Last modified: 2008-07-19 by dov gutterman
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In the 1960's communist revolutionaries in Columbia (FARC) proclaimed the Republics of
Marquetalia and Riochiquitos, that is an experiment of
comunist-countryman administration in Latin America.
The flag used was probably the FARC flag (red with the name?).
But I found now the local flag of Marquetalia:
This is green borderes white. In the centre is a torch white and
golden, with flamme yellow and red.
Another city of the territory is named Marulanda, and this is the
name of the FARC head, Manuel Marulanda named too "Tiro
Fijo" (Fix Shooting). The flag of the city is black, white
and green horizontal.
More information?
Jaume Olle , 24 November 1996
About the Communist Revolution and its flag, I'm not aware
that they had a flag, but the actual Independent Republics were
seven: Marquetalia (in the border between the Departments of
Tolima and Huila), Río Chiquito (in the border between the
Departments of Cauca and Huila), El Pato (in the Department of
Caquetá), Guayabero, El Duda, Alto Ariari (all three of them in
the Department of Meta) and Alto Sumapaz (in the border between
the Departments of Meta, Cundinamarca and Tolima) Marquetalia
being the most important. These existed from 1955 through 1965
but they became known in a Congress debate in 1964, and short
afterwards there was a military operation against them. These 7
"Republics" were in an area plenty of mountains and
forrest, along with tall hills and stuff, and they were pretty
much together (if you have a Colombian map you can see that they
are close to each other).
E.R., 19 January 1999
In Colombia there was a split in the Colombian Liberal Party
when several members of this party, after the fall of the
Dictatorship of Lt. General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in 1957,
returned to the country from exile in 1959. After the fall of the
Dictatorship an agreement was reached by the two political
dominant forces, the Conservative
Party and the Liberal Party
to switch Presidential terms (and all other major branches of
power, but especially the Executive one, at all levels, that is
National, State and Local levels included in this agreement).
First, the Benidorm Agreement (signed on July 24, 1956) between
the leaders of these two political parties, and then the
Declaration of Sitges (July 20, 1957) gave birth to what is known
as the Frente Nacional (National Front) a bipartisan rule of the
country that was supposed to last 16 years (four consecutive
Presidential terms), starting from 1958 and lasting until 1974,
where multipartisan elections where supposed to be held. This
power sharing agreement ended a time of radical violence amid
these two parties (that even went to Civil War many times during
the XIXth Century) and also followed a time of relative peace
after an amnesty granted by Lt. General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
duirng his tenure, offered to Liberal and Communist armed illegal
forces set up in the country in the 1940's and 1950's, a time
known as "La Violencia" (The Violence).
However this agreement discarded many political views and left no
freedom of determining any other political option, except these
two: thus, several political and guerrilla groups emerged as a
way of showing discontent at this situation. Political parties
such as the MRL (Movimiento
Revolucionario Liberal, founded by Alfonso López Michelsen in
1959) and the ANAPO (Alianza Nacional
Popular, People's National Alliance, founded by Lt. General
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in 1961) appear. Also guerrilla groups such
as the FARC (founded in 1964), the ELN (founded in 1965), and the EPL (founded in 1967) emerged as a
result of this. At first the MRL was supported by the Colombian Communist Party but later
on it became less radical.
Then in 1974, where multiparty elections where supposed to be
held, an alleged fraud took place "granting" the
Conservative Party its last Presidential term ending the Frente
Nacional at the end of this Presidential term (1978). As a result
of this elections, a radical group within the ANAPO (who was the
party that "felt" it lost the Presidency to this fraud)
formed the M-19 , so that is why this
group based its flag on that of the ANAPO. The MRL lasted from
1959 until 1966, achieving several seats in Congress and also
some victories on the State and Local level, when it returned to
the Colombian Liberal Party mainstream in an agreement to accept
several changes propoesd by the MRL dissident leader. The ANAPO
lasted more than three decades, gaining importance on the State
and Local level as well, but it ceased to exist in 1998. Many of
its members are now part of the PDI
(Polo Democrático Independiente), which at the same time fused
itself with the political movement AD (Alternativa Democrática,
Democratic Alternative), to comply with the rules of the 2006
elections in order to obtain the minimum number of votes to be
recognized as a party by Colombia's Electoral ruling body, the Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil.
