These congresses were initiated by the Colombian Association of Rheumatology and have been held in various cities of the country. The first was held at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Bogotá in December 1967, the second in Cali in February 1969, and the third in Bogotá in August 1973. Subsequently, with the new organization adopted by the Colombian Association of Internal Medicine. (ACMI), with respect to the fact that all associations and subspecialties will participate in the Colombian Congress of Internal Medicine, our association became part of the congress, which is why the Rheumatology Congresses as such did not continue to be held. However, in the 1993 ACR assembly, it was unanimously approved to hold our own congress again and that is how since then the Colombian Congress of Rheumatology has been held every two years in the cities of Bogotá, IV congress in 1993, Barranquilla V congress in 1995, Bucaramanga VI congress in 1997, Medellín in June 1999 the VII congress and recently Cartagena the VIII in June 2001. All Colombian rheumatologists and foreign guests have participated in these national congresses with research papers and presentations.