Colombia

My assessment of the country's geopolitical situation is regarding:

Aliseo Editorial - Colombia

Historical profile of Colombia and national character.

Introduction

Life is not what one has lived, but what one remembers and how one remembers it to tell.

Gabriel García Márquez

Although the country bears its name, Christopher Columbus never landed in Colombia. However, almost everyone else eventually arrived: the Spanish in large numbers from the early 1500s, black slaves from Africa starting a century later, immigrants from all over depending on the historical period, and finally Venezuelans fleeing the economic and political crisis that gripped their country. In the end, we also arrive, challenging deeply ingrained prejudices: when talking about an imminent trip to Colombia, one has the perception of being a potential troublemaker.

With the whole world at my disposal (or what's left of it), I have to go investigate that land of drug traffickers, guerrillas, and paramilitary patrols. In the best-case scenario, this could put my safety at risk, perhaps encountering a petty criminal who is amazed that the contents of our wallets are equivalent to a year's income for an "unemployed worker"?

Instead, we will meet people who are approachable and have a great quality: they prefer to communicate rather than talk. They won't all be saints, but we haven't seen many like them, as the saying goes...Los Honestos are more."; the majority of the population has now moved on, believing in a future that is no longer ideologized or solely linked to the theory of easy money. That same majority still lives in a state that could reasonably be described as poverty, although not one of extreme deprivation, but the intention to seek the future through legitimate means seems to have prevailed for a decade now.

However, while it is true that paradise holds the kindest people, it is in hell where the most interesting encounters take place. If you want to understand the critical aspects and contradictions of the northernmost country in South America, you need to immerse yourself in its depths, read about its history, interpret its recent past, and learn to understand its present.

Once again – as has already happened in Iran and elsewhere – we need to descend the aircraft stairs and try to experience its true essence, resetting everything we have read and heard in the comfortable living room at home. Of course, this is done without neglecting potential risks that may arise, preferably anticipating them.

From the very first contact with the Colombian soil, I began to perceive a reality far different from what I had imagined the day before. The interaction with the locals is immediately characterized by cordiality and collaboration; it seems that the interlocutors realize that the foreign visitor in their country is not simply passing through, looking for an easy and affordable tourist destination. In fact, the lingering reputation of a past often tragic history further encourages hospitality, fostering a desire to convey the message that the nightmare is over, with a willingness to calmly discuss any topic.

One element that is difficult to observe from Europe is the strategic position that Colombia has had over time and still has today from a geographical, economic, and consequently political point of view. Being immediately south of the islands where Christopher Columbus landed, but with the advantage of being on land, it quickly attracted the attention of the colonizers, so much so that in 1525 Santa Marta was the first city in South America to be founded. Unlike other regions where empires such as the Inca, Maya or Aztecs reigned, Colombia presented several independent tribes that divided the territory, but only the Muisca in the Bogota area could boast a certain power; however, they were unable to cope with the superiority of the Spanish military. This lack of homogeneity made the assimilation process easier, especially when it did not involve the physical elimination of ethnic groups present. Today, isolated tribes still survive in the Amazon rainforest, marginalized for better or worse, rather than the Wayuu that we will encounter in the desert areas of the Guajira. In the rest of the country, one can barely observe some mixed features combined with Spanish characteristics. In this melting pot of races, the black descendants of slaves are also present, mainly in the Caribbean coast and along the rainy Pacific coasts, where they found refuge from persecution.

Its strategic location made it a key port for the slave trade (Cartagena is its symbol), but also a major departure point for goods destined for Europe, especially gold, but also silver mined locally from the Bolivian mines of Potosí rather than those in Peru.