The Colombian Liberal Party ( es, Partido Liberal Colombiano; PLC) is a
centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
to
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...
political party in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
. It was founded as a
classical liberal
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, economic ...
party but later developed a more social-democratic tradition, joining the
Socialist International
The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...
in 1999.
The Liberal Party was the dominant force in Colombian politics alongside the
Colombian Conservative Party
The Colombian Conservative Party ( es, Partido Conservador Colombiano) is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was formally established in 1849 by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez and José Eusebio Caro.
The Conservative party along ...
until 2002, when the election victory of independent candidate
Álvaro Uribe
Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010.
Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia. He held offices in t ...
put an end to dominance of two party
politics in Colombia.
Currently, the Liberal Party is the largest party in
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
, and has formed a coalition with the
Social Party of National Unity
The Union Party for the People ( es, Partido de la Unión por la Gente), or Party of the U ( es, Partido de la U), is a liberal political party in Colombia. The Party is led by former president Juan Manuel Santos. It was formerly Colombia's large ...
, the major independent party in Colombia under the presidency of
Ivan Duque.
History
The party was founded in 1848 and, in opposition to the
Colombian Conservative Party
The Colombian Conservative Party ( es, Partido Conservador Colombiano) is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was formally established in 1849 by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez and José Eusebio Caro.
The Conservative party along ...
, became one of the two main political forces in the country for over a century. The two parties frequently engaged in armed conflict with one another, precipitating several
civil wars
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
.
In the 1940s, the liberal party turned towards socialism under the influence of the charismatic lawyer
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala (23 January 1903 – 9 April 1948) was a left-wing Colombian politician and charismatic leader of the Liberal Party. He served as the mayor of Bogotá from 1936–37, the national Education Minister from 1940 ...
, despite the antipathy it provoked among party members and liberal leaders. In the rural area, Gaitanism faced a bloody repression to which its scrupulous respect for legality did not prepare it: 15,000 militants were murdered between 1945 and 1948 by death squads supposedly close to the conservatives. Gaitán himself, who was a likely winner of the next presidential election, was assassinated in 1948.
After the period known as
La Violencia
''La Violencia'' (, The Violence) was a ten-year civil war in Colombia from 1948 to 1958, between the Colombian Conservative Party and the Colombian Liberal Party, fought mainly in the countryside.
''La Violencia'' is considered to have begu ...
the Liberals and the Conservative Party reached an agreement to share power from 1958 to 1974 in the so-called
National Front agreement that followed the fall of General
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (12 March 1900 – 17 January 1975) was a Colombian Army of Colombia, Army general, civil engineer and dictator who ruled as List of presidents of Colombia, 19th President of Colombia as from June 1953 to May 1957.
Rojas ...
. Nowadays there are many critics of the 16-year agreement but it greatly reduced the intensity of the violent political warfare that preceded it.
Following the end of the National Front agreement in 1974, the Liberal Party dominated Colombian politics until 2002; Liberal candidates won five of the seven Presidential elections and the party was the largest in both the Chamber of Representatives and Senate throughout the entire period.
In the
1994 election the Liberal Party's
Ernesto Samper
Ernesto Samper Pizano (born 3 August 1950) is a Colombian politician. Samper is a member of the influential Samper family. He served as the President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998, representing the Liberal Party. From 2014 to 2017 he served as ...
was narrowly elected president. Immediately afterwards he was accused of accepting millions from the
Cali Cartel
The Cali Cartel ( es, Cartel de Cali) was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela. They broke away fr ...
to fund his campaign. While Samper had immunity to prosecution as president, a number of his close associates were convicted of involvement in the so-called
Proceso 8000
8,000 Process (from the es, Proceso 8.000) is the unofficial name of the legal investigation for the events surrounding accusations about the Colombian Liberal Party candidate Ernesto Samper's 1994 campaign for President of Colombia being parti ...
scandal, including Defence Minister
Fernando Botero Zea. Partly due to the scandal the Liberal Party lost seats in the
1998 parliamentary election, although it remained easily the largest party. More seriously, the Liberals were defeated in the presidential election held the same year.
The Liberal Party suffered a major split in the lead-up to the 2002 elections.
Horacio Serpa Uribe
Horacio Serpa Uribe (4 January 1943 – 31 October 2020) was a Colombian lawyer, politician and Senator. Serpa ran as the Colombian Liberal Party candidate for President on three occasions; in 1998, 2002, and 2006. He previously served as co ...
, the party's unsuccessful 1998 presidential candidate was nominated to run again. However
Álvaro Uribe
Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010.
Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia. He held offices in t ...
, a former senator and governor from the party launched an independent presidential campaign, backed by the Conservatives and dissident Liberals. Whereas Serpa supported the ongoing idea of
negotiations
Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement ...
with FARC, Uribe advocated confronting the guerrillas. Uribe was victorious in the
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
, securing a majority in the first round. In the aftermath, the "Government endorsed" leadership of the party continued to oppose Uribe's administration, but many senators and representatives supported the government, becoming known as the "Uribist" faction. As a compromise, former president
César Gaviria Trujillo was elected party leader in 2005.
At the
2006 legislative election, the Liberals lost around half their seats. While they remained the largest party in the Chamber of Representatives, they finished third in the Senate. Horacio Serpa was again nominated as the Liberal candidate for the subsequent presidential elections of 28 May 2006 and won 11.84% of the popular vote, placing him third, the worst ever result for a Liberal candidate.
During the
parliamentary elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
of 14 March 2010, the Liberal Party obtained 17 senators and 37 representatives, placing third in both the Chamber of Representatives and Senate. At the
2010 presidential election Liberal candidate
Rafael Pardo
Rafael Pardo Rueda (born 26 November 1953) is a Colombian politician. A Liberal party politician and economist, he has previously served as the 1st Minister of Labour of Colombia serving in the Administration of President Juan Manuel Santos Cald ...
finished sixth with 4.38% of the vote, worse than Horacio Serpa's 2006 vote. The Liberal Party went on to join the governing coalition of President
Juan Manuel Santos
Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
An economist by profession and a journalist by trade, ...
.
See also
*
Liberalism in Colombia
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Colombia. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme. For i ...
*
Social Party of National Unity
The Union Party for the People ( es, Partido de la Unión por la Gente), or Party of the U ( es, Partido de la U), is a liberal political party in Colombia. The Party is led by former president Juan Manuel Santos. It was formerly Colombia's large ...
External links
*
Democracia a distancia: Elecciones 2006 (Portalcol.com)(Information about the party's list of candidates to the Colombian Senate, Spanish).
References
{{Authority control
Liberal parties in Colombia
Full member parties of the Socialist International
La Violencia
1848 establishments in the Republic of New Granada
Political parties established in 1848
Radical parties
Social liberal parties
Social democratic parties in Colombia