Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [17]
1989 The M-19 demilitarizes; the cartels declare war on the government and the extradition treaty, and a government building near the Paloquemao market in Bogotá is destroyed by a bomb.
1991 George Bush Snr signs the Andean Trade Preference Act, which he says will ‘expand economic alternatives…to help halt the production…of illegal drugs.’ It doesn’t.
1993 One-time Congress member – and a more famous cocaine warlord – Pablo Escobar is killed a day after his 44th birthday on a Medellín rooftop by Colombian police aided by the US.
1994 Colombia’s World Cup team is eliminated from the World Cup when defender Andrés Escobar taps in an own goal versus the US team; 10 days later he’s murdered outside a bar in Medellín.
1998 President Andrés Pastrana pulls troops from a New Jersey–sized area during cease-fire negotiations with FARC, claiming in a PBS interview that both sides are ‘looking forward to achieving a peace process in the next four years.’
2000 Colombia and the US agree on the expansive Plan Colombia to cut coca cultivation by 2005; the US eventually spends over US$5 billion with no drop in cocaine production over its first decade.
2006 Colombia agrees to a free-trade deal with the US after two years of talks, while opponents vow to fight the agreement; pop singer Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie breaks the 10-million mark in global sales.
2008 Colombian military undertake an operation across the border in Ecuador – killing a FARC leader and setting the region into a near conflict; 20,000 indigenous people march for property rights near Cali.
2009 A specially held referendum decides whether President Uribe can run for a third-straight term.
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The Culture
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THE NATIONAL PSYCHE
LIFESTYLE
ECONOMY
POPULATION
SPORTS
MULTICULTURALISM
MEDIA
RELIGION
WOMEN IN COLOMBIA
ARTS
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Most travelers we know have the same reaction to Colombia: ‘People in Colombia are so nice!’
And it’s true! You’ll find Colombians to be some of the warmest, most genuinely friendly and honest people you’ll encounter in South America. Despite ongoing threats of civil war, despite whatever personal hardships they may bear, their good humor and amiable nature abounds. Even travelers with limited Spanish are rarely taken advantage of (which unfortunately can’t be said about all South American countries).
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THE NATIONAL PSYCHE
The geography of Colombia – mountains and sea – has influenced the national psyche. Colombia is principally an Andean nation, and the majority of the population live in the mountains in Bogotá, Medellín and Cali. The way of life here is industrious and hardworking, and the Spanish dialect clear, precise and easy to understand. Infrastructure is excellent, the roads are good and the water generally safe to drink (a source of local pride). Long isolated from the rest of the continent, this is the center of Colombian culture.
The Caribbean coast, on the other hand, has been in constant contact with the rest of the Caribbean basin for centuries, and the culture here has more in common with neighboring Venezuela, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The way of life is slow and languorous, doubtless a by-product of the oppressive heat. Costeños (people from the coast) have a reputation for their laid-back demeanor, and speak the thick Caribbean Spanish spoken throughout the West Indies, which may be difficult for the student of Spanish to understand. The staples on the coast are fish and plantain, rather than rice and meat, and unlike the mountain cities, the roads are poorly maintained and the water never safe to drink.
For all their differences, the rivalry between the two regions is friendly, and over a bottle of aguardiente in a nightclub, the salsa and reggaetón blotting out any real conversation, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference.