the Supreme Court of Justice if the evidence should show the individual to be responsible for an infraction deserving of another penalty.
3. If the charge refers to common crimes, the Senate will confine itself to declare whether or not there are grounds for further measures, and in the affirmative, it will place the accused at the disposal of the Supreme Court.
4. The Senate may commission a task force from among its own ranks for investigation, reserving for itself the decision and definitive sanction to be pronounced in a public session by at least two-thirds of the votes of the Senators present.
CHAPTER 5
CONCERNING THE CHAMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES
Article 176
The Chamber of Representatives will be elected in territorial electoral districts and special electoral districts. There will be two representatives for each territorial electoral district and one or for every 250,000 inhabitants or for each fraction greater than 125,000 over and above the initial 250,000. For the election of representatives to the chamber, each department and the Capital District of Bogotá will represent one territorial electoral district. The law may establish a special electoral district to ensure the participation in the Chamber of Representatives of ethnic groups and political minorities and Colombians resident abroad. Up to five representatives may be elected for this district.
Article 177
To be elected a representative, it is necessary to be a citizen in good standing and be older than 25 years of age on the date of the election.
Article 178
The Chamber of Representatives will have the following special powers
1. To elect the Ombudsman.
2. To examine and finalize the general budgetary and treasury account presented to it by the Comptroller General of the Republic.
3. To bring charges before the Senate, when constitutional reasons may exist, against the President of the Republic or whoever replaces him/her, the judges of the Constitutional Court, the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, the members of the Superior Council of the Judicature, the judges of the Council of State, or the General Prosecutor.
4. To take cognizance of denunciations and complaints that may be presented before it by the General Prosecutor or by individuals against specific officials and, if necessary, to bring charges on that basis before the Senate.
5. To request the assistance of other authorities in the investigations over which the chamber has jurisdiction and to authorize the collection of evidence when the chamber considers it appropriate.
CHAPTER 6
CONCERNING THE CONGRESSMEN
Article 179
The following are not qualified to be congressmen
1. Those who were sentenced at anytime on the basis of a judicial verdict to a prison term, with the exception of political crimes or crimes of strict liability.
2. Public employees who exercised political, civil, administrative, or military authority or jurisdiction within the 12 months prior to the date of the election.
3. Those who participated in business dealings with public entities or contracted with them in their own interest or that of third parties, or have been legal representatives of entities that administer taxes or fiscal-type levies within six months prior to the date of the election.
4. Those who have lost their investiture as congressmen.
5. Those who are connected through marriage or permanent union or kinship to the third degree of consanguinity, affinity one rank removed, or merely civil with officials who exercise civil or political authority.
6. Those who are connected among themselves through marriage or permanent union or kinship to the third degree of consanguinity, affinity two ranks removed, or one rank removed in civil law, and belong to the same party, movement, or group for election to office or as members of public entities for an election to be held on the same date.
7. Those who hold dual citizenship, excepting Colombians by birth
8. No one may be elected for more than one office or public position, nor for an office or position if the respective periods overlap in time, even partially.
The disqualifications provided in paragraphs No. 2, 3, 5, and 6 refer to situations that may apply in the district in which the respective election is slated to be held. The law will regulate the other cases of disqualifications oil account of kinship, with the authorities not stipulated in these provisions.
For the purposes of this article, it is considered that the national electoral district overlaps each of the territorial districts, except for the disqualification identified in paragraph No. 5.
Article 180
Congressmen are prohibited from doing the following
1. Holding public or private office or employment.
2. Managing in their own name or someone else's name, affairs before the public
authorities or before individuals dial administer taxes, or from being empowered to contract with these officials on their own or through a third party. The law will establish the exceptions to this provision.
3. Being members of boards or executive councils of decentralized entities of
whatever level or of institutions that administer taxes.
4. Making contracts or making arrangements with individuals or private legal entities that may administer, handle, or invest public funds or that may be contractors of the state or receive subsidies from the latter. Excepted is the acquisition of goods or services that are equally offered to all citizens.
Paragraph 1. The profession of university professor is excepted from the regime
of incompatibilities.
Paragraph 2. The official who, in violation of the present article, should appoint a congressman to a job or office or who should make a contract with him/her or accept that he/she should act as business representative in his/her own name or that of a third party will be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Article 181
The incompatibilities of the congressmen will be in effect during the applicable constitutional period. In case of resignation, they will continue to apply during the year subsequent to the resignation or for the time remaining in the constitutional term, whichever is greater. Whoever is called to occupy the position will be subject to the same rules of disabilities and incompatibilities as of the date of taking office.
