In the rugged terrain of the Antioquia department, a group of former guerillas recently helped scientists discover 14 new plant and animal species.
country: Colombia
Stay updated with comprehensive news on Colombia from Worldcrunch. Discover insights on Colombian politics, economic strategies, societal issues, and cultural landmarks with translations from top international sources. Highlights include Bogotá, Colombian history, and cultural events.
Orange-clad couriers working for the delivery firm Rappi are ubiquitous in Bogota. They’re also poorly paid, unorganized and in the way
The Norwegians have a mixed history of conflict mediations in recent decades. Can their dubious track record lead to any success in Venezuela?
The country faces dramatic debt levels among small-scale coffee farmers, as prices fall on world markets. Some have suggested a fixed minimum price for this key Colombian export.
From films to photography, artwork can help arouse the empathy we need to counter these dark days of border walls and White nationalist terrorism, not yet extinct, and art foments it.
-OpEd- MEDELLÍN — A recurring theme one hears from families coming to school is that, above all, they just want their children to be happy. And when you ask parents what happiness means, they’ll say children need more time to play and to have fun — and not be forced to study and think about […]
Local investors and entrepreneurs should learn from past mistakes to harvest the best results from the country’s decision to authorize marijuana production.
In northern Colombia, large-scale banana and palm oil estates have long used their clout to control land and water resources and leave peasant farmers high and dry.
Just because someone has something to say about the latest current-events controversy doesn’t mean they should.
Quality higher education in Colombia and vigorous student activism – not student rioting – will shake a complacent elite and help cleanse public life of its longstanding corruption
In the Colombian capital, residents are starting to balk at the arrival of so many desperate Venezuelans. There’s empathy, yes. But also caution and alarm.
Mining firms, coca farmers and criminal gangs have brought social degeneration, pollution and extreme violence to one district in western Colombia.
The United States is meddling in the region again in line with big-money interests and the imperialist tradition set off in the late 19th century.
Last week’s bomb attack in Bogota is symptomatic of the state’s continued inability to monopolize the use of force.
It’s high-time for an economic model that curbs waste while boosting productivity. But don’t expect market forces alone to bring about the necessary shift.
In Bogotá, a transgender girl and her family are, with their openness, helping similar people take their rightful place in society.
Beauty and happiness may be in the eye of the beholder. But they’re also fundamental components of a healthy society, writes Colombian novelist William Ospina.
The celebration of Christ’s birth was always a little bit pagan for its associations with the Roman imperial religion. But the modern West has turned into a pure carnival of pleasures.
With the help of a talented young engineer, demobilized FARC fighters are using an Archimedes screw hydro turbine to power a remote enclave.
Colombia’s Spanish, beside its charming formality, is replete with graphic allusions to extreme brutality, becoming a mirror of a good 100 years of political and criminal violence.
Given the harm mobsters like Pablo Escobar inflicted on Colombia’s image and society, how have they kept such a prominent place in the national culture 25 years after his death?
People in Colombia seem to have forgotten that in the not-too-distant past, they were the ones seeking refuge abroad, and that Venezuela offered a tolerant and helping hand.
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My Close Encounter With A ‘Tinder-Surfer’
A Bogota lawyer’s foray into the world of online dating opened her eyes to ‘Tinder-surfing’ — couch-surfing with benefits — as practiced by a semi-celebrity Belgian named ‘Zebotta.’
Engineers in Antioquia decided to cross-reference data on solar radiation and cloud cover to encourage greater use of solar panels.
The main open dump in the Colombian city evolved over decades from an informal home to scavengers to becoming a focus of communal resurgence.
Colombian novelist Héctor Abad Faciolince recounts how a man in Denmark claimed to have lived exactly as one of the writer’s characters. Eventually, the two would meet.
Ranchers, farmers or plain criminals are pushing their way into and expanding their presence in Colombia’s remotest nature reservations.
The Venezuelan crisis impacts Colombia directly. But military intervention, as hinted by Trump, could be disastrous.
Rather than clamp down on drug users, Colombia might borrow a page from its far southern neighbor and consider a more humane approach.
Easing pain and ‘old-fashioned’ home care, rather than intensive hospitalization, are proving themselves as better and cheaper ways to treat terminal patients.
Scientists from the University of Magdalena in Colombia discovered six new species of tardigrades, microscopic ‘water bears’ that are remarkably resistant to extreme conditions and may help medical researchers.
‘Alternative’ sexuality is despised in the traditionalist, native or Afro-Caribbean communities of northern Colombia. The choices for gays and lesbians tend to be harsh: face down your family and neighbors, or leave.
News used to be a cherished staple for writer and conflict-resolution expert Aldo Civico. But when Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential elections, he had to take a break — for sanity’s sake.
BOGOTÁ — The peace accords signed two years ago with the demobilized FARC guerillas continue to divide Colombians politically, as do questions over how the country should go about ending the conflict with ELN rebels, solve the problem of drug production, and terminate the illegal businesses that have fueled so much barbarism over the years. […]
The peace process he helped guide in Colombia isn’t perfect. Nor is it complete. But by ending the decades-old war with the FARC, outgoing President Manuel Santos definitely made his mark.
The new presidents of Colombia and Mexico may fit into the populist mould, but their pledges and circumstances differ from those of their most notorious predecessors.
At a time when crime and violence peaked in Colombia’s second city, some young people sought refuge in the rough, head-banging vibe of punk music.
-OpEd- BOGOTA — There has been an alarming spike in targeted killings of activists since the decades-long war between the state and FARC guerilla force finally came to an end. Cases are particularly prevalent in territories formerly controlled by the FARC. Since the peace accords were signed in 2016, nearly 180 social, community and indigenous […]
Activists in Colombia are working with public and private entities, offline and online, to reduce and recycle every ounce of solid waste produced.
BOGOTA — “Our grandparents knew our territory well, its sacred and productive places, but also the risks we assumed if we did not use resources appropriately….” These are the words of José Zafiama, a teacher of the Uitoto indigenous people and member of the Azicatch Indigenous organization, which brings together peoples in the Predio Putumayo […]