DE S T INAT IONS


42


the Capitolio Nacional, seat of the national congress. Te fourth is occupied by the Palace of Justice which, in November 1985, was attacked by members of the M-19 Marxist guerrilla group. Tey took 300 people hostage. A hapless military raid followed, during which 11 Supreme Court justices, 49 Colombian soldiers, 35 M-19 guerrillas and 11 ancillary staff and civilians died or disappeared. Whether here in La Candelaria – the cobblestoned


T


historic centre – or in its skyscraper-strewn sprawl, Colombia’s past horrors are easily unearthed. Historians usually trace the origins of the nation’s well-reported woes to a ten-year civil war known as La Violencia, sparked by the assassination of presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitan in 1948. But the armed conflict that generated the image of a pariah nation – in thrall to drug lords, leſt-wing rebels and right- wing paramilitary groups – probably peaked in the 1990s, when two-thirds of the world’s kidnappings occurred here, and the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) controlled up to a third of Colombia’s territory.


Dealing with the past From 2002, the government of Alvaro Uribe gave the army greater powers to undermine the military strength of the guerrillas. His successor, Juan Manuel Santos, kept up the


S E P TEMBE R 2 0 18


he Andean sun, veiled by passing clouds but deceptively strong, shines down on Plaza Bolivar. As ever, the square is thronging with tourists, SIM- card vendors, presidential guards in ceremonial uniform and children chasing pigeons. On one side, the magnificent neoclassical cathedral. Opposite is the town hall. A third building houses


ABOVE FROM LEFT: Plaza Bolivar; a couple dance at the weekly Sunday Mercado de las Pulgas; Calle del Embudo in La Candelaria district


pressure and invited FARC to peace negotiations. Te twin-pronged approach worked. Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2016. On September 1, 2017, FARC became a political party, parading through Plaza Bolivar. In tandem with these changes are dramatically improved


Colombia reels when there is a downturn in the value of petroleum, coal, bananas, flowers or coffee


economic prospects. Since 2011, direct foreign investment into Colombia has more than doubled and, according to the Ministry of Commerce, more than 1,100 foreign firms have set up operations in the country. In May, Colombia was invited to join Mexico and Chile as the third Latin American member of the OECD, the select club of 36 wealthy, stable democracies. But South America’s third largest


economy, behind Brazil and Argentina, relies heavily on global commodity prices. Inevitably, Colombia reels whenever there is a downturn – as at present – in the value of petroleum, coal, bananas, cut flowers or coffee. It’s the world’s largest producer of mild, washed Arabica coffee; in 2017, production


was 14.2 million bags, mainly for export. Economic growth slowed to 1.8 per cent in


2017 – down from 2 per cent the previous year (and way down from the 5-6 per cent notched up before the crude oil crash of 2014). But the World Bank noted an upturn in financial services. As the climatic effects of the El Nino phenomenon


dissipated and the livestock sector expanded, agriculture expanded 4.95 per cent last year. “Te agricultural sector has immense potential now rural areas have seen the end of the war,” says Mauricio


busin e s s t r a ve lle r . c o m


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