Article 182
Congressmen must inform their respective chamber of any moral or economic situation that prevents them from participating in the matters submitted for their consideration. The law will determine the basis for regulation oil the grounds of conflicts of interest and incompatibilities.
Article 183
Congressmen will lose their investiture for the following reasons
1. For violating the rules of disabilities and incompatibilities or the rules of conflict of interest.
2. For their absence, in the same legislative session, from six plenary meetings at which legislative acts, bills, or motions of non-confidence are voted upon.
3. For not assuming their position within eight days following the date of convening the chambers or the date when they were summoned to be convened.
4. For the improper payment of public funds.
5. For trafficking in influence, duly proven. Paragraph. Reasons 2 and 3 will not be applicable when "force majeure" is involved.
Article 184
The loss of investiture will be decreed by the Council of State in accordance with the law within no more than 20 working days, beginning from the date of the request made by the executive committee of the appropriate chamber or by any citizen.
Article 185
Congressmen will enjoy immunity for their opinions and the votes which they cast in the exercise of their office, without prejudice to the disciplinary rules included in the relevant bylaws.
Article 186
Regarding crimes committed by congressmen, the Supreme Court of Justice is the sole authority that may order their detention and should be informed privately of such accusations. In case of flagrante delicto, the congressman must be apprehended and placed immediately at the disposal of this Court.
Article 187
The remuneration of the members of Congress will be adjusted each year in proportion equal to the weighted average of the adjustments made in the remuneration of the public servants of the central administration, on the basis of a certificate which the Comptroller General of the Republic will issue for that purpose.
TITLE VII
CONCERNING THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
CHAPTER 1
CONCERNING THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
Article 188
The President of the Republic symbolizes national unity and, on taking the oath of office to abide by the Constitution and the laws, he/she pledges to guarantee the rights and freedoms of all Colombians.
Article 189
It is the responsibility of the President of the Republic, as the chief of state, head of the government, and supreme administrative authority to do the following
1. Appoint and dismiss freely Cabinet ministers and directors of administrative departments.
2. Manage international relations; appoint the members of the diplomatic and consular corps; receive the corresponding foreign officials; and negotiate international treaties or agreements with other states and international bodies to be submitted for the approval of the Congress.
3. Direct the public force and its disposition in his/her quality of supreme commander of the armed forces of the Republic.
4. Preserve public order throughout the territory and restore it where it has been disturbed.
5. Direct military operations when he/she deems it appropriate.
6. Provide for the external security of the Republic, defend the independence and honor of the nation and the inviolability of its territory; declare war with the approval of the Senate or without such authorization to repel foreign aggression; and agree to and ratify peace treaties, regarding all of which matters the President will give an immediate account to the Congress.
7. Authorize, during a recess of the Senate and with the prior opinion of the Council of State, the transit of foreign troops across the territory of the Republic.
8. Convene and adjourn the sessions of the Congress in each legislative term.
9. Approve the laws.
10. Promulgate the laws, obey them, and see to their strict compliance.
11. Exercise the power to regulate through the issuing of decrees, resolutions, and orders necessary for the execution of the laws.
12. Present a report to the Congress at the beginning of each legislative term regarding the activities of the administration, regarding the execution of the plans and programs of economic and social development, and regarding the bills which the government proposes to move forward during the new legislative term.
13. Appoint the presidents, directors, or managers of national public institutions and individuals who occupy national office, where such positions are not to be filled through competitive examinations or are not the responsibility of other officials or bodies, according to the Constitution or the law.
14. Create, merge, or dissolve, according to the law, positions required by the central administration, define their special functions, and determine their benefits and emoluments. The government may not create, at Treasury expense, obligations which would exceed the total amount allocated for the respective service in the initial appropriations
15. Eliminate or merge national administrative entities or organs in accordance with the law.
16. Modify the structure of the Ministries, administrative departments, and other national administrative entities or organs, according to the principles and general regulations defined by the law.
17. Assign work according to its nature among Ministries, administrative departments, and public institutions.
18. Grant permission to national public employees who may request it to accept, on a temporary basis, responsibilities or benefits from foreign governments.
19. Confer ranks to the members of the public force and submit for the approval of the Senate those that fall under Article 173.
20. Supervise the strict collection and administration of public revenues and credits and decree their investment in accordance with the laws.
21. Inspect and supervise education in accordance with the law.
22. Inspect and supervise the provision of public services.
23. Make contracts falling under his/her jurisdiction in accordance with the Constitution and the law.
24. Effect, in accordance with the law, the inspection, supervision and control of individuals who undertake financial, stock market, insurance, and any other activities connected with the management, use, or investment of resources collected from the public and similarly, to supervise such investment by cooperative entities and commercial companies.
