Derechos políticos entre sistemas: reflexiones desde el ordenamiento colombiano y el sistema interamericano de derechos humanos

Abstract

This paper examines the compatibility between the disciplinary authority vested in the Office of the Inspector General of Colombia over popularly elected public officials and the standard of protection of political rights established in Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights. The research addresses a structural tension: while the Colombian Constitution empowers the Inspector General to oversee and discipline public officials, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has held, particularly in López Mendoza v. Venezuela and Petro Urrego v. Colombia, that an administrative authority may not remove or disqualify a popularly elected official when such a measure restricts political rights. Using a qualitative, documentary, hermeneutic and comparative legal methodology, the study reconstructs the main decisions of the Inter-American Court, the Colombian Constitutional Court and the Council of State, as well as the legislative response embodied in Law 2094 of 2021. The analysis finds that Judgment C-030 of 2023 moved toward a judicial reservation for the enforcement of sanctions; however, the unification judgments issued in 2024 and 2025 reaffirmed a domestic interpretation that restricts autonomous conventionality review. The paper concludes that the conflict has not been fully resolved and that the model can only be considered compatible if removal or disqualification is preceded by an independent and comprehensive judicial decision, subject to enhanced standards of legality, proportionality, reasonable time and protection of the democratic mandate