Reports

Colombia can no longer fall back on economic expansion after its generations-long internal conflict and a controversial peace agreement with a narco-terrorist group. Enter the pandemic-related economic and social crises, and the daunting challenges faced by President Ivan Duque become clear.

Ivan Duque, Colombia’s newly elected president, takes office with a clear mandate from his supporters. President Duque will likely try to slow the controversial peace accord reached with FARC guerrillas and address widespread public concerns over crime and corruption. But a factional political balance, and major challenges both at home ...

Colombia's peace agreement has not led to the immediate prosperity many in the country were hoping for. Violence is still common, the economy is lagging, and refugees from neighboring Venezuela are flooding into the country. The May presidential election could help the peace process move forward – or tear it ...

Over the past few years, Colombia has been one of Latin America’s economic success stories. Now, as the civil war that ravaged it for 50 years finally approaches a negotiated end, the country is looking forward to collecting a vast peace dividend. Projections for 2015 and 2016 place Colombia among ...

Peace negotiations with Marxist rebels, more foreign direct investment and better social stability – those are the challenges facing newly re-elected Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. State incapacity and inefficiency are barriers to progress, but if the conflict with the guerrillas ends, most economists believe that in five years Colombia ...

Colombia appears to be a stable democracy with a sound economy. But FARC armed rebels occupy around a quarter of the country, drug production and trafficking are rife, and major landowners – some linked to paramilitaries and organised crime – control parliamentary seats. The on-going peace talks in Cuba with ...

The outcome of Colombia’s presidential elections rest on the success of peace talks with the country’s largest guerilla group the FARC. Progress is being made to establish a process which sees an end to a 60-year conflict which has cost 220,000 lives and with former rebels taking part in Colombia’s ...

Colombia’s President Santos is facing challenges on a number of fronts. Peace talks with the FARC rebels are going slower than expected, the economy is performing less well than in recent years, his poll ratings are falling, and he is under pressure from small-scale farmers calling for agrarian reform. But ...

Colombia has been known mostly for its 50-year conflict with a guerrilla army, drug trafficking and criminal violence. But that reputation has started to shift. Peace talks are underway with the rebels, the economy is growing and, with its current president, Juan Manuel Santos, the country is playing a pivotal ...

Growth in Colombia’s economy shows signs of slowing. It could not have come at a worse time for President Juan Manuel Santos. He is not only trying to be re-elected next year, but he wants to find money to pay for a land restitution programme. This is the first part ...

Colombia is attracting foreign companies to plough billions of dollars into its oil and mining sectors. Colombia's boom in foreign investment and its joining international free trade agreements with Europe and South Korea follows ten years of increased security against left-wing rebels, drug cartels, and right-wing paramilitaries who made the ...