In a recent opinion piece, Alberto Ramos Garbiras argues that popular sovereignty, a cornerstone of modern democracy, has been undermined in Colombia through ineffective institutions and electoral fraud. He calls for reforms via a new Constituent Assembly to restore democratic integrity.
Alberto Ramos Garbiras, in his column published on December 10, 2025, examines how popular sovereignty, conceived to overcome feudalism and absolute monarchies, has become distorted in the Colombian context. According to the author, this sovereignty materializes in the general will and constituent power, allowing the people to suspend law and reform the state, as noted by researcher Marshall Barberán.
Garbiras points out that the constitutional state operates through constituted powers derived from a Constituent Assembly. However, in Colombia, key institutions like the electoral system of the National Civil Registry Office and the Constitutional Court have failed. The country's history is marked by electoral frauds that have generated violence and perpetuated oligarchic elites. The Court, effective from 1992 to around 2010 with integrity-focused magistrates, has weakened over the last 16 years due to politicization, corruption, and lack of conceptual depth in some members.
The columnist emphasizes that control mechanisms such as oversight bodies, public ministries, and comptrollerships prove useless, while laws and Congress hinder citizen participation. Drawing from Emmanuel Sieyés, Garbiras advocates limiting sovereign excesses through human rights, from the French Revolution to the 1948 Universal Declaration. He proposes reforming these constituted powers in a new Constituent Assembly to straighten democracy, preventing oligarchic appropriation of the state.
