http://dx.doi.org/10.59704/1315870488f03e46 https://verfassungsblog.de/colombia-authoritarian-turn/ Petro’s Schmittian Turn - Constitutionalism Under Siege in Colombia Benítez-R., Vicente F. Pulido Ortiz, Fabio Enrique eng 2025-07-13 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 Authoritarianism Carl Schmitt Colombia Colombian Constitutional Court Democratic Backsliding Kolumbien Kolumbien Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 On 11 June 2025, Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued a decree calling a national popular consultation on a package of long-stalled social reforms. The decree came after the Senate had explicitly rejected his formal request to hold such a vote – approval that is constitutionally required under Article 104 of the Constitution. This reveals something deeper and more dangerous: an increasingly Schmittian conception of democratic power, in which the president, claiming to represent a unified people, overrides institutional checks in the name of higher constitutional fidelity.