En un verdadero pulso de poder se han convertido las últimas semanas de campaña a la presidencia en Colombia. Nunca en la historia reciente hubo tantas denuncias tan graves sobre financiación e infiltración de las campañas, y nunca tampoco el país había estado tan polarizado entre dos fuerzas de derecha. Nunca se agitaron con tal vehemencia … Read more
April 25, 2014 marked the completion of a very successful scientific endeavor undertaken by more than 20 Colombian institutions committed to broadening the knowledge of the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve and Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the San Andrés, Old Providence and Santa Catalina Archipelago, in the western Caribbean. View a slideshow of the Seaflower Biosphere … Read more
This week’s likely top stories: the FIFA World Cup kicks off in Brazil; Colombian voters return to the polls; Venezuelan protesters call for the release of Leopoldo López; President Enrique Peña Nieto defends Mexican reforms in Spain; Argentine Vice President Amado Boudou testifies in court. World Cup Begins in Brazil Amid Subway Strike: The FIFA … Read more
The Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina is a Colombian department located 137 miles (220 km) east of Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, and 482 miles (775 km) away from mainland Colombia. Even though the archipelago is closer to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama and shares cultural similarities with other Caribbean islands, the Colombian … Read more
“En ocasiones se me ha descrito como una especie de Bruce Wayne suramericano: un niño privilegiado que juró vengar la muerte de su padre asesinado por unos bandidos. Dispuesto a hacer pactos con el diablo y a tolerar todo tipo de abusos, con el fin de llevar a cabo mi ‘misión’ y sin importar el … Read more
The first round of presidential elections in Colombia, held on May 25, did not surprise anyone. The uribista candidate, Óscar Iván Zuluaga, won with 29.2 percent of the vote over incumbent president Juan Manuel Santos, who won a disappointing 25.6 percent of the vote. The remaining votes were split between the three other major candidates: … Read more
Miedo. Una simple lectura—que no pretende ser estadística—de las redes sociales, tras el resultado electoral del pasado domingo en Colombia, me arrojó innumerables veces esa palabra. Colombianos indignados y connotados columnistas la usaron para manifestar lo que sienten frente al escenario que el 40% de los votantes del país nos dejó para segunda vuelta: otra … Read more
Interpol issued a warrant for the arrest of former Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad on Tuesday for embezzlement, mishandling of public funds and causing the country’s banking crisis in the late 1990s. Mahuad became president in 1998 when Ecuador was on the brink of war with neighboring Peru over a territorial dispute. Mahuad and then Peruvian president … Read more
Patricia Gutierrez de Ceballos and Rosa Brandonisio—married to Daniel Ceballos and Vicencio Scarano, ousted mayors of San Cristobal and San Diego respectively—won landslide votes in Venezuela’s mayoral elections on Sunday to replace their husbands after both men had been arrested and jailed as part of the opposition protests. The women are both part of the … Read more
It has been a surprising trend that, for the past several years, a number of Latin American countries have voted into power democratically elected left-wing governments of some kind—whereas Colombia has steered toward governments from the right of the political spectrum. Even in countries in the region where right-wing presidents continue to hold office, like … Read more
Tradicionalmente, las elecciones presidenciales en Colombia se han caracterizado por sus escándalos de corrupción, filtración de dineros del narcotráfico, y compra desmedida de votos. Lejos de romper con esta penosa tradición, la actual carrera presidencial pasará a la historia, por sumar a este prontuario el espionaje, la polarización, los insultos y acusaciones, y la falta … Read more
En nombre de la Revolución Bolivariana, Hugo Chávez le dio una prioridad nunca antes vista a la política exterior venezolana. Ni en el periodo de la Doctrina Betancourt—diseñada para aislar a los regímenes autoritarios de las Américas—ni en el del Tercermundismo de primer gobierno de Carlos Andrés Pérez, tuvo Caracas un protagonismo internacional como el … Read more
This week’s likely top stories: Candidate Óscar Iván Zuluaga is implicated in a Colombian hacking scandal; Gustavo Madero wins the PAN’s internal elections in Mexico; the Colombian government and FARC reach an agreement on drugs; the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights will visit Guatemala; Argentine Vice President Amado Bodou may be called to … Read more
The wave of social unrest that hit several cities in Venezuela in February and March is nothing new for a country that has been deeply polarized politically since Hugo Chávez assumed the presidency in 1998. What is different this time is that Chávez—who died of cancer in March 2013—is no longer around, and the protests … Read more
Exportation in Colombia has been, and remains, a significant driving factor for large-scale mineral exploration, extraction and production by multinational corporations. According to the Banco de la República, the Colombian mining sector contributed to a record high proportion of the country’s total exports in 2011 and 2012, at 71 percent. Fossil fuels especially constituted an … Read more
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