Columns & Blogs

When I arrived in Bogotá one of the things that most impressed me the most was that every house I visited was so clean and organized it looked like something out of a magazine catalog.

The letter signed by the Prosecutor General and the presidents of the High Courts, in which they strongly criticize the reform to the judiciary proposed by the balance of powers bill and call for its failure, has as much good as bad and ugly.

In every society there is a percentage of inidividuals that violate norms. That percentage usually falls below 1% in regards to crimes like homocide, theft, or battery; and rarely exceeds 10% when dealing with citizen norms, like respecting lines and traffic lights.

Those who have followed with disbelief the killings of young black men in the United States could find similar reasons for indignation right here at home.

The land restitution's failure would not only bury victims' rights, but would also legitimate the displacement practices of large economic actors.

Some of the opposition's arguments in response to the Health Minstry's recommendation to suspend fumigation would be laughable, if it were not for the fact that they put into play something much too important: the health of many Colombians.

A few days ago, when there was a political discussion, there were two opposing sides.

In asking for the suspension of aereal fumigations with glifosate, the Health Ministry not only folowed scientific findings, but also legal duties and elemental principles of public policy.

The land restitution debate needs to progress. The researcher Francisco Guitérrez has already sensibly and with solid arguments responded to Benedetti's contentions in 2013. The discussion that should have taken place in Congress through the four years of the law's implementation should have been centered on the effectiveness of land restitution following the ruling.