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HISTORY

The Claim

The 1991 Political Constitution of Colombia was adopted during a period in Colombia characterized by high levels of violence, drug trafficking, and political crisis.

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The Short Version

The historical record supports this characterization. Colombia’s 1991 Constitution was adopted in a broader national context marked by political killings, armed conflict, major drug-trafficking power, and an institutional crisis that helped drive the constituent process. Some cartel violence may have briefly eased at the exact moment of adoption, but that does not change the overall picture of the period.

Caveats

  • The claim is broad: some forms of violence, especially certain cartel attacks, may have temporarily dipped around mid-1991.
  • The statement describes the wider late-1980s/early-1990s context more than every violence indicator on the exact adoption date.
  • Drug trafficking and political crisis are well documented, but different sources emphasize different forms of violence: cartel terrorism, political assassinations, guerrilla conflict, and state weakness.

The Receipts

  1. the colombian constitution of 1991. the fight against corruption and ...

    Archivos Jurídicas UNAM

  2. Colombia 1991 (rev. 2015) Constitution

    Constitute Project

  3. Treinta años de la Constitución Política de Colombia de 1991: antecedentes, origen, cambios y reformas

    DeJusticia

  4. Drug Trafficking and Democracy in Colombia in the 1980s

    Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

  5. War and Peace in Colombia's 1991 Constituent Assembly

    Yale Law School

  6. The Fragmentation of Colombia and the Crisis of the Nation-State

    Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Library

  7. La Constitución Colombiana de 1991: la lucha contra la corrupción

    Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM

  8. Drug Trafficking and Democracy in Colombia in the 1980s

    Inter-American Court of Human Rights

  9. War and Lack of Governance in Colombia: Narcos, Guerrillas, and ...

    Hoover Institution

  10. Violence in Colombia 1990-2000: Waging War and Negotiating Peace

    Mama Coca

+ 12 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

ColombiaPolitical Constitution of Colombia (1991)

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