Colombia

Colombia’s Challenge

Special Report Colombia’s Challenge: A Special Report AQ‘s latest issue looks at how Colombia can consolidate peace – and ensure prosperity for more of its citizens. Rebirth, or Relapse? Colombia Hits a Post-War Turning Point. By JOHN OTISNew economic opportunities are creeping into Colombia’s troubled countryside. More are needed to help keep the peace. Who’s … Read more

Claudia López: Colombia’s 2018 Elections Are About Who Can Defeat Corruption

Claudia López isn’t one to be shy. In 20 years of public life – as a student leader, a journalist, and now as senator for Colombia’s Green Party – the 47-year-old has earned a reputation for speaking her mind, particularly when it comes to corruption in politics. Now a candidate for presidential elections in 2018, … Read more

Why Politics Won’t Come Easy for the Newly Disarmed FARC

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’s (FARC) move into politics came to the accordion-rich tune of vallenato. On Sept. 1, the former armed group held a free concert for supporters in Bogotá’s historic Simón Bolívar square, capping off a week-long conference that confirmed its transformation into a full-fledged political party. Many of the 10,000 or … Read more

The Role of Businesses in Colombia’s Conflict Cannot Be Ignored

When Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos met with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., discussion of the Colombian implementation of the peace deal took a backseat to other issues, including the importance of continued economic cooperation. “We are and wish to continue to be the best destination in Latin America for American businesses,” Santos commented … Read more

A Familiar Pattern of Violence Could Threaten Colombia’s Peace Process

Implementing peace was always going to be harder than negotiating it. But in the three months since Colombia’s Congress endorsed a deal to end more than 50 years of conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s fragile peace process has already been put to a chilling test. Since Dec. 1 of … Read more

Medellín Proves Investing In Science Is a Good Bet for Cities

In the early 2000s, Medellín struggled to overcome high unemployment, inequality, and a lack of infrastructure and services in its poorest areas. The city needed not just incremental but radical change in order to tackle these challenges and succeed in an ever more competitive global context. To accomplish this, the city’s academics, businesspeople and civic … Read more

“La Historia Secreta del Proceso de Paz”

In August 2010, three days into his first term as president, Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos met for the first time with his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chávez. Relations between their two countries had hit bottom during the administration of Santos’s predecessor, Álvaro Uribe. But now, in the city of Santa Marta on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, the … Read more

AQ Top 5 Jóvenes Emprendedores: Jimena Flórez

Este artículo ha sido actualizado Este artículo es parte de un reportaje especial sobre los top cinco jóvenes emprendedores latinoamericanos seleccionados por AQ. Haga click aquí para ver el resto. Read in English La historia del éxito emprendedor de Jimena Flórez comienza, inesperadamente, con una cerveza fría en Alemania. Después de graduarse de bachillerato en … Read more

AQ Top 5 Young Entrepreneurs: Jimena Flórez

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A globe-trotting Colombian entrepreneur whose healthy snack company speaks to her roots.

Understanding Indigenous Identity through Film

Anthropology and film have cohabited since the early days of cinema. The blending of artful narrative with scientifically grounded ethnography was pioneered as a genre – dubbed “ethnofiction” – by Jean Rouch, one of the foremost documentary filmmakers of the 20th century. Rouch’s films focused on social life and rituals in Niger and Mali and, … Read more

Six Reasons Colombia Said “No” to FARC Peace Deal

It was a shock result. But a reexamination of why Colombians voted “no” to a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) by a margin of just 54,000 votes on Sunday sheds some light on why almost all pundits got it wrong – and what might happen next. Here are six reasons … Read more

As Colombia Votes on Peace, Child Soldiers Struggle to Adapt

They may call themselves the “generation of peace,” but young Colombians are actually among those least likely to support their government’s recent peace agreement with FARC rebels, which will be put to a plebiscite vote on October 2. Part of the reason, observers say, is that many young Colombians have not experienced the conflict as … Read more