Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay, 1967
From Roach Busters
Contents |
PREAMBLE
We, the representatives of the Paraguayan nation, gathered in a National Constituent Convention, ratifying the immutable republican principles of representative democracy, inspired by the purest sentiments of love of our country, conscious of the duty to establish human rights, and to assure freedom, equality, justice and order, internal peace, national defense, economic development, and social and cultural progress, as the intangible heritage that guarantees the dignity and well-being of succeeding generations of Paraguayans and of all the people of the world who come to share with those generations the effort of working for a superior destiny in the concert of the free nations, invoking the protection of God, the teachings of the Founding Fathers of May, and the immortal example of the defenders of our nationality, sanction this Constitution for the Republic of Paraguay.
CHAPTER I
FUNDAMENTAL STATEMENTS
FUNDAMENTAL STATEMENTS
Article 1. Paraguay is and shall always be a free and independent nation. Constituted as a single and indivisible republic, it adopts representative democracy as its form of government.
Article 2. The sovereignty of the Republic of Paraguay resides essentially and exclusively with the people, who exercise it through the powers of the state, as stipulated in this Constitution.
Article 3. The government of the republic is exercised by the legislative, executive, and judicial powers, within a system of division, balance, and interdependence of power.
Article 4. The symbols of the nation are:
1) The flag of the republic, consisting of a banner composed of three equal horizontal bands: red, white, and blue; bearing on the adverse side, in the center, the national coat of arms, of circular form, which is described as a palm branch intertwined with an olive branch at the vertex and open at the upper part, with a star placed in the center and an inscription on the border edge which reads, "República del Paraguay" and on the reverse side, a circle placed in the same position with the inscription distributed over the same space reading, "Paz y Justicia" and a lion in the center, at the base of the symbol of freedom;
2) The national seal, which reproduces the coat of arms described above;
3) The treasury seal, which reproduces the coat of arms found on the reverse side of the flag, with the added inscription "República del Paraguay", on the border edge;
4) The national anthem, the chorus of which beguns with the phrase: "Paraguayos, República o muerte";
5) The musical composition "Campamento Cerro León".
The law shall regulate the characteristics of the symbols of the nation, insofar as they are not provided for in the resolution of the Special General Congress of November 25, 1842, and shall determine their use.
Article 5. The national languages of the Republic are Spanish and Guaraní. Spanish shall be the language of official use.
Article 6. The Roman Catholic Apostolic religion is the state religion, without prejudice to religious freedom, which is guaranteed in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution. Official relations of the republic with the Holy See shall be governed by concordats or other bilateral agreements.
Article 7. The city of Asunción is the capital of the republic and the seat of the powers of the state.
Article 8. 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 9. 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 10. 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 11. 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.
CHAPTER II
THE TERRITORY, ITS CIVIL DIVISION, AND THE MUNICIPALITIES
THE TERRITORY, ITS CIVIL DIVISION, AND THE MUNICIPALITIES
Article 12. The national territory may not ever be ceded, transferred, leased, or in any way alienated, even temporarily, to any foreign power. The states, with which the republic maintains diplomatic relations and the international organizations of which it forms part may acquire the real property necessary for headquarters of their representatives only in accordance with the prescriptions of law. In any case, sovereignty over the land shall always be unaffected.
Article 13. Sovereignty, authority, and vigilance over the national territory, including the rivers, internal lakes, the subsoil, and the air space, shall be exercised to the extent and under the conditions determined by law.
Article 14. The national territory is divided into departments for purposes of organizing the political and administrative structure of the republic. The authorities to whom the executive power shall delegate power for the government departments and their functions and duties shall be established by law. The law shall also establish the manner in which judicial and administrative decentralization is to take place.
Article 15. 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 16. The capital of the republic is independent of any departmental territory. The law shall establish its limits.
Article 17. Municipal autonomy is recognized. 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. It shall consist, essentially, in the election and appointment of their authorities; the freedom to take measures on matters within their competence; the determination of their assets and of the requirements and restrictions surrounding their disposal, as well as their revenues and the manner in which they are to be collected and expended; the responsibility of the municipal government, and the recourses for appeal against its decisions.
