The sin of ingratitude
Ingrid Betancourt’s intention to sue the State produced an avalanche of reactions against her.
Read MoreThe politically correct language
In my op-ed last week I said it was absurd that the World Cup referees saw less well than the match viewers.
Read MoreOne-eyed referees
Suppose your son is playing the final of an intercollegiate soccer championship and when everything is ready to get started you find out the referee is missing an eye. How would you react?
Read MoreIllusions memorial
Every four years, after the presidential elections, we Colombians participate in a sort of collective rite where hope is renewed.
Read MoreA barracks and a convent
SIMON BOLIVAR is attributed the following sentence: “Ecuador is a convent, Colombia is a university, and Venezuela is a barracks.” Now that we are in the Bicentennial celebration and on the eve of the election of a new president, perhaps it is worth wondering the value of the Liberator’s phrase.
Read MoreErasers and memory pills
Last Tuesday, the Third Specialized Judge of Bogota was ready to read the condemnatory sentence against Colonel Plazas …
Read MoreWorse than hell
THE HOPE OF LIFE IN COLOMBIA is 75 years. This means that a citizen can participate in 14 presidential elections over its existence.
Read MoreThe devil doing wafers
A GOOD way to end with a reasonable rule is to require its compliance relentlessly, even in the most absurd situations.
Read MoreGovernments and judicial independence
IN ENGLAND, BEHIND the humblest of judges is always the powerful British Navy.
Read MoreAtheism and evil
IN COLOMBIA many people believe that atheists are people who are closer to evil than what believers are.
Read MoreFive Million Dollars against the Reelection
The proposal is simple: pay five million dollars to the president so he abandons office when the presidential time is over.
Read MoreThe Judicial Reform: inopportune and opportunist
The proposal for the Judicial Reform announced by the government is inopportune for the colombian society. On the hand is functionally opportune for the government as it generates a cloak of doubt over the impartiality of the judicial investigations over “parapolítica” which has affected essentially members near to the president.
Read MoreTerror against Terror
LAKHDAR BOUMEDIENE it´s a Bosnian citizen born in Argelia, captured october in 2001 with 5 other people, under the suspect that he must be preparing an attack against the US Embassy in Bosnia.
Read MoreThe President’s Power to Designate
The article examines the possible causes and potential impacts of institutional imbalances at the governmental level in Colombia. The discussion is timely and relevant in the wake of President Uribe’s re-election that stands as a symbol of a force that can upset the system of checks and balances laid forth in the constitution. Presidential designation of position, popular endorsement, and the current attitude of the government are referenced as phenomenon that feed the current situation of disequilibrium. The author discusses the importance of State transparency during the upcoming designation of the Ombudsman as a possible productive step towards offsetting current imbalances. An analysis of international State level designation procedures is offered as a comparative study on the far-reaching impact of the process.
Read MoreWho Can Defend Us Now?
En los próximos meses el gobierno podría librarse, de una vez y por los cuatro años que vienen, de las incomodidades que le acarrea el principio de la separación de poderes. Así, con la ayuda de los desajustes institucionales creados por “el articulito”, el Ejecutivo podría echarse al bolsillo, al menos, a otros dos magistrados…
Read MoreThe Supreme
La democracia, por definición, es un sistema de competencia entre facciones políticas. Por eso, cuando se acaba la competencia, se acaba la democracia. Cuando un partido o movimiento político consigue una superioridad tan aplastante que ya nadie puede disputarle el poder que tiene, se acaba la competencia. James Madison —el gran constitucionalista del siglo XVIII—…
Read MoreEl Espectador Outlines Dejusticia
En el año 2003, por iniciativa de un grupo de catedráticos universitarios y con el propósito de intervenir en debates públcios sobre la evolución del derecho, las instituciones políticas y el fortalecimeinto de de la democracia en Colombia y América Latina, nació el Centro de Pensamiento de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad (DeJusticia). Entre los fundadores…
Read MoreCatalina Botero in OAS
Desde la jurisprudencia y la cátedra, Catalina Botero está convencida de que la Constitución debe ser un manual de protección ciudadana. Desde sus días de colegio, Catalina Botero Marino tuvo una notoria pasión por la justicia. Por eso, cuando se graduó de bachiller en el Liceo Juan Ramón Jiménez, donde aprendió cómo administrar la libertad…
Read MoreTo make one believe is a serious thing
Referring to a native doctor of the Amazon, Levi-Strauss stated at some time the following: “The chamán Quesalid was not a great doctor because he cured the sick, but he cured the sick because he was a great doctor”
Read MoreThose who experienced abduction- Are they now victims of journalism?
The insensitive treatment that the media has given to the experiences of those that suffered from abduction has not only fallen on the violation of their right to privacy but also it has been an offense against their dignity by subjecting them to the second form of victimization.
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