Colombia's second highest peak, the Nevado del Huila volcano, is located in Huila department.

In 1997, Colombian president Ernesto Samper presented Rentería with Colombia's highest honor, the " San Carlos Cross of the Order of the Great Knight.

Though much attention has been focused on the security and military aspects of Colombia's situation, the administration also is spending significant time on issues such as expanding international trade, supporting alternate means of development, and reforming Colombia's judicial system.

No single explanation fully addresses the deep roots of Colombia's present-day troubles, but they include limited government presence in large areas of the interior, the expansion of illicit drug cultivation, endemic violence, and social inequities.

Although Colombia's 40-year long conflict with guerrilla groups had given many reasons for such a unit to exist, two terrorist acts in particular worked as catalysts in the formation the unit: the Dominican embassy siege in 1980 and the Palace of Justice siege ( Colombian Supreme Court ) in 1985.

This symbolic demonstration of public opinion gave the Barco administration what it perceived as a favorable mandate in order to proceed with the consultation process in a more formal manner, and thus the execution of an official plesbicite was decreed on May 3, 1990, a move which was then authorized by Colombia's Supreme Court.

Later he was also elected to the City Council of Bogotá and worked as diplomat for Colombia to the United Nations and was appointed Colombia's Ambassador to Spain by President Laureano Gómez Castro.

The U. S. State Department has listed the ELN as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, ostensibly because of its reputation for ransom kidnappings and armed attacks on Colombia's infrastructure.

Colombia's present constitution, enacted on July 5, 1991, strengthened the administration of justice with the provision for introduction of an adversarial system which ultimately is to entirely replace the existing Napoleonic Code.

Colombia's bicameral Congress consists of a 102-member Senate of Colombia and a 161-member Chamber of Representatives of Colombia.

Guidelines and the general structure for Colombia's administration of justice are set out in Law 270 of March 7, 1996.

Colombia's legal system has recently begun to incorporate some elements of an oral, accusatorial system.

The Ernesto Samper administration ( 1994 – 98 ) emphasized social welfare policies which targeted Colombia's lower income population.

By early 2000 there had been the beginning of an economic recovery, with the export sector leading the way, as it enjoyed the benefit of the more competitive exchange rate, as well as strong prices for petroleum, Colombia's leading export product.

Colombia's international reserves have remained stable at around $ 8. 35 billion, and Colombia has successfully remained in international capital markets.

Colombia's total foreign debt at the end of 1999 was $ 34. 5 billion with $ 14. 7 billion in private sector and $ 19. 8 billion in public sector debt.

Colombia's economy has experienced rapid increase over the past three years despite a serious armed conflict.

Estimates of the length of Colombia's road system in 2004 ranged from 115, 000 kilometers to 145, 000 kilometers, of which fewer than 15 percent were paved.

Colombia's most important ocean terminals are Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Santa Marta on the Caribbean Coast and Buenaventura and Tumaco on the Pacific Coast.

Until at least September 2005, the United States funded efforts to help protect a major pipeline, the 769-kilometer-long Caño Limón – Puerto Coveñas pipeline, which carries about 20 percent of Colombia's oil production to Puerto Coveñas from the guerrilla-infested Arauca region in the eastern Andean foothills and Amazonian jungle.

Notwithstanding the country's commitment to democratic institutions, Colombia's history has also been characterized by widespread, violent conflict.

From 1974 until 1982, different presidential administrations chose to focus on ending the persistent insurgencies that sought to undermine Colombia's traditional political system.

Initially, the M-19 attracted a degree of attention and sympathy from mainstream Colombians that the FARC and National Liberation Army ( ELN ) had found largely elusive earlier due to extravagant and daring operations, such as stealing a sword that had belonged to Colombia's Independence hero Simon Bolívar.

The new president's program was based on a commitment to bring about a peaceful resolution of Colombia's longstanding civil conflict and to cooperate fully with the United States to combat the trafficking of illegal drugs.

Some critical observers consider that Uribe's policies, while admittedly reducing crime and guerrilla activity, might be too slanted in favor of a military solution to Colombia's internal war, neglecting grave social and human rights concerns to a certain extent.

On 29 January 1999, the Court of Final Appeal, the highest judicial authority in Hong Kong interpreted several Articles of the Basic Law, in such a way that the Government estimated would allow 1. 6 million Mainland China immigrants to enter Hong Kong within ten years.

Heads of state generally enjoy widest inviolability, although some states allow impeachment, or a similar constitutional procedure by which the highest legislative or judicial authorities are empowered to revoke the head of state's mandate on exceptional grounds.

The Court of Final Appeal now serves as the highest judicial authority in the jurisdiction, although, as confirmed by the Court of Appeal, decisions of the Privy Council before 1 July 1997 on appeals from Hong Kong ' continue to be binding since the resumption of sovereignty on all courts of Hong Kong, save for the Court of Final Appeal ' i. e. these decisions remain part of the common law of the Hong Kong SAR unless and until overturned by the Court of Final Appeal.

The highest court in the judicial system is the Federal Court, followed by the Court of Appeal, and two High Courts, one for Peninsular Malaysia, and one for East Malaysia.

Judicial power is vested in the courts with the Supreme Court of the Philippines as the highest judicial body.

As a sign of their independence from national ties, judges were given full diplomatic immunity when engaged in Court business The only requirements for a judge were " high moral character " and that they have " the qualifications required in their respective countries the highest judicial offices " or be " jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law ".

The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church besides the Pope himself, who is the supreme ecclesiastical judge.

The Chief Justice is the highest judicial officer in the country, and acts as a chief administrative officer for the federal courts and appoints the director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

Most Chief Justices, including John Roberts, have been nominated to the highest position on the Court without any previous experience on the Supreme Court ; indeed some, such as Earl Warren, received confirmation despite having no prior judicial experience.

Robert Livingston, as Chancellor of the State of New York ( the state's highest ranking judicial office ), administered the oath of office to George Washington at his first inauguration ; there was no Chief Justice of the United States, nor any other federal judge prior to their appointments by President Washington in the months following his inauguration.

It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá ' u ' lláh, the founder of the Bahá ' í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the Bahá ' í administration.

His office is the fourth highest in the Malaysian judicial system.

The Emperor and Pope then held a synod at St. Peter's on May 25 to serve as the Empire's highest judicial court.

Parliament Building, Guyana's Legislative Building, is also found in Georgetown and so is the Court of Appeals, Guyana's highest judicial court.

Following Italian law, the results were checked by the Corte di Cassazione ( the highest judicial Court at that time ), as expected.

Because Parliament is a court, the highest in the land, a bill of attainder is a legislative act declaring a person guilty of treason or felony, in contrast to the regular judicial process of trial and conviction.

The People's Supreme Court is the highest judicial body.

The last reported judicial opinion in the case was a ruling by New York's second highest court that the case could not be resolved upon briefs and affidavits but must go to trial.

The Palace of Justice in Lima is seat of the Supreme Court of Justice the highest judicial court in Peru with jurisdiction over the entire territory of Peru.

Due to the judicial organization of Peru, the highest concentration of courts is located in Lima despite the fact that its judicial district only has jurisdiction over 35 of the 43 districts of Lima.

Brno is home to all three of the country's highest courts, making it the de facto capital of the Czech judicial branch.

The Federal Constitutional Court has its seat in Karlsruhe, which as a consequence is sometimes called Germany's " judicial capital "; none of Germany's highest judicial organs are located in Berlin.