Article 18. 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 19. 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 20. Each city or town shall be the seat of a municipality and the obligatory headquarters of its authorities.
Article 21. The municipalities of one same department may associate themselves for specific purposes within their competence in the departmental area. They may also form interdepartmental associations for the same purpose when municipalities in more than one department have common interests.
Article 22. The municipalities and the municipal associations may avail themselves of public credit subject to such limitations and requirements as are established by law.
Article 23. 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.
CHAPTER III
NATIONALITY AND CITIZENSHIP
NATIONALITY AND CITIZENSHIP
Article 24. The following are natural-born Paraguayan nationals:
1) Persons born in the territory of the republic;
2) Children born in foreign territory whose father or mother is a natural-born Paraguayan in the service of the republic; and
3) Children born in foreign territory to a natural-born Paraguayan father or mother, if such children take up permanent residence in the republic, and provided they have not exercised rights or complied with obligations inherent in the citizenship of the country of their birth.
Article 25. The following shall acquire Paraguayan nationality by naturalization, with the sole requisite that they express their intention to be Paraguayans:
1) Children born in foreign territory to a Paraguayan mother or father, if such children take up permanent residence in the republic, despite their having exercised rights or complied with obligations inherent in the citizenship of the country of their birth; and
2) Children born outside the country to aliens, when the father or the mother is in the service of the republic, provided such children take up permanent residence in the national territory.
Article 26. The formalization of the right set forth in point 3 of Article 24 and the statement of the intention to acquire Paraguayan nationality in the cases described in points 1 and 2 of Article 25 shall be made by the interested party if he shall not have passed his eighteenth birthday, or by his legal representative if he has not.
Article 27. Aliens may acquire Paraguayan nationality provided they meet the following requirements:
1) Residence for at least three years within the territory of the republic;
2) Continued exercise of a profession, trade or craft, science, art, or industry in the country; and
3) Good conduct.
Article 28. Dual nationality may be allowed by international treaty, convention, or agreement. Dual nationality does not confer the rights that are exclusively those of natural-born Paraguayans to persons of the other nationality, nor does it cause natural-born Paraguayans to lose their rights.
Article 29. Paraguayan nationality is lost by:
1) Commission of treason against the nation, declared in a judicial trial, such treason being understood as meaning only attempts against the independence or the territorial integrity of the republic, or aid to the enemy of the republic in an international war;
2) Voluntarily acquiring another nationality; or
3) Unjustified absence from the country for more than two years, in the case of naturalized Paraguayans.
Article 30. Neither marriage nor the dissolution of a marriage shall alter the nationality of the spouses or that of their children.
Article 31. The following are citizens:
1) Natural-born Paraguayans at least eighteen years of age; and
2) Naturalized Paraguayans two years after acquiring this nationality, provided they are at least eighteen years of age.
Article 32. An individual's citizenship is suspended:
1) For physical or mental incapacity, declared in a judgment, that prevents him from acting or thinking freely; or
2) While he is serving a judicial sentence with a punishment that deprives him of his freedom.
Article 33. The suspension of citizenship shall terminate when the cause of it has legally ceased.
Article 34. An individual's citizenship is lost:
1) By loss of nationality; or
2) By accepting from a foreign government a political function in connection with intelligence, security, or defense, without authorization from the executive power, or by accepting an allowance or pension, which implies his submission to that government.
Article 35. The Congress alone may grant honorary citizenship to foreigners who have rendered eminent services to the republic.
Article 36. Loss of nationality and of citizenship for treason against the nation is irrevocable.
Article 37. The law shall establish the standards to be observed before the judicial power as regards the acquisition, option, loss, and reinstatement of Paraguayan nationality and citizenship, dual nationality, and the settlement of conflicts of nationality.
CHAPTER IV
GENERAL PROVISIONS
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 38. Veterans of the Chaco War and of other international wars waged in defense of the nation shall enjoy honors and privileges; pensions that will permit them to live in dignity; preferential, free, and complete health care; and other benefits, as determined by law. Widows and minor children of veterans and of those who died in war shall succeed to the veterans' financial benefits.
Article 39. The people deliberate and govern only through their representatives and authorities created by this Constitution. Any armed force or gathering of armed persons that arrogates to itself the rights of the people and makes demands on their behalf commits the crime of sedition.
