What a dreadful few years for politics. It has been impossible to escape the shrill idiocy of populism; the hard-line reactionary simplicity of the right, and the utopian virtue-signalling moral grandstanding of the left.
Yesterday’s presidential election in Colombia offered no respite. Read more…
Ivan Duque will emerge victorious today, he may even win by an absolute margin meaning there’s no need for a second round run off. But I suspect the polls may be exaggerating his support, and he may well lose a bit of momentum.
Gustavo Petro should come second. The hard leftist was recorded last night claiming he will enter into a coalition agreement of sorts with De La Calle and Fajardo, two of the centrist candidates running today. That will make the second round run off very interesting. Read more…
Polishing off a steak almuerzo in one of the Candelaria’s expensive French restaurants, I spot a goblinly, bug-eyed, short and very well fed man, sitting a few tables to my right. As I exit past him, we lock eyes and I feel an icy heat spread across my thoracic vertebrae.
Two days later I see him again, in a cafe on Parkway; just to the north west of the centre. Again, the following day; this time with his daughter and a couple of aged-rockers wearing plastic looking leather jackets. Read more…
When a president is as unpopular as Colombia’s Santos, no one believes a word he says.
And when a country has been at war with guerrillas for 50 years, they don’t believe them either.
Yesterday was officially the end of the FARC as an armed insurgency. The UN took control of 7,000 weapons and the guns fell silent.
Read more…
I hailed a yellow cab on Calle 19 with 5, by BD Bacata, the 67-storey glass stalagmite Portafolio calls ‘the most modern complex in Latin America’.
Bacata hopes to transform the urine smelling streets of Bogota’s Dickensian, historic Santafe, Candaleria, and Matires barrios; generating 1,000 new jobs and creating a new business hub with 117 offices and a high-end 300 bed hotel. Read more…
I took to the streets on April Fools Day to join Colombia’s right wing, anti-government march.
On a stage erected just metres from the Congress building, in Bogota’s Plaza de Bolivar, speech after speech called for an end to the, ‘corrupt’, ‘illegitimate’, ‘Communist-appeasing’, ‘FARC guerrilla-supporting’, Santos administration. Read more…
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…
As Colombians prepare to go to the polls in the regional and local elections on 25 October, analyst Leon Valencia has revealed candidates are investing as much as 5 million dollars to fix the outcome.
Few deny vote-buying is endemic in Colombia. Politicians stand accused of spending public money to corrupt an electoral process that authorities ultimately fail to police.
But while President Santos’ government has labelled these elections, “the most transparent in history”, Mr Valencia, director of think tank, “Peace and Reconciliation”, has warned “huge walleted” politicians are buying their way to power. Read more…