Colombia: Two hundred years of freedom?

By Gareth Vipers

Wednesday, 21 July 2010


GETTY IMAGES

The bicentennial anniversary of Colombia’s independence marks the uprising of 1810 against Spanish officials in Bogotá.

Thousands of concerts and parties will continue for days as the Colombian people celebrate the birth of a nation.

Two hundred years after Simon Bolivar and Francisco de Paula Santander led a revolution against the Spanish colonialists, who ruled the area for some three hundred years, the Colombian people have developed a strong national identity, but there country has endured much in this time.

Recent years have brought violent unrest, endless kidnappings and a ruthlessly controlled drugs trade which threatens the happiness and security of the 45 million strong population on a daily basis.

In the face of all of this, Colombia celebrates in magnificent style.

Click HERE or on the image to launch our guide to Colombia two hundred years on

  • pelago
    The "assets" are being able to have military bases from where other parts of South America can be reached from different points. The official reason being there, apparently, is to go after the drug cartel for which Colombia is known. The dealers are said to go back and forth through jungle areas between Venezuela and Colombia.
  • Anyone else spotted the typo?
  • Recent years have also brought a relative transformation in Colombia's prosperity such that it is on course to be a booming travel destination. http://www.zorba.com.co
  • pelago
    Most likely is that, the wonderful, long-suffering people of Colombia have the kind of freedom in mind and at heart, that the great "libertador" Simon Bolivar, and Francisco de Paula Santander, brought to their country, some three hundred years ago, liberating them from the yoke of the Spanish conquistadores. And while celebrating this occasion, they are surely as aware of the irony of being under a different yoke of recent decades - that of continuing violence due to drugs trade, kidnappings and other causes of unrest that plague the country. We can only wish them well and hope with them for the day when Colombians can live securely, and walk the streets without fear of any kind.
  • ChrisGK
    Shhhhh! Dont tell the yanks, they will want to invade because you are a free country.
  • pelago
    But they're already there, Chris, and not enough, added seven more bases to the ones there. Where have you been all this time?
  • pelago
    HUH???!!!
  • ChrisGK
    Yes, but the point I was trying to make is that they have not yet tried to seize the countries assets like Iraq and Afghanistan et al.
  • Colombia is coming out of a dark past into a bright future why is it people still think of Colombia as a dark violent place? Please come to Colombia and see for yourself! I promise you will not be kidnapped.
  • Why is this a question mark?? Colombia has a democratically elected government and the Colombian people enjoy the liberties granted to them by their constitution, freedom of the press and expression. Most of the problems in Colombia are fueled by the demand of drugs by the West and mainly America's insatiable appetite for illicit drugs. There is more freedom in Colombia today that there is in some Industrialized Nations. If you want to ask the question. Ask: Freedom in socialist United States?

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