Joe Biden has the chance to cut the purse strings to Colombia’s most unaccountable institution — Last month, US presidential candidate Joe Biden wrote an op-ed in the Miami-based South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper, in which he lauded the success of Plan Colombia in eradicating coca crops, shoring up security, and even protecting human rights. Of the plan, Biden wrote: “Both Colombia and the United States…

Parroting clichés about Colombia glosses over its deep-seated problems, and reinforces the status quo — Ah, Dominic Wolf. The fearless German social media influencer who will stop at nothing to shine a spotlight on all that is good in Colombia. The man who is spreading a positive image of Colombia far and wide. The man for which the Colombian Foreign Affairs Ministry denied a visa…

It’s naïve to think the riots had anything to do with Javier Ordóñez’s killing, or police brutality in general — The disturbing images of Bogota police pinning a man to the ground and repeatedly zapping him with a taser gun, for the minor offense of drinking in the street during quarantine, rightly provoked a howl of rage and indignation — not only in the capital, but across Colombia. It highlighted…

Last year, people marched by the thousands against Duque. Now they’re demanding that the state protect them from coronavirus — I really thought we had it this time. This was something special, something different. …

The spasms of rage across the continent are felt here in Colombia, and today’s protests could snowball into something similar — Within the span of a few weeks, one government has been toppled, another was forced to flee the capital, and yet another was pushed to make concessions so deep they include plans to rewrite the country’s constitution. The wave of protests sweeping across the continent, first in Ecuador, then in…

He speaks many truths, but on matters of war and peace, professor Pinker has his work cut out for him The world is a less violent place, and food is more plentiful. People are generally healthier, smarter and happier than they’ve ever been — and live longer, too. The rise and spread of democracy has given a great mass of people rights and freedoms that we are now so accustomed…

The FARC Guerrillas as Hezbollah, Venezuela as Iran — We are now either in a state of war and on the verge of a wider regional conflict, with the FARC peace agreement laying in tatters. Or, the Colombian peace movement is so resilient that the three-year-old accord will prevail, no matter what the armed actors do. Depending on what…

Colombia Reports Founder Adriaan Alsema on covering a country like Colombia, and the threats foreign and local journalists face — It’s no surprise that journalists in Colombia face threats, but it might be surprising to learn that journalism itself is under threat — and not just from the violence that so characterizes this country. International media outlets have traded in the foreign correspondent for the poorly-paid freelance journalist, and reporters…

With so little social mobility, can corruption in Colombia be a legitimate path out of poverty? — By Casey Jones What follows is one contributor’s view of how corruption in Colombia can often play out, and that many of those who engage in the practice are not the selfish villains they are made out to be. A few years ago, I met a young couple who were…