25. Organize public credit; determine the national debt and arrange for its servicing; amend the customs duties, tariffs, and other provisions concerning customs; regulate foreign trade; and to intervene in financial, stock exchange, insurance, and any other activities connected with the management, use, and investment of resources originating from the saving of third parties, in accordance with the law.
26. Inspect and supervise institutions of public utility so that their revenues may be protected and be properly applied and so that they function fundamentally in accordance with the wishes of the founders.
27. Grant temporary patents to inventors of useful improvements in accordance with the law.
28. Issue naturalization certificates, in accordance with the law.
Article 190
The President of the Republic will be elected for a period of four years by one-half plus one of the ballots which, by secret and direct ballot, the citizens will cast on the date and following the procedures determined by the law. If no candidate should secure the said majority, a runoff election will be held three weeks later when only those two candidates who received the most votes in the first round of balloting will participate. The candidate with the larger number of votes will be declared President.
In the case of the death or permanent physical incapacity of either of the two candidates receiving the majority of votes, his/her party or political movement may enter a new candidate for the runoff election. If the party or movement fails to do so or if the vacancy stems from another reason, that candidate will be replaced by the third place winner in the first round and so on in successive and descending order. Should the vacancy occur less than two weeks before the second round of balloting, the latter will be postponed by 15 days.
Article 191
In order to be President of the Republic, an individual must be Colombian by birth, a citizen in good standing, and over 30 years of age.
Article 192
The President of the Republic will assume his office before the Congress and will take the following oath "I swear to God and promise to the people to faithfully execute the Constitution and the laws of Colombia." If for any reason the President should be unable to assume his/her office before the Congress, he/she will do so before the Supreme Court of Justice or, failing that, before two witnesses.
Article 193
The Senate will have the power to grant approval to the President of the Republic to be temporarily relieved of his/her duties. On account of sickness, the President of the Republic may be relieved of his/ her duties for the necessary period, after giving notice to the Senate or, should the latter be in recess, to the Supreme Court of Justice.
Article 194
A permanent vacancy in the office of the President of the Republic occurs at his/her death, his/her accepted resignation, his/her removal from office decreed as a judgment, and finally, permanent physical incapacity and abandonment of duties, these last two being declared by the Senate. A temporary vacancy in the office occurs following permission for leave of absence or sickness, in accordance with the previous article, or suspension in the President's exercise of responsibility as decreed by the Senate upon public admission by the President of a charge against the President in the cases anticipated in paragraph No. 1, Article 175.
Article 195
The acting chief executive will have the same privileges and the same powers as the President whom he/she replaces.
Article 196
The President of the Republic, or whoever replaces him/her, may not travel abroad during the exercise of his/her office without prior notification to the Senate or, should the latter be in recess, the Supreme Court of Justice. A violation of this provision implies abandonment of his/her office. The President of the Republic, or whichever official has occupied the presidency, is not he entitled to leave the country during the year following the date when he/she ceased exercising his/her functions without the prior permission of the Senate. When the President of the Republic travels abroad as part of his/her duties, the appropriate minister, according to the order of legal precedence, will exercise under his/her own responsibility the constitutional functions that the President should delegate to him/her, as well as those which pertain to the minister. The delegated minister will belong to the same party or political movement as the President.
Article 197
The citizen who under any tide whatever may have held the presidency at an earlier time may not be elected President of the Republic. This prohibition does not cover the Vice President when the latter has exercised the presidential functions for less than three months, in continuous or discontinuous form, during the four-year term. Nor can the individual who may be subject to any of the reasons of disqualification listed in paragraphs Nos. 1, 4, and 7 of Article 179 be elected President of the Republic; neither can the citizen who, a year before the election, may have held any of the following positions Judge of the Supreme Court of Justice or of the Constitutional Court, Councillor of State, or member of the National Electoral Council or the Superior Council of the Judicature, Cabinet ministers, National Attorney General, Ombudsman, Comptroller General of the Republic, General Prosecutor, National Registrar of Civil Status, Director of an Administrative Department, Departmental Governor, or Senior Mayor of Santa Fe de Bogotá.
Article 198
The President of the Republic or whoever replaces him/her is responsible for his/her acts of commission or omission that violate the Constitution or the laws.
Article 199
The President of the Republic, during the period for which he/she is elected or whoever is entrusted with the presidency, may not be prosecuted or tried for crimes except following all indictment by the Chamber of Representatives and when the Senate has declared that there are grounds for a case.
