In the shadow of Los Pachencas of Santa Marta
In a land where big cats prowl, Los Pachencas also make their deadly presence known. Extortion and murder in the Sierra Nevada.
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Category: Colombia Context
Backgrounders about Colombia, and how it works – or doesn’t – drawn from my context journalism and years of living here.
Is Colombia Safe? Some tips for travellers.
The first question on every visitor’s mind: Is Colombia Safe? Here we try and answer it.
April 2019
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Venezuelans in Bogotá
Migrants arriving in Bogotá are cold, hungry and in need of help. How do they survive?
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Venezuelans on the road in Colombia
Thousands of Venezuelan migrants fleeing their collapsed country are travelling Colombia’s roads. Here’s some info and photos.
February, 2019.
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Armero on my mind
A town buried in volcanic mud in 1985 with 23,000 dead – mostly still lying underfoot – is a strange attraction, with or without ghosts.
January, 2019
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Avianca’s 100 years
Born into adversity, Avianca celebrates its centenary this year. We look at the early years of Colombia’s historic airline.
Read moreOn the road in Colombia
Colombia is a big country where major cities are one to two day’s drive apart, there are three mountain chains and a lot of jungle to deal with, and plenty of other natural (and man-made) obstacles along the way. The country has justification to blame its poor transport development on its unforgiving geography. The severe La Niña floods that ravaged the country in 2011, for example, took out hundreds of bridges and long sections of main roads. In recent years Colombia has
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