United People's Committees

  

United People's Committees of the Andes Comités Populares Unidos de los Andes
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Ordem y Libertad (Quechua: Order and Liberty)
Anthem: Marcha Tupac Amarú
Capital	Bogotá
Largest city	Lima
Official languages	Spanish Aymara Quechua
Recognised regional languages	Arawak Portuguese Wayuu English 150 other protected languages
Demonym(s)	Andean, Cepuano/Cepuana
Government	Federal Council single-party republic
• Chairman of the Andean People's Congress	Chairman Ismaél Gaviria
• President of the Andean Councils	President Judith Sagos de la Soy
Legislature	People's Congress of the Andes
• Lower house	Assembly of Andean Nations (only consulting)
Independence  from Spain
• Viceroyalty of New Granada	27 May 1717
• Gran Colombian independence	1819
• Andean Civil War	19 October 1968–14 June 1970
• Formation of the People's Congress of Ayacucho	19 October 1968
Population
• Census	130,569,055
Currency	Andean Peso (PAN)
Time zone	UTC–4 to –5
Driving side	right
Calling code	+58
ISO 3166 code	AND
Internet TLD	.upca

The United People's Committees of the Andes (UPCA; Spanish: Comités Populares Unidas de los Andes; CPUA), also known as the United People's Committees (UPC), the Andean Committees, or simply the Andes, is a transcontinental sovereign state spanning northwestern South America and the Isthmus of Panama. It stretches from the Caribbean Sea in the north along the Pacific to border the Chile to the south, Bolivia to the southeast, and Brazil to the east. The country has been modeled as a one-party Marxist-Landonist federal republic since 19 October 1968, when the first "People's Committee" was formed in Ayacucho after a peasant uprising in the region, sparking the Colombian Civil War. Since then, the Andes Liberation Action has been the single ruling party of the country, implementing the concept of popular democracy as a means of governing. The Andes are predominantly Hispanophone, with Spanish as the main official language, though Quechua and Aymara are widely spoken in the west and south of the countries, Arawakan languages dominate the indigenous communities in the north. The largest cities of the UPCA are Lima, Caracas, Bogotá and Quito.

The Andes is a megadiverse country with one of the most ecologically diverse flora and fauna in the world. Its territory encompasses Amazon rainforests, highlands, grasslands, deserts, and alpine mountains. It is the only country in South America with coastlines and islands along both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

It is a member of major international and regional organizations including the League of Nations, the Chattanooga Pact, the OMEAD, and ICMMO. Its economy is partially planned, based on Marxist-Landonist principles, in contrast to standard market economies.

Etymology

The term "Andes" is an endonym for the Andes mountains by the native Quechua people, derived from the word "Anti". From 1819 to 1970 the country was officially known as Colombia, named after the Genoese discoverer Christopher Columbus, who claimed the land for the Spanish crown and established permanent contact between the New World and Europe.

However, due to the constant Peruvian separatism which has been a constant thorn in the side of the government since the collapse of Peru and the annexation by Colombia. The decision to replace the old name with a more general geographic term had multiple reasons, primarily to cut the connection between the colonial past and the Andean people, which were felt to be too centered around the Spaniard white ruling class and not inclusive to the very sizable Native, Afro-Andean and Mestizo population. Another reason was to prevent separatism inside the already Sendero Luminoso controlled regions during the civil war, in the region around Lima in particular.

The demonym "Cepuano", commonly used in Latin America comes from the abbreviation of the full name of the Andes in Spanish, "Comités Populares Unidos de los Andes" (CPUA). The name differs in other countries though; in Anglo-America (with the exception of the United Commonwealth that has adapted the name "Andean" fairly quickly) and Europe the term "Colombian" is still widely used, often causing confusion between Andeans and users of the old term, since in the UPCA the word Colombian is only used to refer to things and people from the Federal State of Colombia.

Geography

The United People's Committees stretch from the Isthmus of Panama in the north to the Atacama desert and its extensions in the south, bordering the Amazon basin in the east. The Pacific ocean and the Caribbean sea form the western and northern coastal lines. The country borders Central America in the north, Brazil in the east and the south, the West Indies in the east and Cisplatina, Bolivia and Chile in the south. The country is mountainous throughout, with the largest mountain range being the Andes mountains after which the country is named. The largest peak of the country is the Waskaran in the state of Perú, where also the lrgest lake of the country is found, Lake Titicaca, which is shared with Bolivia.

File:South America geography satellite.png

Climate

The climate of the Andes is generally warm, humid and rainy, with few seasonal variation due to its location on the Equator. The climate itself can vary from region to region; as the north and the lower altitudes near the coast reflect the climate in which the vast rain forests flourish, the interior La Sierra (Spanish for the highlands) region is arid and cooler, averaging in only 8.4 °C (47.1 °F) in Puno at Lake Titicaca, while in Venezuela there can be average temperatures of about 27°C (80.6°F). It is important to note that the Andes contain a large variety of microclimates, and altitude plays a large role in the climate of a region. The Andes are also greatly affected by a weather phenomenon called El Niño, causing heavy thunderstorms and strong rainfall from April to October,this leads to fish kills and floods which can devastate local fishing or agricultural industries.

