Columns & Blogs

In Colombia there are many protagonists of the politic debate that those who are not with them are their enemies. A perfect example of this can be seen in the declarations that were given this week by Jose Obdulio Gaviria about the general Naranjo, in which he suggests that this has connections with the mafia.

Three decades ago a large part of public services were provided by the State. This was the case for health, mail and telecommunications. When the service was bad (something that frequently occurred) people protested before government and, sometimes, when there were many protests, it became a politicized issue and was subject of public debate. These protests and debates led to the privatization of these services. Today, after many years of experience with the new private model, things do not seem to have changed substantially. The financial voracity of private interests and a weak state capacity to control them has created a situation similar to the previous one.

Some yeeks ago I wrote an Op-Ed about how difficult it was to achieve lasting consensus in the country. Then Eduardo Posada Carbó answered by saying that is was false divisive nagging. I answered ,in another Op-Ed, by accusing him of making a simplistic reading of my point of view and he, in turn, answered accusing me more or less of the same.

The election of Alberto Rojas as judge of the Constitutional Court made me think about December 1st of 1993. During that day took place the election, in Congress, of the first permanent judges of the Constitutional Court.

Lets suppose that the Inspector General Ordoñez wins next presidential elections (the gods will not allow it) and achieves it through a government plan that promises restoring moral, tradition and family. Lets suppose that, in the development of this program, Ordoñez prohibits the consumption of alcohol. Many things would change: the liquor factories would close and whisky importations would come to an end; parties would take place without alcohol, etc. Ah! and sure, many would violate the norm and, in this way, black markets would thrive.

Eduardo Posada Carbó does not agree with my Op-Ed of some weeks ago regarding the current peace process, in which I talk about the scarcity of consensus and foundational myths in the history of Colombia

Every year I write a similar Op-Ed about the deplorable situation lived by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Here is my take on the issue this year.

Colombia is a country divided by geography, history and ideologies. Here great consensus and projects of society have been scarce like snow.

President Santos posited this week that the so-called urban "pots" are crime factories and ordered dismantling them in twenty cities in the country. But the issue is more complex and it cannot be understood outside the so-called war on drugs.

The crisis in Chipre (that small island in the Mediterranean that closed its banks this week after the restrictions imposed by the famous Troika) made me remember the pirates of the XVII century.

At least 30 years ago, the left started to speak ill about multinationals.

France isn't what one would say the bastion of catholicisme. It's more the other way around. There, the catholic church has had many headaches, starting by the promulgation, at the beginning of the French Revolution, of the so calles "Civil Constitution of the clergy", that forced priests and bishops to swear fidelity to the revolutionary people.