These undocumented migrants lack the resources or influence to assert their rights, leaving their children prone to statelessness. Political and Historical Background Early citizenship laws in Colombia reflected the country’s transition from a Spanish colony to an independent state. Like Chile’s first Constitution, Colombia’s first was modeled on the Spanish Constitution of 1812, the Constitución de Cádiz,253 maintaining the distinction between nationality (nacionalidad) and citizenship (ciudadanía)254 throughout its Constitutions, including the current one. A citizen is a national who has reached age of 18 and can exercise the right to vote.255 The Constitution retains a special naturalization process for citizens of Spain, as well as for citizens of Latin American and Caribbean countries, as a result of the region’s historical connections. As one researcher has pointed out, historical factors—especially low rates of immigration—have shaped Colombia’s approach to nationality as distinctive from that of other states in the region: The Colombian citizenship regime was also influenced by the long and arduous conflicts between Liberals and Conservatives and the difficult process of state building. These conflicts, along with the historically low rates of immigration, even during the peak of Latin American immigration at the turn of the twentieth century, helped create a citizenship regime that stands in contrast to most other states in the Americas.256 As in most countries in the Americas, when Colombia was established as an independent state, birth in the territory was the main basis for nationality.257 Colombian nationality also extended to those who resided in the territory prior to independence. In addition, children born abroad to Colombian nationals also had the right to nationality; thus nationality based on descent, exceptional in the region, extends back to the country’s beginnings, at which time it included territories that now comprise Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. Colombia’s evolving constitutional framework has always had jus sanguinis provisions.258 Since 2005, economic and political crises in Venezuela259 have led to a major influx of immigrants into Colombia from Venezuela.260 For approximately five years, migrants from Venezuela were mainly wealthy families who established legal permanent residence in Colombia. The country welcomed the financial resources they brought, and Colombia’s flexible immigration framework261 made it easy for Venezuelans to integrate into Colombian society, particularly in the country’s large urban centers. But 64 COUNTRY PROFILES l COLOMBIA