Constitution
From Roach Busters
TITLE I
Fundamental Statements
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
The Territory and Political Divisions
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.
Departmental Administration
Article 19. The national territory is divided into Departments for purposes of organizing the political and administrative structure of the Republic. The law shall also 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 Departments shall enjoy autonomy for the administration of sectional matters as well as the planning and promotion of economic and social development within their territory and within the limits determined by law.
Article 22. The political administration of each Department shall be exercised by a Departmental Council.
The law shall fix the number of members of each Departmental Council, who shall be elected by direct and secret suffrage, giving representation to minorities, with a tendency to proportionality. The Councils shall be renewed every three years. Their members may not be reelected.
Article 23. To be a member of a Departmental Council it is necessary to have the same qualifications as for being a Deputy and, in addition, to have resided in the Department for more than one year.
Article 24. The powers of the Departmental Councils, in addition to those which the law indicates, are the following:
(1) To regulate the exercise of the functions and provide the services for which the Department is responsible.
(2) To adopt, in accordance with the law, the plans and programs of economic and social development and public works, with the determination of investments and means that are considered necessary to promote their performance and to secure their completion.
(3) To decree, in accordance with the law, the taxes and levies necessary for the performance of Departmental functions.
(4) To issue the organic laws of the Departmental budget and the annual budget of revenues and expenditures.
(5) To determine the structure of the Departmental administration, the functions of their branches, and the scales of remuneration appropriate to the various categories of employment; to create the public institutions and industrial or commercial enterprises of the Department, and to authorize the formation of joint (public-private) companies.
(6) To register officially the Indian communities in conformity with the law in the appropriate register, for the purposes of their recognition as juridical persons.
(7) To protect the Indian communities; take a census and form a register of their real property, and grant, in conformity with the law, to those who do not possess them, the title-deeds to property which they apply for. Decisions to this effect arrived at by the Departmental Councils shall be revised by the Executive Power if the communities complain of them.
(8) To exercise the other functions of government and administration that the laws assign to them.
Article 25. The creation and existence of general taxes for the benefit of a determined area are prohibited, unless they are assigned to works which have a national character declared by Congress.
Article 26. No taxes may be imposed on internal imports or exports.
Article 27. For the creation of local taxes and excise duties, it is necessary to have at least two-thirds of the votes of the Departmental Council. If the two-thirds is not reached, the Departmental Council may appeal to Congress requesting the creation. If the Executive Power vetoes a tax or excise duty created by the Departmental Council, Congress shall decide.
Article 28. In each of the Departments there shall be a Prefect who shall be the head of the sectional administration and legal representative of the Department. The Prefect shall be the agent of the President of the Republic for the maintenance of public order and for the execution of general economic policy as well as for those matters which, through agreements, the Nation agrees to delegate to the Department. The Prefects shall be appointed by the President of the Republic, with the approval of the Council of Ministers, for a term of three years.
The qualifications, requirements, disabilities, and incompatibilities of the Prefects, their absolute or temporary incapacities and means to correct them, and the other provisions necessary for the normal performance of their duties, shall be determined by law.
Article 29. The powers and duties of a Prefect are:
(1) To comply with and enforce this Constitution and the laws and to execute the ordinances of the Departmental Council.
(2) To direct and coordinate the administrative action of the Department and act in its name to manage and promote the coordinated development of its territory, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws.
(3) To direct and coordinate national services which have been delegated to the Department by Congress.
(4) To submit to the Departmental Council a report of his administration for the year immediately preceding.
(5) To submit to the Departmental Council proposals of ordinances regarding plans and programs of economic and social development, public works, and the annual budget of revenues and expenditures.
(6) To appoint and remove the officials and employees under him, if their designation is not attributed to some other authority, without prejudice to laws governing the administrative career.
(7) To exercise the other functions of government and administration that the laws entrust to him.
Article 30. Disapproval of the acts of a Prefect shall mean his immediate removal in the event that the latter is expressly agreed upon by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the Departmental Council.
Municipal Administration
Article 31.
TITLE III
Nationality
Aliens
Citizenship
TITLE IV
Rights, Duties and Guarantees
Rights, Duties and Guarantees
TITLE V
The Legislative Power
The Legislative Power
TITLE VI
The Executive Power
The Executive Power
TITLE VII
The Judicial Power
The Judicial Power
TITLE VIII
The Electoral Power
The Electoral Power
TITLE IX
The Office of the Attorney General
TITLE X
Public Finance
Public Finance
TITLE XI
Public Officials and Employees
TITLE XII
The Armed Forces
TITLE XIII
Indian Communities
TITLE XIV
Agrarian Reform
TITLE XV
Amendment of the Constitution
TITLE XVI
Final and Transitory Provisions
