COLOMBIA: Back to Bolivar

Although North Americans revere Simón Bolívar as South America's great Liberator, not many are aware how far to the right his political views veered in his last years. Last week those authoritarian views were again a hot political issue in Colombia.

Nearly 126 years ago, Bolívar tried to get Colombians to accept the new constitution he had written for the Republic of Bolivia. As a republican charter, it was a shocker; among other things, it called for a powerful President elected for life, drastic limitation of voting rights, and a three-chamber Congress, including...