Posts Tagged ‘Colombia’
The Catholic Opinion
In a previous column about the Catholic Church’s campaigns against abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia and divorce, I said that it seemed as though Catholics today were listening to Martin Luther, 500 years too late.
Read MoreMilitary Intelligence
In a country that is in fourth to last place in PISA student-testing, where no university is among the top 400 of the world and no research center is among the top 600, it is deplorable (to say the least) that we only speak about intelligence when we denounce abuses of so-called “military intelligence.”
Read MoreEthics and Economics
Some weeks I can’t find a topic to write about and on others I have too many topics. On this occassion I have in mind three topics: one about the Oxfam report about global inequality published on January 20th, another about President Obama´s State of the Union last Tuesday, and another about a conference that Michael Sandel gave last Thursday at Los Andes University.
Read MoreRepeating Oneself and Expecting a Different Result
About 15 years ago, the national government passed a law regulating the prior consultation process without, ironically, consulting the ethnic communities first.
Read MoreWord by Word
The dream of any leader is that the people obey what they say word by word. When Napolean Bonaparte issued the Civil Code of 1804 he did not want anyone interpreting his laws, he only wanted people to obey them.
Read MoreThinking of the Issue of Drugs Alongside the Peace Process
Now that the different peaces and post-conflict scenarios in Colombia are being discussed, it is crucial to include the problem of illicit drug prosecutions in the debate. From what perspectives should we approach this problem so that we don’t make the same mistakes of the past?
Read MoreThe Inspector General´s Ecological Bullying
Piedras, Tolima. In this remote rice region of the country, it is clear that the Inspector General’s crusade against the rights of the citizens is more ambitious and ubiquitous than what it appears from Bogotá.
Read MoreSawhoyamaxa and the Struggle for Land
For the last 7 years, Paraguay has failed to comply with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ decision ordering land titles for their ancestral land to be granted to the Sawhoyamaxa indigenous community.
Read MoreThe Ways of Democracy
Once again, the Constitutional Court announced a decision that shook up the political power in Colombia and it positioned itself, again, as the arbitrator of political positions on a highly controversial issue that is fundamental to Colombian institutions.
Read MoreA Surgical Judicial Reform?
The recent scandals about corruption in the Judicial branch are serious and they add to other deficiencies of the judicial system, like it’s slowness in certain areas. Some, therefore, propose a total reformation of the judicial system, as if it had collapsed.
Read MoreThe Legal System has More than Just Defects
Criticism of the legal system has resumed with force. Many are well-founded, since the judicial system suffers from a series of problems such as slowness, lack of access and transparency, and corruption.
Read MoreScholars and Journalists
It is regrettable that the debate about academic fraud in Colombia has broken out surrounding the case of the scientist Raúl Cuero. But it would be even more regrettable if the debate turned against the researcher Rodrigo Bernal, who did nothing more than what his job demands: to rigorously investigate and publish what he finds (in this case, Cuero’s real record).
Read MoreThe Other Side of the Protest March
While many celebrate Colombia´s World Cup classification, the indigenous people have been marching in protest for over a week.
Read MoreThe Tea Party without a State
An article in the New Yorker from last weeks tells the story of how members of the Tea Party – the radical branch of the American Republican Party – began to doubt their decision to block the passage of the federal budget as a way to oppose the implementation of Obamacare, when they saw that this lead to fewer police officers on duty and the closure of the World War II monument.
Read MoreThe Law and Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy
The State Council’s decision to nullify Decree 444 of 2006 isn’t surprising. It also doesn’t change the current regulation on access to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy (VIP) in the three cases where it has been recognized by the Constitutional Court.
Read MoreWomen, Drugs and Prisons
Crimes related to drugs have been “feminized” in Colombia. By analyzing the composition of the prison population, it is evident that most of the women imprisoned are there because of these types of crimes, and the percentages seem to be increasing.
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