E.R., 16 July 2007
Next Sunday, March 12, 2006, there will be general elections
for Congress. There is a website by the country's electoral
authority where they show an example of a voting sheet at <www.registraduria.gov.co>.
This image includes all current political parties that have
candidates for Congress (both Senat and House of
Representatives). There you will find logos of each political
party/movement.
E.R., 9 March 2006
The following list of Political Parties is based on the last
elections results of 2006 and thus states the official list of
legal political parties in Colombia (based on the Registraduría Nacional
del Estado Civil and the Consejo
nacional Electoral, through Resolution No. 1057 of July 13,
2006). It is also worth mentioning that all other movements that
call themselves parties are not since they did not achieve the
minimun number of votes to either have a candidate take office on
any given government post or the minimum number of votes to be
recognized as a party by the new Colombian law.
The list (in no particular order of importance or foundation
date) with official websites (when available):
- Movimiento MIRA (Movimiento
Independiente de Renovación Absoluta) <www.webmira.com>.
- Movimiento ALAS-Equipo Colombia
<www.equipocolombia.org>.
- Movimiento Alianza Social Indígena
(Indigenous Social Alliance Movement)
- Movimiento Apertura Liberal <www.aperturaliberal.com>.
- Movimiento AICO (Autoridades
Indígenas de Colombia).
- Movimiento Colombia Viva <www.movimientocolombiaviva.org>.
- Movimiento Político Afrounincca.
- Partido Cambio Radical Colombiano <partidocambioradical.org>.
- Partido Colombia Democrática <www.colombiademocratica.com>.
- Partido Conservador Colombiano.
- Partido Convergencia Ciudadana <www.convergencia.org.co>.
- Partido Liberal Colombiano.
- Partido Opción Centro.
- Partido Social de Unidad Nacional <www.partidodelau.com>.
- Polo Democrático Independiente.
E.R., 16 October 2006
The Law which regulates the actions of Political Parties is
called Ley 974 of July 22, 2005, known as Ley de Bancadas (Bench
Law, referring to the seat or bench each party occupy in
Congress).
Some of the most important rulings are:
- Seats in Congress belong to Parties, not Individuals (thus if a
Congressman retires from his party, he cannot affiliate his
candidacy/term with another party)
- A Congressman cannot vote against the majority of the Party's
decision (unless citing special motives, such as conscious
objection, religious, moral or welfare issues.
- Members from a political movement that lost its legal
representation for not having enough votes, cannot subscribe
their names in a legal represented party that obtained the valid
number of votes to be recognized as a party.
- Parties and movements that lost its legal representation due to
low number of votes can merge with other parties and abide by the
current law.
E.R., 25 December 2006
Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil and the Consejo
nacional Electoral, through Resolution No. 1050 of July 10, 2006,
determines the proceedings to terminate all other political
movements and parties that did not achieve the minimun number of
votes.
E.R., 15 July 2007
For a political party to be established in Colombia, among
other requirements, there needs to be a minimum of 100,000
signatures to establish the party, and obtain at least one seat
in any of the elections it participates.
E.R., 4 November 2007
The Colombian government issued Decree No. 53, of January 15,
2008, estabilshing the rules for new political parties. It raises
the top from 2% to 5% of the electoral votes casted for any
political party to gain political and legal status. It also
sanctions political organizations that endorse and/or support
illegal armed groups and allows political candidates in
collegiate bodies to switn only once from the party they got
elected from to another party.
E.R., 23 January 2008
