Discover Colombia: In The News
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Colombian Newspapers
Bogota, District Capital of Colombia
Established: 21, July - 2007
Information and Front Page Headlines From Around The World
Colombia retools image; Tourists begin to return
By JOSHUA GOODMAN
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — When it comes to tough sells for a vacation, it doesn't get much tougher than Colombia. The South American country has
a well-earned reputation for gun-toting guerrillas, cocaine kingpins and the world's highest kidnapping rate.
But after decades of being shunned as too dangerous for travelers, the country is riding an unprecedented tourist boom.
Spurred by news of the country's dramatically improved security situation and healthy economy, nearly a million foreigners visited last year, a 21 percent jump over 2004 and the largest influx since 1982, according to Colombia's Commerce, Industry and Tourism Ministry. Their goal for 2006 is to double that again, to 2 million foreign visitors.
Credit goes to the country's popular right-wing president, Álvaro Uribe, who was sworn in for another four-year term on Monday. Uribe's pursuit of the rebels has restored relative safety to once perilous roadways. Kidnappings dropped 78 percent during Uribe's first term in office, to 371 last year according to the government. That may even be below Haiti and the tourist haven of Mexico, where kidnappings-for-cash have boomed.
For years, only Colombian vacationers seemed willing to test the waters, at times driving to tourist hot spots in military-escorted caravans. Now that the highways are more secure, they travel in bumper-to-bumper droves, and the foreigners are following.
For the first time, the government is spending heavily to promote the country abroad. To clean up its drugs-and-violence image, it launched last year a long-term, multimillion dollar "Colombia Is Passion" campaign. Promoters hope the icon, a heart with the flowing lines of a flower, will become as easily recognizable as the Canadian maple leaf or Japanese rising sun. (read article)
A Hero at home, a villian abroad
ECONOMIST.COM
Colombians reckon that Álvaro Uribe saved their country. It's a pity for them that so many outsiders don't see their president that way.
Canada steps into void left by
U.S. - Colombia rift
RUETERS
BOGOTA - Canada started trade talks with Colombia on Monday and pledged full support for President Alvaro Uribe, who has seen his key bilateral relationship with the United States bog down in a scandal over human rights.
A Latin Leader who delivers
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
The reelection of Colombia's president defies a Latin American trend toward leaders who promise to help the little guy, but don't. Alvaro Uribe, a blunt US-trained lawyer, won 62.2 percent of the vote after making people feel safer and richer.
US bending rules on Colombia terror?
LOS ANGELES TIMES
WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, leftist guerrilla and right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia have kidnapped or killed civilians, trade union leaders, police and soldiers by the hundreds and profited by shipping cocaine and heroin to the United States.
Inside Colombia: A changing landscape
THE GUARDIAN
Colombia’s recent political shifts “appear to have ushered in a new era of peace and prosperity”. Economic growth and a new period of relative security seem to be changing perceptions around the world — Colombia is increasingly being seen as a place to invest and a great travel destination.
Medellin Mayor brings beauty to the slums
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, sporting three days’ growth of beard and unruly hair nearly down to his shoulders, Sergio Fajardo [Major of Medellin, Colombia] looks every bit the nonconformist mathematician who spent years attaining a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin.
Colombia finance:
The surging peso--a sign of success
TMC.NET
Colombia has introduced capital controls in an effort to check the appreciation of the peso, which has risen by 14% against the dollar so far this year.
Colombia: Strong Business Optimism
LATIN BUSINESS CHRONICLE
Foreign companies are pleased with their business in Colombia and express strong optimism about the future outlook.
Taghmen pays $32m for Colombian producer
MONEYWEEK
Oil and gas explorer Taghmen Energy got a lift on news it has bought Colombia's Petroleos del Norte SA for $32m.
Colombia's Bancolombia to issue ADRs
REUTERS
MEDELLIN - Colombia's largest bank, Bancolombia said on Thursday it plans to issue ADR shares on the New York Stock Exchange with a preferential dividend to provide more liquidity.
Alvaro Uribe Velez
President of Colombia
Copyright © The Discover Colombia News Group Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
Universal partners with Kidman who is set to produce and star in remake of Colombian horror flick.
Oscar-winning Australian actress Nicole Kidman is to star in a Hollywood remake of Colombian horror film "Al Final Del Espectro."
The 40-year-old star of "Cold Mountain" and "Moulin Rouge" will play a woman suffering from agoraphobia who moves to a new apartment building after a tragedy and starts seeing ghosts.
Juan Felipe Orozco, who helmed the original film released last year, has been hired by studio chiefs at Universal to direct the remake.
Kidman, who won an Academy Award in 2003 for her portrayal of writer Virginia Woolf in the "The Hours," is soon to appear in science-fiction thriller "The Invasion," which is released in US theatres later this month.
- Daily Variety
Nicole Kidman
Parque Nacional Tayrona, Colombia
www.MedellinColombiaTours.com
Travel Adventures in Colombia - South America
The Festival of Flowers Tour in Colombia, August 2008
MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA
