Boletín de prensa internacional 16/01/12
Criminales con actitud
The Economist (UK) Criminals with attitude
A crime mob takes on the government
THE streets of Santa Marta, a city of 450,000, were nearly deserted and shops and offices were closed. But it was not a holiday that shut down a swathe of northern Colombia on January 5th and 6th. It was a criminal band called the Urabeños, who declared an “armed strike” in retaliation for the death of their leader, Juan de Dios Usuga (alias “Giovanny”), in a firefight with police on New Year’s Day.
In leaflets handed out in six northern departments they declared: “We don’t want to see anyone on the streets, doing any work.” That was enough to shut down transport, commerce and even government offices. In Santa Marta, filled with holidaymakers at this time of year, the mayor called on shopkeepers to avail themselves of police protection to open their doors. “Sure, the police are around today, but the Urabeños are watching and if I open my store, then tomorrow or next week or some day when the police are gone, those guys will come and pam! get back at me,” says Milton, who shut his corner store in a middle-class district. In Santa Marta alone, the strike is estimated to have cost $5m in lost trade. ver>>
Colombia espera ser la tercera economía de América Latina en 2014
El país (España) Colombia aspira a ser la tercera economía de América Latina en 2014
El ministro de Comercio, Industria y Turismo, Sergio Díazgranados, asegura que el país está mejor preparado que hace cuatro años ante la crisis económica
Colombia vivió en 2011 un año excepcional en materia económica. Registró un crecimiento de un 5,5%, su tasa de desempleo cayó por primera en más de una década a un dígito (un 9%) y sus exportaciones alcanzaron la cifra sin precedentes de 55.550 millones de dólares (más de 44.000 millones de euros). Además, por sexto año consecutivo siguió destacando como la primera economía más reformadora de América Latina, con un récord en inversión extranjera de 13.000 millones de dólares. ver>>
Cocaina: las nuevas líneas de combate
The Wall Street Journal (EE.UU.) Cocaine: The New Front Lines
Colombia's success in curbing the drug trade has created more opportunities for countries hostile to the United States. What happens when coca farmers and their allies are in charge?.
In the dusty town of Villa Tunari in Bolivia's tropical coca-growing region, farmers used to barricade their roads against U.S.-backed drug police sent to prevent their leafy crop from becoming cocaine. These days, the police are gone, the coca is plentiful and locals close off roads for multiday block parties—not rumbles with law enforcement.
"Today, we don't have these conflicts, not one death, not one wounded, not one jailed," said Leonilda Zurita, a longtime coca-grower leader who is now a Bolivian senator, a day after a 13-piece Latin band wrapped up a boozy festival in town.
The cause for celebration is a fundamental shift in the cocaine trade that is complicating U.S. efforts to fight it. Once concentrated in Colombia, a close U.S. ally in combating drugs, the cocaine business is migrating to nations such as Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia, where populist leaders are either ambivalent about cooperating with U.S. antidrug efforts or openly hostile to them. ver>>
FARC 'Revelation' Masks Larger Problem in Colombia Land Restitution
In Sight (Colombia) FARC 'Revelation' Masks Larger Problem in Colombia Land Restitution
The uproar over recent reports that say that Colombia's FARC rebels own over 40,000 hectares of land in two of Colombia’s departments is a red herring, distracting from the monumental political and logistical task the Colombian government faces at it embarks on its land restitution program.
In an interview with the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo last week, Alvaro Balcazer, director of the government’s new Territorial Consolidation and Reconstruction Unit, said that between the central and southwest departments of Meta and Caqueta, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is estimated to have stolen 42,000 hectares spread over 5,000 ranches. In addition, the guerrilla group possess 66,595 animals, including 26,500 cattle and hundreds of horses according to emails retrieved from the computer of deceased FARC commander Víctor Julio Suarez Rojas, alias 'Mono Jojoy.’ver>>