Constitution

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Revision as of 11:30, 26 January 2010

TITLE I

Article 1. The Republic of _____ is irrevocably and forever free and independent from any domination or protection by a foreign power.

Article 2. It shall never be the patrimony of any person or of any family.

Article 3. The government of the Republic of _____ is and always shall be democratic, representative, responsible, and alternating.

Article 4. Political power resides in the people, who exercise it directly through election, initiative, and referendum, and indirectly through their representatives in the government of the State.

Article 5. No person or assembly of persons has authority to arrogate the title or representation of the people, to usurp its rights, or to make demands in its name. Violation of this precept constitutes a crime.

Article 6. The government of the Republic is exercised by the legislative branch, the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the electoral branch.

Article 7. In the organization of the powers and institutions of the State, the principle of minority representation is established.

Article 8. The branches of the government shall function harmoniously in accomplishing the aims of the State. In the exercise of their particular functions, they are limited and independent.

Article 9. No magistracy, or person, or assembly of persons, not even under the pretext of extraordinary circumstances, is empowered to assume any other authority or rights than those that have been expressly conferred upon them by the laws. Every act in contravention of this article is void.

Article 10. Spanish is the national and official language of the State.

Article 11. The State has no official religion.

Article 12. The city of _____ is the capital of the Republic and the permanent seat of the branches of the government.

Article 13. This Constitution is the supreme law of the Nation. The treaties, conventions, and other international agreements ratified and exchanged, and the laws, make up the national positive law, in the order of precedence in which they are listed.

Article 14. The Republic recognizes the principles of international law; it condemns wars of aggression or of conquest and any form of colonialism or imperialism; it accepts the pacific settlement of international disputes by juridical means; and it proclaims its respect for human rights and the sovereignty of peoples. It hopes to live in peace with all nations and to maintain friendly cultural and trade relations with them on the basis of juridical equality, of nonintervention in internal affairs, and of the self-determination of peoples. The Republic may become a party to international multilateral systems of development, cooperation, and security.

Article 15. Navigation on the international rivers is free to ships of all flags. It shall also be free on internal rivers, subject to any regulations issued by the competent authority.

Article 16. The principles, guarantees, rights, and obligations established in this Constitution may not be altered by the laws that regulate their exercise. Any law, decree, regulation, or other act of authority that is contrary to its provisions is null and void.

TITLE II

Article 17. The national territory is that which belonged to the Viceroyalty of _____ before the political transformation initiated in 1820, with the modifications resulting from treaties validly concluded by the Republic. It also includes with the same status the adjacent islands, keys, headlands, banks, the submerged lands, the territorial sea and the continental shelf, as well as the air space, the stratosphere, and the entire undersea area of its sovereign domain according to international law.

Article 18. The national territory is indivisible, inalienable, and imprescriptible. It may never be ceded, transferred, or leased or alienated in any way, even partially or temporarily, to a foreign power.

Foreign States may acquire, within a specified area, under guarantee of reciprocity and with limitations established by law, only real property that is necessary for the seat of their diplomatic and consular representation. The acquisition of real property by international organizations may be authorized only in accordance with conditions and restrictions established by law. In al these cases sovereignty over the land is retained.

Article 19. For purposes of political organization the territory is divided into departments, and these into municipalities. The law shall establish the manner in which judicial and administrative decentralization is to take place.

Article 20. The law may merge existing departments, change their boundaries, create new departments, and authorize compensation or cession of territories among bordering developments, taking into account the physical and demographic characteristics, the means of communication, and the most desirable policy based on economic, social, cultural, and national defense considerations.

Article 21. The capital of the Republic is independent of any departmental territory. The law shall establish its limits.

Article 22. The political administration of each department shall be under the direction of a prefect appointed by the President of the Republic.

In each department, there shall be the police judges deemed necessary, likewise appointed by the President of the Republic.

The qualifications of these officials and their powers and duties shall be determined by law.

Article 23. The municipal councils shall enjoy economic and administrative autonomy, subject to the supervision of the executive branch. The law shall determine the procedure for guaranteeing this autonomy to the municipalities both in the political sphere as well as in the juridical, economic, and administrative spheres.

Article 24. The municipalities shall be governed by municipal councils, composed of a mayor, a councilman, and a treasurer, who shall be elected with their respective alternates by direct popular vote for a term of three years.

Article 25. To be a member of a municipal council it is necessary to be over twenty-one years of age, a citizen in the exercise of one's rights, a layman, have resided in the town for at least one year, and have no debts outstanding to the national treasury, municipal treasury, or the local social welfare board.

Article 26. The municipalities shall have exclusive competence in the government and administration of commercial interests, particularly those matters related to their assets and revenues and, in accordance with the law, in matters of urban development, food supply, education and culture, health care and social welfare, widows' and orphans' funds, traffic, tourism, and municipal inspection and police. The law may also authorize the establishment and operation of services of a national or departmental nature within the jurisdiction of the municipalities.

Article 27. The law may establish different systems for the organization, government, and administration of the municipalities, taking into account the conditions with respect to population, economic development, geographical location, and other factors that determine their development.

Article 28. Each city or town shall be the seat of a municipality and the obligatory headquarters of its authorities.

Article 29. The municipal councils are authorized to decree local laws and to impose local taxes that do not affect the incentives established by the General Law on Use of Natural Resources or the Law for Protection and Stimulation of Industrial Development.

The tax schedules and budgets of the National District and of the municipal councils must be approved by the executive branch.

Article 30. The property and revenue of the municipalities belong to them exclusively and enjoy the same guarantees as the property and income of private individuals.

No power of the State may encumber such property or income or grant exemptions from taxes payable to the municipalities.

Article 31. The funds of the municipalities shall be applied exclusively to services of the administration of the corresponding community.

Article 32. Real property of the municipalities is imprescriptible.

Article 33. The mayors of the municipalities shall be free to appoint the employees subordinate to them, in accordance with the law.

Article 34. It is prohibited to establish barriers or limitations to traffic between municipalities, as well as to decree intermunicipal transit or transport taxes under any name, that burden or interfere with the free circulation of goods, persons, or vehicles. However, taxes on local production payable to the municipal treasurers may be established by law.

Article 35. The staff members of the municipal councils shall be jointly and severally responsible for any abuses they may commit in the performance of their duties. Excepted from this rule are members who dissent from the acts that gave rise to the responsibility.

Article 36. The municipalities shall be entitled to proportional participation in the profits obtained by the State from the exploitation of natural resources granted to individuals in their respective jurisdictions. This principle shall be regulated by law.

Article 37. The executive power may intervene in the affairs of the municipalities in the following cases:

(1) At the request of the municipal council;
(2) Because the disintegration of the municipal council makes it impossible for it to function;
(3) When there is a budgetary deficit for two consecutive years; or
(4) In the case of serious irregularity in certain limited circumstances determined by law.

Such intervention shall not be prolonged beyond ninety days. In case of disintegration of the council, elections to constitute the new elective authorities shall be held within that period of time. If the intervention results in the termination of the duties of the authorities, the elections to replace them shall be held within sixty days from the date of such termination.

TITLE III

TITLE IV
Rights, Duties and Guarantees

TITLE V
The Legislative Power

TITLE VI
The Executive Power

TITLE VII
The Judicial Power

TITLE VIII
The Electoral Power

TITLE IX

TITLE X
Public Finance

TITLE XI

TITLE XII

TITLE XIII

TITLE XIV

TITLE XV

TITLE XVI