Moral and dogma
A religion may lose its monopoly on moral principles but can not lose its dogmas.
Read MoreClass racism
When I hear Senator Carlos Martinez say he is being chased for being black, I think about the complexities racism has in Colombia.
Read MoreEconomics and happiness
Everyone wants to be happy, who doesn’t? However as we have no precise recipe to achieve this, we dedicate ourselves to pursue what seems like the image we have of happiness: money, love, power, recreation, etc.
Read MorePalestine
The decision of President Santos not to support the entry of Palestine, as a statehood, to the United Nations, not only seems contrary to justice and international law, but also politically misguided.
Read MoreCautios defense of justice
Perhaps the greatest merit judges have in Colombia is their independence from political power
Read MoreCritical defense of justice and the writ for legal protection of fundamental rights
A few months ago I wrote a column proposing that an investigation on the writ for legal protection of fundamental rights be made. This in order to be certain about its problems and, in particular, to know about the true extent of erratic judgments and on the involvement of lawyers and judicial corruption.
Read MoreRecognizing the good citizen
To begin to address the problems of a country it is necessary to answer the following question: what motivates the behavior of humans? There are two possible answers.
Read MoreThe Colombianization of Mexico?
On the occasion of the slaughter that occurred last week at a casino in the city of Monterrey (52 people died), the media and public opinion have referred again to the “Colombianization of Mexico.”
Read MoreUniversity and educational apartheid
This seemed to be a good week for public university. After the return of President Santos from Chile (where students have been protesting for six months), the government announced it was withdrawing the proposal to establish colleges for profit (just under the bill to reform higher education) and earmark additional resources of 1.5 billion pesos to finance the public university. This is good news indeed, but the problem of education in Colombia is so big it takes much more than that.
Read MorePolitics and word order
In these days I was in the difficult task of explaining to a foreigner the details of the current electoral debate. I started then the list of political parties and their ideological differences.
Read MoreThe End of “Meritocracia”: the merits democracy
Me, very naive, recommended my students to present themselves to the public contest because that way they didn’t need help from anyone to get a public position. Many did it and are now waiting for the results…. they are going to have a terrible deception.
Read MoreProtection Integral Plan for victims and witnesses of Human Rights violations and Humanitarian International Law infractions, with gender differential focus
This document is an effort of presenting proposals that come from the Civil Society, so the State obeys the Sentence T-496 of 2008 of the Constitutional Court.
Read MoreThe Moderate Voice Outlines Camilo Sánchez Op Ed “A Gross Mistake”
Obama Win Could Cost Colombia Dearly: Semana of Colombia
After Colombian President Uribe’s embarrassingly obvious support for Republican John McCain during his campaign for the U.S. presidency, the people of that country are now grappling with the damage that such support is likely to have done to relations with President-elect Obama’s Administration.
Read MoreSuppress Violence against Women
The celebration, this 25th of november of the “International Day for the Eradication of all Forms of Violence against Women” must help us remember the gravity of this phenomenon in latin America, specifically in colombia.
Read MoreThe Measure of Things
There are many things you have to measure in a society: taxes, vacations, prison penalties, the presidential period, interest rate, legal age, military expenses, minimum wage salary, social interest housing and much more.
Read More“How is it to do justice under cross fire”: Report from Semana Magazine on Dejusticia´s investigation
State agents told Dejusticia their stories about the investigations and judicial rulings that they have delivered in regions where armed illegal groups still have control and power.
Read MoreA Gross Mistake
The democratic victory in the United States could send a very expensive bill to the colombian government.
Read MoreThe Drug Dealing Business of the Pyramids
¿How is it possible that pyramids gets us on such a mess? Even though many believed in them because of necessity or for being naive, the most common case is that of “taking advantage” the colombian way wanting to do money the easiest and fastest way. This is what grandma´s from the Antioquia region say:
“go and make money honestly. If you can´t, go and make money.”
Forums
In a democratic society and pluralist everyone must be able to say what they want, even though when what they say is openly with no support at all.
Read MoreHearing at the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights on Racial Discrimination
In October 23 of 2008, Dejusticia, the Observatory on Racial Discrimination from Los Andes University, the Colombian government and others were present in Washington, at the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights discussing issues of racial discrimination and access to justice in Colombia.
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