The movement was created in 2001 by Antioquia businessman Fabio Echeverri, alongside Medellín businessman José Roberto Arango and Alberto Velásquez, to support Álvaro Uribe's candidacy in the 2002 presidential election.
Because Primero Colombia was not a recognized political party, Uribe obtained ballot access by collecting signatures.
Law 130 of 1994 (Article 9) allows candidates, backed by 'significant group of citizens' (grupos significativos de ciudadanos), to obtain ballot access by collecting signatures equivalent to 20% of the number of registered voters divided by the number of seats to be filled, in no case requiring.
Thereafter, the Colombia First movement remained dormant, not running any candidates for any other offices (local, regional or congressional) in later elections, until it was resuscitated to support Uribe's reelection campaign, once again running as an independent by collecting over one million signatures.
In 2009, two Uribe supporters, Luis Carlos Restrepo and Roy Barreras sought to rename the Party of the U as Colombia First to create a large uribista coalition, uniting all the President's supporters, to back Uribe's potential candidacy for a third term in 2010.