CHAPTER 2
CONCERNING THE GOVERNMENT
Article 200
It is the duty of the government to do the following in conjunction with the Congress
1. Help draft the laws, present bills through ministers, exercise the right of objecting to them, and approve them in accordance with the Constitution.
2. Convoke the Congress to special sessions.
3. resent the national development and public investment plan, in accordance with the provisions in Article 150.
4. end the budget bill of revenues and expenditures to the Chamber of Representatives.
5. Make reports to the chambers as requested on unclassified matters.
6. Effectively support the chambers when the latter request it, placing at their disposal the public force if necessary.
Article 201
It is the duty of the government to do the following in conjunction with the judiciary branch
1. end the necessary assistance to the judicial officials to make their decisions effective, in accordance with the laws.
2. rant pardons, reprieves, or amnesties for political crimes, in accordance with the law, and inform Congress about the exercise of this power. In no case may these exonerations involve the responsibility which the grantees of the exonerations may have vis-à-vis private parties.
CHAPTER 3
CONCERNING THE VICE PRESIDENT
Article 202
The Vice President of the Republic will be elected by popular vote on the same day and in the same manner as the President of the Republic. The candidates for the runoff election, if there should be one, will in each case be those who participated in the general election. The Vice President will hold office for the same period as the President and will replace the latter in case of temporary or permanent presidential vacancy, even if such a vacancy should occur before the President assumes office. In case of a temporary vacancy in the position of President of the Republic, it will be sufficient that the Vice President should take possession of his/her position as soon as possible so that he/she may exercise it whenever necessary. In case of a permanent vacancy in the position of the President of the Republic, the Vice President will assume office until the end of the term. The President of the Republic may entrust the Vice President with missions or special duties and assign to him/her any responsibility of the executive branch. The Vice President may not assume the functions of Minister-Delegate.
Article 203
When there is a vacancy in the position of Vice President at a time when the latter must assume the Presidency, the former office will be assumed by a minister in the order of precedence established by law. The individual who, in accordance with this article, replaces the President will belong to the same party or movement and will exercise the Presidency until such time as the Congress, in its own right and within the 30 days following the date when the presidential vacancy occurs, elects the Vice President who will assume the Presidency of the Republic.
Article 204
In order to be elected Vice President, the latter must possess the same qualifications required for President of the Republic. The Vice President may not be elected President of the Republic or Vice President for the immediately subsequent them.
Article 205
In case of a permanent vacancy in the position of Vice President, the Congress will meet at its own behest or on convocation by the President of the Republic, in order to elect the person who will fill the office for the rest of the term. A permanent vacancy in the position of Vice President is created by his/her death, his/her accepted resignation, or permanent physical disability as recognized by the Congress.
CHAPTER 4
CONCERNING THE MINISTERS AND DIRECTORS
OF ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS
Article 206
The number, designation, and order of precedence of the Ministries and administrative departments will be determined by law.
Article 207
In order to be a minister or director of an administrative department, the same qualifications are required as for a representative in the chamber.
Article 208
The ministers and directors of administrative departments are the heads of public administration in their respective offices. Under the direction of the President of the Republic, it is their responsibility to formulate policies pertaining to their office, direct the administrative operations, and execute the law. The ministers, in conjunction with the Congress, are spokesmen of the government, present government bills to the chambers, respond to the requests that the chambers make to them, and take part in debates directly or through deputy ministers. The ministers and directors of administrative departments will present to the Congress, within the first 15 days of each legislative term, a report on the state of affairs assigned to their Ministry or administrative department and on the reforms that they consider appropriate. The chambers may request the attendance of the ministers, the permanent committees, the deputy ministers, directors of administrative departments, the manager of the Bank of the Republic, the presidents, directors, or managers of the decentralized entities at the national level, and that of other officials of the executive branch of government.
CHAPTER 5
CONCERNING THE ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTION
Article 209
The administrative function must serve the general interest and has as its basis the principles of equality, morality, efficiency, economy, speed, impartiality, and publicity through the decentralization, delegation, and de concentration of functions. The administrative authorities must coordinate their actions for the appropriate fulfillment of the purposes of ale state. The public administration, at all levels, will have an internal control that will be exercised within the limits stipulated by the law.
Article 210
The entities of the decentralized national services may only be created by law or through the latter's authorization, based on the principles that guide administrative activity. Individuals may carry out administrative functions under the conditions stipulated by the law. The law will establish the legal regime of the decentralized entities and the responsibilities of their chairmen, directors, or managers.
