directly or through their representatives. The forms of democratic participation are presented in title four of the Constitution, from article 103 onwards. In the 1886 constitution, sovereignty was said to reside "essentially and exclusively" in the Nation. Article 4 establishes the Constitution as the supreme law of the country, the supremacy of the Constitution in case of incompatibility with any law and citizens' and resident foreigners' obligation to abide by the Constitution and the laws. According to Article 6, each person is individually responsible before the authorities for violations of the Constitution and the laws, with civil servants further responsible for omission and abuse in the exercise of their duties. The fifth article establishes the primacy of the inalienable rights of the individual, without any discrimination, and protects the family as the basic institution of society. Article 7 recognizes and protects the ethnic and cultural diversity of Colombia, while the following article obliges the State and individuals to protect the cultural and natural assets of the country. The 1991 constitution was a major break with the unitary and exclusionary view of the Nation which had existed in Colombia until that time. The Colombian nation, like most other Hispanoamerican countries, had hitherto been defined in exclusionary terms as a Catholic, Hispanic and Spanish-speaking nation to the exclusion of indigenous peoples and racial minority groups. The 1991 constitution therefore recognized the multiethnic and multicultural composition of Colombia, and allowed Colombia's indigenous, Afro-Colombian and Raizal minorities - among others - to gain political, legal and cultural visibility and recognition. Article 9 sets the principles which should guide the foreign relations - National sovereignty, respect for the self-determination of peoples and the recognition of the principles of international law approved by Colombia. It also states that Colombian foreign policy is oriented towards Latin American and Caribbean integration. Castilian Spanish is the official language of Colombia, as per article 10, but the constitution also recognizes the co-officiality of the languages and dialects of ethnic groups in their territories and provides for bilingual education in communities with their own linguistic traditions. Besides the estado social de derecho, the 1991 constitution introduced several significant changes to the country's political system and political culture, such as decentralization, participatory democracy, forms of limited direct democracy, recognition of ethnocultural diversity and a much wider scope of basic rights. Title II: Rights, guarantees and duties Chapter I: Fundamental rights Articles 11