Colombia Political Structure

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II- Brief overview of Colombia

The Republic of Colombia, with Bogotá as its capital and Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela as its neighboring countries, demonstrates a very complex and intertwined example of the struggle of what narcotic trade could do to a country in its development phase. Currently, its form of government is a multiparty republic with two legislative houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives, with Juan Manuel Santos as its current president now conducting his second term in office since 2010.
Ever since its independence, Colombia has been torn between its two largest political parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, both established in 1849. We will examine their relevance to the topic …show more content…
Ever since its independence there were constant frictions between Conservatives and Liberals, whenever a disagreement would arise between political parties or people, the use of arms was the first solution . For example, three presidential candidates were assassinated during the 1990 campaign. The election of Cesar Gaviria in 1990 brought an opportunity for political peace. In 1991, a newest Constitution was written and approved and many guerilla groups, after being demobilized, joined the political arena.
In addition, corruption has also been part of the picture especially when it regarded drug cartels and law enforcement. The 1994 presidential elections showed the extent to which drugs had invaded every aspect of the nation's life, Ernesto Samper won the election, but accusations of drug-related campaign financing almost caused a coup d’Etat. In the 1998, Andrés Pastrana ran on a peace platform, promising to reduce conflicts with guerrilla groups and drug cartels. However, crime and violence had increased and the influence of cartels had grown during his mandate, which led to Plan Colombia, which we will discuss later on in this paper . Implementation of the Plan Colombia began in 2001, but was criticized greatly due to the US’s know foreign
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