Columns & Blogs

The horrific murder of indigenous girl Yuliana Samboní, probably committed by Rafale Uribe, a member of Bogota's elite, provokes pain, indignation and anger. Thus, it is healthy that there was a spontaneous reaction of citizens to demand punishment. And it is understandable that some ask for extreme sentences, like life sentence, for these atrocities.

Mexico was shocked by the recent murder of the judge Vicente Bermúdez, which took place in public, in the middle of the day. Bermúdez was known for adopting judicial decisions in cases against organized crime, like the ones related to Joaquín Guzmán Loera and the disappearance of the 43 students of Ayotzinapa. Unfortunately, it is not the only case of an assassinated judge in Mexico, nor it is the only country in the region where something like this has happened.

Trump's electoral victory is anticlimatic in two ways, as I explained in another op-ed for Semana Sostenible. 

In the Case of the Kaliña and Lokono Peoples v. Suriname, decided in November, 2015, the Inter-American Court relied on the GPs and other international instruments in order to determine whether Suriname had violated its obligations under the American Convention. This event, while seemingly small, increases the legitimacy of the GPs as international norms.

The government has strived to keep discussions on the Peace Accord and tax reform separate: it says that with or without an agreement, reform is needed to fill the huge fiscal gap left by falling oil and other natural resource prices.

The solid endorsement of the new peace accord by Congress has been a very important step for the beginning of peace implementation.

Documentaries are a dialogue with reality, both in what they say and show as well as in what they keep silent. 

It makes sense that if an idea is criticized by both extremes, it must have something good. What peace could not do, the sugary drinks tax achieved. The tax is being debated in Congress and brought together senators like Iván Duque and Jorge Enrique Robledo, which resist with equal force the measure.

After ten years of spring for the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans and intersex (LGBTI), we have entered the winter of the new inquisition. If something was reborn and consolidated itself during 2016 in Colombia, it was homophobia and transphobia.

The strategy has associated sugary drinks with a healthy lifestyle, whether it has been through sponsoring sports teams or making them seem "cures" for hangovers.