Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
The role of the Colombian military in politics is a recent development in that republic's history. It is also basically ephemeral, with few historical or traditional antecedents, such as those, for example, of Mexico or Venezuela.
Most of the successful battles which freed Colombia from Spanish domination were fought by non-Colombian armies led by Venezuelans. The end of the independence period (1830), found Colombia throwing off a Venezuelan army officers’ government (that of General Rafael Urdaneta) imposed by force, and destined to be short-lived because it violated the unwritten Colombian constitution, as well as its written charter.