Twitter: latamthought- Evo Morales will meet with new Uruguayan President Jose Mujica to talk about potential Bolivian port in Uruguay http://bit.ly/cIdZZL
- Julia Sweig on Secretary of State's visit to Brazil: http://www.tinyurl.com/yfdd8xh
- LatAmThought post on AQBlog argues that in Colombia's elections not being disliked may be as important as being liked. http://bit.ly/aNeHTZ
- Latin Americans don't care what the U.S. thinks. http://bit.ly/d3sRoV
- Transportation strike in Bogota continues. http://tinyurl.com/yghxlkz
Tag Archives: Alvaro Uribe
Disheartening Aspects of Colombia’s Congressional Elections
Some things may be comical when you see them in movies, yet somewhat worrying when they are part of the democracy you count on.
Such is the case with María Fernanda Valencia, Candidate for the Partido de la U, who made it to the front cover of the Colombian magazine Soho (a classier version of the [...]
Posted in Colombia Also tagged Aura Cristina Geithner, elections, Maria Fernanda Valencia, Nicolas Uribe, Santiago Morales Leave a comment
Beyond Playa del Carmen: Tourism and Diplomacy in Ecuador and Colombia
Last week’s Rio Summit between high ranking dignitaries of the Americas – The United States and Canada conspicuously excluded – produced a number of notable events:
The announcement of the creation of a Brazil-led regional bloc to convene in July 2011
Universal [...]
Posted in Colombia, Ecuador Also tagged border issues, Diplomacy, drug war, Nation Branding, Rafael Correa, Tourism Leave a comment
Election Season in Colombia
The Constitutional Court’s ruling last night blocking the possibility of President Uribe’s reelection lifted a weight off the country’s shoulders. Even Uribe, who found out about the Court’s decision through his Blackberry at a a press conference about health reform in Barranquilla, reacted with a nervous smile.
Many Colombians, who heard the news over television and radio waves [...]
Posted in Colombia Also tagged Andres Felipe Arias, elections, German Vargas Lleras, Gustavo Petro, Juan Manuel Santos, Noemi Sanin, Rafael Pardo, Sergio Fajardo Leave a comment
Colombia’s Internally Displaced: Out of Tercer Milenio Park, Problems Remain
A few weeks ago, I wrote a commentary for the Americas Quartetly Blog about a recent settlement between the Colombian government and leaders of a group of Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) who had been squatting for over four months in a park in Bogota.
1) Indigenous groups, 2) IDPs, and 3) human rights organizations have accused [...]
Colombia’s FARC rebels. Headed for defeat or hunkering down?
Withering military pressure by President Álvaro Uribe’s government has forced Colombian’s largest leftist rebel group, the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), to dig itself even deeper into the Colombian countryside. In 2008, more than 3,000 rebels surrendered their weapons and accepted Uribe’s desertion package. The kidnapping rate has taken a nose dive [...]
The War on Drugs: Eradication of Colombia’s Indigenous People
The deadline for the FARC to return the slain bodies of the 27 Awa indigenous community members killed earlier this month expired at 6:00 PM on February 23, 2009. The killings, carried out on two separate occasions in the Nariño area of southwestern Colombia, have brought terror to the region and left more than 400 [...]
The Role of the State and the Black Markets of La Guajira
Riding in an old Renault at night in La Guajira, Colombia’s northernmost state, our driver, Edison, recognizes an opportunity to fill up his tank not by Chevron, Shell, or Texaco signs over a gas station, but by the sight of a large red plastic container under the only lit lightbulb in sight on the side [...]
Posted in Colombia, Venezuela Also tagged Black Markets, border issues, drug war, Hugo Chavez, Oil 4 Comments
What else is coming down with Colombia’s crumbling pyramids?
While the world has been preoccupied with a swelling global financial crisis, Colombia has been busy with one of its own making. Two weeks ago a few notorious Ponzi schemes such as DRFE (which stands for Dinero Rapido Facil en Efectio, or Easy Money Fast Cash) stopped paying their clients as their leadership fled abroad. The rioting [...]
Why Not Being Disliked is as Powerful as Being Liked