Faced with Colombia’s military strength and apparent resolve not to hand over a disputed swathe of the Caribbean, Nicaragua is inviting friendly Russia into the area.
Source: EL ESPECTADOR
The oldest newspaper in Colombia, El Espectador was founded in 1887. The national daily newspaper has historically taken a firm stance against drug trafficking and in defense of freedom of the press. In 1986, the director of El Espectador was assassinated by gunmen hired by Pablo Escobar. The majority share-holder of the paper is Julio Mario Santo Domingo, a Colombian businessman named by Forbes magazine as one of the wealthiest men in the world in 2011.
The Colombian city hosts the most citizens displaced from rural areas by the country’s ongoing civil conflict. A special program allows these domestic refugees to farm in the city.
What does Mandela’s example mean for Colombia as it seeks to end decades of bloody conflict with leftist guerrillas?
Colombia marks 20 years since police killed Pablo Escobar, who helped define the nation as the global mecca of violence and drug trafficking. It’s a lot to absorb for one man in particular.
Older people in San Basilio de Palenque know 64 edible plants native to the region. Their grandchildren, about half. How can the agriculture past of this region not become history?
The troubled Colombian city has become a mecca for street art.
One full year has past since peace talks opened between the Colombian government and the rebel forces after decades of war. But behind the slow pace, there are real reasons for hope.
Exclusive: Rebels and drug traffickers teamed up to take out Colombia’s former president. Two undercover agents gained key information, before being discovered and killed by FARC.
-Op-Ed- BOGOTA — The urge to wander the streets and feel the adrenaline rush that comes when painting on a public wall or bridge is condemned in our society, which has demonized this colorful art form and freedom of expression. This is a fundamental right — to communicate through letters and images painted on surfaces […]
Nearly three decades after a bloodbath between guerrillas and the government, prison sentences, judicial expenses, and international prosecutions are costing the country dearly.
BOGOTA — As negotiations continue to try to bring a definitive end to Colombia’s decades-long civil war, another thorny issue related to the country’s violent past won’t go away: the fate of soldiers accused of crimes. The government’s proposal for a specific military justice code to handle such cases was recently rejected by the Colombian […]
The Brazilian indigenous Guarani nation has had their land taken away and way of life threatened – now a new study shows the suicide rate is 34 times higher than the national average.
Peace is a process, never a single event. Negotiations for peace are always far more complicated than the public understands, and the results are not always miraculous. Even so, the majority of modern conflicts — 80%, according to the School for the Culture of Peace in Barcelona — eventually end after negotiations. The school’s reports […]
BOGOTA — With the expansion of Chiribiquete National Natural Park, Colombia’s National System of Protected Areas has gone a long way to preserve an additional 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) of Amazonian jungle. The importance of this new area is not difficult to measure. In those 27,800 square kilometers of jungle located between Guaviare […]
BOGOTA — The LGBTI community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual/Transgender and Intersexual) in Colombia has suffered disappearances, forced migrations, mutilations, humiliation and abuse. The phrase “damaged bodies, silent crimes’ has come to be used by this community to describe their suffering often made even worse by the civil war that has torn Colombia apart over the […]
Some say that entrepreneurs are born out of necessity. Looking at Hernán Jaramillo and Roberto Cuartas, it becomes clear that only perseverance makes them come to life. The two young men from Colombia are trained industrial engineers and the creators of TareasPlus.com, an online learning portal for young people and adults that is revolutionizing online […]
A father and son take shelter from the rain. Suddenly, a 76-year old man arrives, wedging himself in between the two of them. After a throwaway remark about the downpour, a question alters the course of the conversation. “During the war, you weren’t in Fonfría by any chance?” the man asks the father, referring to […]
-OpEd- BOGOTA — “Thinking that everything can stay the same is the biggest utopia of all…” Margarita Marino de Botero is a Colombian environmentalist who aims to be as creative as she is dedicated. Environmentalism — dynamic and obsessed with changing reality — is continually touching upon the concept of utopia. This is, in fact, […]
Striking farmers in Colombia say free trade agreements are responsible for their woes. Better to look closer to home, including industrial cartels and all the contraband entering the country.
A school located in a remote stretch of the Amazon teaches indigenous children, many of whom come to learn Spanish, under extraordinarily rustic conditions.
With talks on in Havana to end the decades-old civil war in Colombia, a push is on to force negotiators to meet face-to-face with victims of the violence.
Global warming is a big problem in Latin America, but the private sector is busy developing alternative energy sources. Has the rush to innovate arrived in time?
When the well-meaning environmental concerns of city folk clash with the lives of the poor and indigenous who inhabit South America’s rain forests and mining territory.
BOGOTA – Negotiators for rebel group FARC — engaged now in historic peace talks with the Colombian government — received an interesting visit in Havana last month. During a pause in negotiations with Bogota officials in the Cuban capital, FARC loyalists met with a group of former members of the IRA. Indeed, the veterans of […]
We are well past the tipping point, where governments are violating privacy and limiting the people’s rights in the name of some faceless enemy.
The United States is increasingly a Latino nation, which means the time is ripe to make sweeping immigration reform a reality. A view from Bogota, Colombia.