Colombia for the new Republic. Simón Bolívar became the first President of Colombia, and Francisco de Paula Santander was made Vice President. However, the new republic was unstable and three countries emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (New Granada, Ecuador and Venezuela). Colombia was the first constitutional government in South America, and the Liberal and Conservative parties, founded in 1848 and 1849 respectively, are two of the oldest surviving political parties in the Americas. Slavery was abolished in the country in 1851. Internal political and territorial divisions led to the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830. The so-called
USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641) Bolivar". As part of a "warm – cold water" refit exchange program, in 1977 the ship conducted one "cold water" refit from the Holy Loch SSBN site in Scotland with maintenance and supply services provided by submarine tender . Departing Holy Loch for her assigned operating areas the ship then completed its 34th deterrent patrol. Following a trans-Atlantic transit, "Simon Bolivar" returned to the "warm water" Charleston SSBN site to continue its normal refit-patrol operating cycle from the continental US. In February 1979, following her 40th deterrent patrol, "Simon Bolivar" entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, for overhaul and