Nación y naciones en Colombia entre constitución, concordato y un convenio (1810-2010)

the independence of new granada, the future colombia, did not take place on behalf of a nation; the very idea of a nation was only imagined afterwards, as a mere cast of the state with no capacity to gain the citizens′ allegiance, either then or nowadays. this essay aims at diagnosing the problem of colombia as a failed nation by tracing its origins and evolution back to the indigenous nations -nations that are more firmly grounded than that imagined as the state′s cast. the essay first examines the legal treatment of indigenous nations in the successive colombian constitutions, concordats, and other bilateral treaties agreed upon with the catholic church in breach of both procedural and substantive constitutional provisions. besides a piece of methodological reflection, it concludes with an analysis of the current situation in the country, characterized by three elements: the constitutional shift towards the recognition of indigenous peoples; the recent evolution in international law that bolsters this recognition, and a situation of widespread violence that erodes any recognition of rights, either at the international or domestic level.