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.
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 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?
Rowdy fans added to the annals of soccer stupidity by forcing organizers to cancel the hugely anticipated Copa Libertadores final in Buenos Aires.
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.
Categories
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.
President-elects Jair Bolsonaro and Andrés Manuel López Obrador may not have the same ideology, but their respective radical declarations are prompting concerns over the rule of law and treatment of minorities.
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.
The flood of people fleeing Venezuela’s dire economic and political situation is more than any one country can handle. But so far, there’s been little effort to organize a coordinated reaction.
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.
-Analysis- BOGOTA — Nicaragua is facing its most violent crisis since the 1980s, when President Daniel Ortega first led the country. Between 295 and 448 people have been killed after more than three months of protests and violent crackdown by security forces, according to various rights groups. Ortega himself put the number last week at […]
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.
Modern Latin American history holds examples of insurrections to topple dictators, which contemporaries and posterity have judged positively. Why should there not be a rebellion today to free Venezuelans of its inept and tyrannical regime?
None should be more dismayed by Daniel Ortega’s despotic slide than those who hailed his revolution as a triumph of democratic socialism, some 40 years ago.
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.
Police and pro-government paramilitaries have killed more than 200 people — including a 14-month-old boy — since a wave of anti-Ortega protests began in mid April.
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 […]
Colombia’s next president may deepen divisions in his country and align Bogota with the belligerent postures of U.S. President Trump.
Colombians love their carne. But in the capital city, there are plenty of options too for top-end, meat-free dining.
The choice of two radical candidates in Colombia’s second round of presidential elections does not oblige people to vote for one or the other. Let them cast a blank vote.
Researchers used visuals and scanning technology to gauge how people ‘feel’ about the contenders in Colombia’s current presidential election.
Medellín authorities want tourists and youngsters to be mindful of the victims of drug trafficking, not view mobsters as merely rogues or ‘Robin Hoods.’
Colombia’s biggest project to make livestock farming sustainable is showing that farmers can raise cattle and even boost dairy production without destroying the forest.
After voting to ban metals mining, residents in the mountainous area west of Bogota are staking their future on farming and tourism.
Expected to return to Cali after serving prison time, some old gangsters will find a ‘new generation’ of criminals running businesses in town. Will that mean trouble,
Protests in Nicaragua against a proposed tax hike to finance the social security system have revealed the people’s disgust with President Ortega’s regime. His brutal response does not bode well.
Countries like Colombia, traumatized by decades of violence, have yet to shake off the tyrant’s favored arm of fear. Now it also spreads on social networks.