JOSÉ MARÍA VARGAS VILA, DEFENSOR DE LA CONSTITUCIÓN DE RIONEGRO

Abstract

After the independence and the creation of the New Granada in 1819, the young Latin American republics continued faced disputing power. The caudillos spent their energies in partisan struggles because personal, group, class and ethnic interests overlapped, often under romantic formulations. Between chaos and order, 14 constitutions were drafted in Colombia until reaching the Rionegro Constitution of 1863. Promulgated by the leaders of Radical Liberalism, it went too far in its pursuit of utopia. Federalism, defense of individual freedoms, abolition of the death penalty, freedom of press and separation of the Church and the State are some of its most important conquests, but the consequences of its extremes triggered bloody civil wars. In the heat of these disputes arises José María Vargas Vila (1860-1933), the famous pamphleteer, who enlisted in the ranks of Radical Liberalism defending constitutional rights. This article exposes the position of a Colombian liberal intellectual in face of period called Regeneration that seeks to impose peace and order in Colombia restricting the freedoms and rights granted by the Rionegro Constitution.