The Politicization of Justice in Colombia

Political philosophy

The citizens of the polis are constantly questioning themselves on an issue of vital importance such as social justice, since the governments pass and the same sectors that have always been in misery continue to fall, the presence of those who can help them comes only in electoral times. The violence is blamed on the growing business of illicit crops and criminal rents. They also question the role of democracy, valid questions in an increasingly chaotic society, even with the possession for the first time in history of a progressive government that, after its first year, does not register major advances of the “promised change”.

Own diagramming

The problem in Colombia, is not of the ideological currents, of the left, of the ultra-left, of communism, of the guerrillas (now a political actor) – although in other countries they are still designated as terrorists -, nor of the right, of the ultra-right, of the paramilitaries, much less of social democracy or the center, even of religions and institutions that support the Social State of law.

Could it be that justice in Colombia is politicized and that is why the country is living this state of affairs? What a chilling question that in your opinion you will be able to elucidate once you finish reading this cry for justice, since it is the trigger for so much corruption that permeates the private, the public and all social classes as an individual.

Dr. Ricaurte Losada Valderrama, author of the book entitled “Justice at the Service of Politics”, who was also judged unfairly in political terms and is awaiting the outcome of a lawsuit before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR-OAS), for the violation of his human rights, unravels the crudeness of this phenomenon that, in the next line, I will quote, not without first making it clear that this article of a philosophical nature does not intend to attack anyone, what it intends is to create an emergency, that is the call of the philosopher, questioning ourselves as a society, amen to many other questions of all nature.

Because, believe it or not, we continue to philosophize in pandemic, in the pandemic of corruption.

"Justice is essentially politicized for two reasons: because the main bodies of the Judicial Branch have many electoral functions that it is essential to eliminate them because they are outside the judicial function. Hence its widespread politicization and, moreover, because its magistrates do not have a real judge to investigate and judge them.”

“As for the first, the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice elect the Attorney general of the Nation; two judges of the Superior Council of the Judiciary; they choose a member of the shortlist to elect the attorney general of the Nation and another to elect the comptroller general of the Republic; they present one of the three shortlist paths to elect the judges of the Constitutional Court; its president is one of the three presidents who chooses the national registrar of civil; he elaborates the shortlist from which the Council of State elects the auditor of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic and, as if all this were not enough, they choose their replacements.”

"For its part, the Council of State elects three judges of the Superior Council of the Judiciary; chooses another member of the shortlist to elect the Attorney general of the Nation and another to elect the comptroller general of the Republic; presents one of the three shortlist paths to elect the judges of the Constitutional Court; elects the auditor of the Comptroller General of the Republic and the accountant general of the State, as well as by co-opting, the members of the Council of State itself and its president participates in the election of the national registrar of civil status.”

“The Constitutional Court, a corporation that has the fewest electoral functions, however, elects a magistrate of the Superior Council of the Judiciary; it chooses a name to form the shortlist from which the comptroller general of the Republic is elected, another to elect the attorney general of the Nation and its president appoints with the presidents of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Council of State the national registrar of civil status.”

"With this panorama it is clear that judges have to spend a lot of time on electoral activities that distract them from their function of administering justice and that the origin of the main positions of the Judicial Branch is political, because for the election of the judges of the Supreme Court and the Council of State a list is drawn up by the Superior Council of the Judiciary and that the judges of the Constitutional Court are elected by the Senate and, therefore, many of their rulings are political, as were mine, facts sufficiently proven and exposed in my book, Justice at the Service of Politics.”

"It is inescapable, then, that in these circumstances the magistrates are not influenced by political and electoral factors.”

"It is inescapable, then, that in these circumstances the magistrates are not influenced by political and electoral factors.” ricaurtelosada@hotmail.com Lozada (2019)

Do you, respected readers, believe that, with such a visible burden of electoral activities, as can be appreciated, justice can impart justice to the corrupt, ¿this being ultimately the spark of so much impunity and violence?

Reference

Lozada, R. (2019). La Justicia al Servicio de la Política. Régimen Insostenible. Bogotá, D.C.: Ibeñez.