The military of several Latin American countries, the Colombian forces played a subordinate role during the first few decades of the nineteenth century. A strong antimilitarist tradition emerged in the postindependence period among the nation’s civilian leaders, who wanted to prevent the military from becoming an autonomous power.
Colombia’s current armed forces had their origins in the militia organized in 1811 by a rebellious league called the United Provinces of New Granada. The force — composed of poor, uneducated, campesino volunteers — was divided into infantry and cavalry units trained by a senior officer corps. The constitutional charter of 1811 assigned the power to raise and organize the army to the nascent Congress, which proved