Colombia needs a Donald Trump to blow apart 200 years of elite rule.
Since independence, Colombia has been governed by clique largely governing in their own interest.
Colombia should follow 2016’s anti-establishment lead. Ivory Towers have had their day (for now). Read more…
President Juan Manuel Santos is elected President of Colombia for a second, four year term with over 50% of the vote.
Colombians have responded to the president’s cry to vote for peace, rejecting the hardline rhetoric of former president Alvaro Uribe Velez.
32 million Colombians must choose today between fear and hatred.
If turn out is over 50% it will be a minor miracle.
There is even talk that if right-winger Oscar Ivan Zuluaga loses by a tight margin, his political patron ex-president Alvaro Uribe will contest the result.
Neither Juan Manuel Santos nor Oscar Ivan Zuluaga deserve to be elected president.
Colombians go to the polls a day after “la selección” plays its first World Cup finals game since 1998.
You could excuse them for nursing their hangovers in bed and declining to vote.
On Saturday 14 June, the heroes in yellow and blue will offer hope of a nation at peace with itself, of glory and sporting triumph. On Sunday, the nation’s leaders by contrast offer fear and loathing. Read more…
Let’s be more than single issue voters. Peace, yes – but what else?
In these elections we’re not really talking about peace, but instead the ‘destruction/demobilization’ of the guerilla groups.
This is a pretty limited view of what the word peace means, and while, yes it is a key consideration in these elections, we must not forget that peace has been the buzz word for every election for about the last 100 years. Read more…
Que pena contigo Colombia, but if only 40% of you bother to turn out to vote how can you complain about the outcome?
Que pena contigo Colombia, but if you insist on voting for the “los mismos de siempre” how can you complain that it is they who govern you?
Que pena contigo Colombia, but if you wring your hands at the corruption and vote for those who stand most accused of this crime…well, you only have yourself to blame. Read more…
Darkness falls on Colombia yet again (has it ever left the place?). Tomorrow we go to the polls and yet our presidential hopefuls have only managed to disappoint rather than inspire.
Worse still, we have witnessed the obscene spectacle of a dirty tricks campaign in which we have been asked to determine whether the most cunning of criminals is either Juan Manual Santos or Oscar Ivan Zuluaga.
Any proposals or visions for Colombia the candidates might have had have been drowned out. Read more…
President Santos has tried all the tricks in the book to make this election about war and peace.
He, his friends in the media, and virtually the entire political class, have told us to vote for the incumbent’s re-election or to face all out war with the FARC.
Mr Santos’ thesis is that only he is capable of delivering peace accords with the Marxist guerrillas; that each of the other four candidates would take Colombians “back to war”. Read more…