Article 40. None of the powers of the state may ever arrogate to itself or grant to another power, or to any person whatsoever, special rights beyond those envisaged in this Constitution, or the public power as a whole, or supreme authority giving power of decision over the life, freedom, honor, and property of persons. Dictatorship is outside the law.
Article 41. Higher government authorities, officials, and employees shall at all times act in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution and the laws. These persons shall exercise the duties within their competence in conformity with the latter and shall be personally responsible for the violations, crimes or misdemeanors they commit in the performance of their duties, without prejudice to the responsibility of the state, which shall be regulated by law. A special law shall regulate the responsibility of government officials in order to secure their effectiveness.
Article 42. The custody and defense of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the republic are entrusted to the armed forces of the nation. They shall be organized on a permanent basis, in order to perform their duties in the best way.
Article 43. The military courts shall be organized to judge crimes and misdemeanors of a military nature, defined as such by the law. When it is a question of an act considered punishable both by civil criminal law and by military criminal law, it shall not be considered a military offense, unless it was committed by a serviceman in uniform while on active duty. In case of doubt as to whether the offense is military or civil, it shall be considered to be a civil offense. Only in the case of an international war, and in the manner prescribed by law, may military courts exercise jurisdiction over civilians.
Article 44. The state alone may possess and use arms of war. All stocks manufactured in the country or introduced into the country shall become the property of the state, without indemnization. The manufacture, sale, possession, and use of arms of other types shall be regulated by law.
Article 45. The preservation of public order, the security of persons and their possessions, and the prevention of crime shall be the responsibility of a police force, whose organization and functions shall be regulated by law.
Article 46. The state alone has the authority to coin and issue money, to establish systems of weights and measures, and to control trademarks.
Article 47. Equality is the basis of taxation. With the revenue collected from the taxes, charges, rates, and other sources, the expenses of the government shall be provided for in order for its purposes to be carried out, and whatever their nature or name may be, they shall conform to fair economic and social principles and to policies favorable to national development. All taxation shall be established by the law alone, which shall determine on what matters taxes shall be imposed, who shall be required to pay the taxes, and whether the system shall be direct or indirect, proportional or progressive, according to the case.
CHAPTER V
RIGHTS, GUARANTEES, AND OBLIGATIONS
RIGHTS, GUARANTEES, AND OBLIGATIONS
Article 48. All inhabitants of the republic have the right to free development of their personality, with no limitations other than those derived from the rights of others and from considerations of public and social order.
Article 49. Private acts that do not offend public order or morals or harm others are exempt from the authority of the magistrates. No inhabitant of the republic may be forced to do anything that the law does not require, or prevented from doing anything not forbidden by law.
Article 50. Every person has the right to protection by the state in respect to his life, his physical integrity, his freedom, his security, his property, his honor and his reputation.
Article 51. This Constitution upholds the equality of the civil and political rights of men and women, whose correlative duties shall be established in the law, attending to the purposes of matrimony and to the unity of the family.
Article 52. Aliens may reside in Paraguay, provided they perform the formalities and meet the requirements established by law, which shall also make allowance for the causes for their expulsion from the national territory. Aliens shall enjoy the same rights and shall have the same obligations as Paraguayans, with the limitations and exceptions established by this Constitution and the laws.
Article 53. Paraguayans and aliens shall have the right to indemnity from the state or the municipalities for any damages or injuries caused to them by the legitimate authority in the exercise of its functions.
Article 54. The inhabitants of the republic are equal before the law, without any discrimination whatsoever; the republic does not acknowledge prerogatives of blood or of birth; there are no personal privileges or titles of nobility in the republic.
Article 55. All Paraguayans have the right to engage in public duties and employment with no condition other than their qualifications. The law shall regulate the procedure for the hiring, promotion, and removal of government officials, office employees, and other civil servants, on bases that will ensure equality of opportunity and employment security in the posts and positions, shall define their rights and obligations, and shall set the requirements for them to receive social benefits, including retirement and pensions. Work stoppages and strikes by government officials and employees, as well as the collective abandonment of their jobs, are prohibited.
Article 56.