Article 211
The law will stipulate the functions which the President of the Republic may delegate to the ministers, directors of administrative departments legal representatives of decentralized entities, superintendents, governors, mayors, and agencies of the state which the same law determines. Similarly, it will determine the conditions under which the administrative authorities may delegate responsibility to their subsidiaries or other authorities. The delegation exempts the delegates from responsibility, which falls exclusively on the one to whom the authority is delegated and whose actions or decisions may always be amended or revoked by the delegate, who would then reassume the consequent responsibility. The law will establish what recourse is available against the actions of those holding delegated authority.
CHAPTER 6
CONCERNING THE STATES OF EXCEPTION
Article 212
The President of the Republic, with the signature of all the ministers, may declare a state of foreign war. Upon such a declaration, the government will have the powers strictly necessary to repel the aggression, defend the country's sovereignty, meet the requirements of the war, and bring about the restoration of normal conditions. The declaration of a state of foreign war may he made only when the Senate has approved the declaration of war, except when in the judgment of the President, it was necessary to repel the aggression forthwith. While the state of war continues, the Congress continues to enjoy all its constitutional and legal powers and the government will report to it, giving reasons periodically for the decrees that it has issued and the evolution of events. The legislative decrees issued by the government suspend laws incompatible with the state of war, remain in force during the time which the decrees themselves stipulate, and are no longer in effect as soon as normal conditions are declared to have been restored. At any time, the Congress may amend or repeal the decrees through a favorable vote of two-thirds of the members of each chamber.
Article 213
In the case of a serious disruption of public order imminently threatening institutional stability, the security of the state, or the peaceful coexistence of the citizenry, and which cannot be resolved by the use of the ordinary powers of the police authorities, the President of the Republic, with the approval of all the ministers, may declare a state of internal disturbance throughout the Republic or part of it for a period no longer than 90 days, extendable for two similar periods, the second of which requires the prior and favorable vote of the Senate of the Republic. Upon such a declaration, the government will have the powers strictly necessary to deal with the causes of the disruption and check the spread of its effects. The legislative decrees that the government issues suspend the laws incompatible with the state of disturbance and are no longer in effect as soon as public order is declared to have been restored. The government may extend its application for a period of up to 90 more days. Within the three days subsequent to the declaration or extension of the state of disturbance, the Congress will meet at its own behest, with all its constitutional and legal powers. The President will transmit to it an immediate report concerning the reason, motivating the said declaration. In no case may civilians be questioned or tried by martial law.
Article 214
The states of exception referred to in the previous articles will be subject to the following provisions
1. The legislative decrees must carry the signature of the President of the Republic and all his/her ministers and may refer only to matters that have a direct and specific connection with the situation which the declaration of the state of exception has set out.
2. Neither human rights nor fundamental freedoms may be suspended. In all cases, the rules of international humanitarian law will be observed. A statutory law will regulate the powers of the government during the states of exception and will establish the legal controls and a guarantees to protect rights, in accordance with international treaties. The measures which are adopted must be proportionate to the gravity of the events.
3. The normal functioning of the branches of government or state organs will not be interrupted.
4. As soon as the foreign war or the causes that gave rise to the state of internal disturbance have ceased, the government will declare public order to be restored and will lift the state of exception.
5. The President and the ministers are responsible when they declare states of exception without the occurrence of a foreign war or internal disturbance, and they are also responsible, as are other officials, for any abuse that they may commit in the exercise of the powers to which the earlier articles refer.
6. The government will send to the Constitutional Court on the day following their promulgation the legislative decrees issued under the powers mentioned in the above articles so that the Court may decide definitively on their constitutionality. Should the government not comply with the duty to transmit the decrees, the Constitutional Court will automatically and immediately take cognizance of them.
Article 215
When events different from those provided in Articles 212 and 213 occur that disrupt or threaten to disrupt in serious or imminent manner the economic, social, or ecological order of the country or which constitute a grave public calamity, the President, with the signature of all the ministers, may declare a state of emergency for periods of up to 30 days in each case, which, in all, may not exceed 90 days in a calendar year.
By means of such a declaration, which must be justified, the President may, with the signature of all the ministers, issue decrees having the force of law, directed exclusively to checking the crisis and halting the extension of its effects.
These decrees may refer to matters that have a direct and specific connection to the state of emergency and may, in a provisional manner, establish new taxes or amend existing ones. In these last cases, the measures will cease to he effective at the end of the subsequent fiscal year, except when the Congress, during the subsequent year, gives them a permanent character. In the decree declaring the suite of emergency, the government will stipulate the deadline within which it would use its extraordinary powers in situations referred to in this article and will convene the Congress if the latter should not be meeting for the 10 days following the expiration of the said deadline. </