Last year, Medellín's murder rate totaled 37 killings for every 100,000 inhabitants. Suddenly this city - long considered one of the world's most violent - has come to suffer fewer homicides than U.S. cities like Washington (45), Detroit (42) and Baltimore (42). Medellín today is about as violent as Atlanta.
With no prior political allegiance or experience, Mayor Sergio Fajardo of Medellín is redefining local politics in Colombia. (THE DIALOGUE)
Medellin Revival; Flowering After Years
Of Violence.
Now, 16 years later, political leaders here hope their city's terrifying reputation is burning off like the mist. They say homicides have dropped by almost 90 percent since 1991 and that this traditionally commercial city has come up for air. Some exiles have returned. (DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE)
Colombia Says Tourism Growing Despite War Risks
Colombia, long known as little more than the world's kidnapping capital and home to Latin America's longest-running guerrilla war, is attracting tourists at record numbers because of better security. (REUTERS)
A Country Reincarnated
Colombia is looking better for business and tourism. For years, Colombia has been virtually synonymous with anything bad—kidnappings, homicides, crime, cocaine, civil war and the escapades of Pablo Escobar, the drug kingpin from Medellín who terrorized the country in the '70s and '80s. But Colombia is beginning to reinvent itself in the eyes of the world. (NEWSWEEK)
Colombia: An Emerging Travel Destination
When I'm asked about my recent trip to Colombia, I begin with an image from the Andean slopes high above Medellín, in Santo Domingo Savio, a barrio marked by ramshackle tin-roof houses and narrow, serpentine streets. It was there, as fingers of afternoon sunlight stretched through the clouds, that a sloe-eyed boy with a toothy smile wondered why I'd come to his country. (FROMMERS)
LATIN AMERICA - The Sunset of U.S. Empire Building:The Rise of a New Latin America
Medellín, once considered the “murder capital” of the world, is now one of the most attractive cities in the Americas. It has the feel of an Austrian metropolis surround by pristine farms, lushly wooded hills, and crisp mountain air. It has a well-maintained infrastructure, with clean streets, excellent public transportation, and one of the most prestigious medical universities in the Americas.
Colombia has significant natural resources and its diverse culture reflects the indigenous Indian, Spanish and African origins of its people. (BBC NEWS)
Bush Administration Leads U.S. Lawmakers on Visit Aimed at Free Trade Pact
By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday - October 19, 2007
MEDELLIN, Colombia -- The U.S. congressmen were speedily transported in vans with tinted windows, their convoy escorted by policemen on motorcycles who ensured that no car ventured close. When the lawmakers stepped out, guards carrying M-16s watched wearily, whispering into microphones on their sleeves.
What the congressional delegation was told in Medellin, however, is that this city is no longer among the most dangerous in the world. In fact, its recovery has been "nothing short of a revolution," one American official said.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), who described himself as undecided on the Colombia trade accord, talks with Gen. Freddy Padilla, commander of the country's armed forces, after arriving in Nueva Bellavista. (Juan Forero - Twp)
For the six lawmakers, led by the U.S. commerce secretary, the story of Medellin was presented last weekend as part of a larger success story in Colombia. It's one that the Bush administration is vigorously selling in Washington as it tries to prod Democrats, and not a few Republicans, into supporting a free trade pact with President ¿lvaro Uribe's government, the United States' closest ally in Latin America.
"Everyone has a point of view or a perception about Colombia, but this is too important of a decision to make without being here," Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez said. "This is a total administration effort. The president is totally involved." - (WASHINGTON POST)
JetBlue asks for Colombia flights
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
JetBlue Airways has filed for authority to fly between Fort Lauderdale and Bogota, Colombia - which, if granted, would make it the first low-cost U.S. carrier to fly that route.
Under a 2000 treaty, U.S. airlines are limited to 70 weekly flights to Colombia's main cities, which are currently allotted to American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
However, in it's filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation, JetBlue cites a September 2007 agreement between the two countries that opens up to 21 additional weekly flights. JetBlue applied for 14 of them - seven from Fort Lauderdale beginning in October 2008 and seven from Orlando beginning in April 2008.
JetBlue's proposed schedule lists daily round-trips to Bogota from both cities.
Currently, American Airlines - flying from Miami International Airport - is the only U.S. carrier flying to the country from South Florida. Colombian airline Avianca is the only carrier flying to Colombia from the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
"Latin America is crying out for high-quality, low-fare service to the U.S.," JetBlue spokesman Sebastian White said. "We believe JetBlue is the best choice to inject competition into what is a notoriously overpriced and underserved market."
The limited flights have been the source of competition between airlines in the past.
In April, Miramar-based Spirit Airlines in April requested 14 unused American Airlines slots be reassigned to it. It wanted to fly daily between Fort Lauderdale and Colombian cities Bogota and Barranquilla.
A month later American Airlines, which holds the authority for 42 weekly flights to Colombia, announced it would add 14 flights to Colombia beginning Dec. 13. Regulators OK'd that plan, but said if the airline did not launch the flights, the permits would be automatically revoked. (SOUTH FLORIDA BUSINESS JOURNAL)
Colombia's EPM eyes water, energy deals
Wednesday - Mar 21, 2007
MEDELLIN, Colombia (Reuters) - Empresas Publicas de Medellin, Colombia's largest public services company, said on Wednesday it will seek water and electric energy deals as part of overseas expansion plans to bring its annual income to $5 billion over the next eight years.
EPM Director General Juan Felipe Gaviria told the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit in Colombia that the company saw Panama as a possible platform for expanding in the energy generation sector with other opportunities in South America.
The company, which offers integrated public services to Medellin city and its surrounding municipalities, has a current annual income of around $1.5 billion.
EPM has began taking steps in Ecuador and Peru, for example, with its recent move to seek a water deal in Lima and sees opportunities in Central America once an electric energy link is established between Colombia and Panama.
"Central America is one of the largest opportunities once there is a connection between Colombia and Panama, which we should have around 2010 or 2011," Gaviria said.
"It is probable we will have to do it with partners as I believe you cannot enter into a foreign country alone... with overseas investments one has to be very careful," he said.
EPM is currently involved in one of the most important Colombian infrastructure projects, the construction of the Porce III hydroelectricity plant with 660 megawatts of capacity at a cost of $1 billion.
Gaviria said he expects two other projects Porce IV and Pescadero-Ituango by 2020 to bring more than 3,000 megawatts of additional power generation.
EPM, owned by Medellin city, was founded in 1955 and provides energy, water, pipeline, subscription television, telephone and internet services to the city. (RUETERS)