Flora and Fauna

The UPCA are one of the so called megadiverse countries, meaning that there are over 5000 endemic species of flora and fauna within the country. The UPCA especially are highly diverse among those countries, as most federal states could be considered as megadiverse on their own. Among the best known large animal are the Alpaca, jaguar and the Andean Condor, with the latter two being the national animals of the Andes. Apart from the native species, there are several imported species of animals like horses, cattle or pigs. The spix's macaw which is now endemic to Venezuela was migrated there after it went extinct in its native habitat in Brazil. The cultivation of potatoes and corn has a long tradition in the Andes, as the highlands are the native area of those crops and are ever since a staple food of its inhabitants.

History

Pre-Columbian Andes

See: Pre-Columbian Peru, Pre-Colonial Colombia and Inca Empire

Independence and early years

As the might of the Spanish Empire dwindled after the Napoleonic wars, the Viceroyalty of New Granada became de facto independent. This combined with the aftershock of the Comunero revolt led to an increasing demand for national independence. In 1819 Simón Bolívar returned to South America and began to lead a pro-independence force in the western part of the country. The founding document of Colombia was the Constitution of Cúcuta proclaiming the Republic of Colombia, later known as "Gran Colombia" or "Greater Colombia". After defeating the Spanish and beating the last pockets of royalist resistance in the early 1820s, Bolívar turned to Peru. The simultaneously ongoing fight for Peruvian independence was supported by numerous South American nations, including Colombia.

Expanding the Confederation

The recently Spanish colony of Panama joined the Republic in 1821, Pasto, Quito and Guayaquil a year later. Even though Cisplatina and Brazil had great interest in Peruvian independence and the Spaniards were defeated swiftly, but Bolívar feared that Peru might become another addition to Cisplatina or give Brazil access to the Pacific and endanger the Republic. Bolivarian troops entered Peru in 1823 with a force of 15,000 men and aided the Peruvian leader in his fight against remaining royalists in the highlands of the Andes. By 1824 the Colombians also increased their political influence over Peru, where the first party in Peru, the Partido Civil, became a de facto tool of the Colombian rulers around the year 1830. The fighting was not settled when the last royalists were defeated though, the differences between the supporters of the Colombians (commonly known as the "Liberales") and the Peruvian separatists (commonly known as the "Nacionales") escalated quickly and more fighting ensued around 1835, sparking the Colombian-Peruvian War, that caused the occupation and de facto annexation of Peru, even though Peru stayed formally independent until 1860.

Government and politics

The Andes are organized as a federal council single-party republic. Despite the Communist Party of the Andes being the only legally operating party in the country, elections are still held and independent candidates as well as representatives from the national minorities. divided into six federal states (Spanish: Estados federales): Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Perú, Panamá and Guayaquil with the capital city of Bogotá in the north of the country. Each state is further divided into regions which are in turn made up of departements.

Political system

Main Article: Political system of the United People's Committees The United People's Committees of the Andes are a federal single-party {{W|soviet republic (system of government)|council republic]] with the People's Congress as its formally highest legislative body that elects the Supreme National Council from its midst. The Supreme National Council is a body to exercise collective executive leadership of the country, with the President of the People's Congress as its head serving as both the head of government and the head of state. The Chairman of the Communist Party of the Andes and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Andes however is probably the most influential person of the state, often being regarded as the de facto leader of the nation. Despite the extensive powers of the party and the president, many policies are decided by the People's Committees in the Departements or on state level through plebiscites while spontaneous social movements often have an impact on the official mass organisations as well and influence the policies and positions of the Communist Party.

Administrative divisions

Federal State	Capital	Flag	Population	Size
Panamá	Ciudad de Panamá			75,417 km2
Colombia	Santiago de Cali			1,141,748 km2
Ecuador	Quito			97.805 km2
Guayaquil	Santiago de Guayaquil			185.756 km2
Perú	Lima			1,285,216 km2
Venezuela	Caracas			916,445 km2

Economy

Since the revolution of 1968, the Andean economy has been completely collectivized and a means of production completely according to need is set as a long-term goal for the country. The UPCA has a partially planned economy with full planning in the resource extraction sector like timber, crude-oil production and mining, and a workplace democracy in the manufacturing, agricultural and service sector that is subject to only very broad planning. The six federal states (excluding the capital district of Bogotá) have been heavily industrialized over the second half of the 20th century, but each still has its main focus on a special field like agriculture, resource extraction, manufacturing or the service sector. This model of decentralized autarky was designed in the mid-1970s, when international embargo against the nation urged the Andean economists to work around trade bans.

Employment and working conditions

The right to work is part of the Constitution since the establishment of the UPC in 1971. Both men and women are employed in both "blue collar" and "white collar" jobs and the unemployment rate is below 1.5% which makes it one of the lowest in the world. The concept of the housewife has almost completely vanished from Colombian families, but mothers can get a paid leave for 18 months after the birth of their child. Both schools and daycare are designed to fit the needs of families in which both parents are the breadwinners. Remarkable are the short work days of the average Andean; a 2017 study revealed that the average Andean works around 32 to 35 hours per week (on average 6.5 hours per day). Night shifts are common in almost all manufacturing and service businesses.

Natural resources

According to studies from 2016, around 20% of the global crude oil reserves are located in the UPCA. The vast majority of them are found in the Federal State of Venezuela, especially in the northern Zulia district. Smaller deposits exist in the federal states Ecuador and Guayaquil. An estimate of around 993,215,000,000 barrels of oil are deposited in the entirety of the UPCA, most of which are directly refined into petroleum, gasoline, or other fuels.