While previous 'security planning' in Bogotá has been premised on eviction and demolition, emerging redevelopment frameworks are geared toward a far more pervasive practice of urban renovation; the re-peopling of problem areas in the city.
Ten young hip-hop activists have been murdered in Medellín's Comuna 13 district since 2009. Such violence against young hip-hoppers demonstrates the lingering contradictions of urban security still present in Colombia's 'miracle' city.
Bogotá's lauded transition from chaotic city of crime and violence to cosmopolitan hub of commerce and creativity belies the manner in which 'security' has been differentially mobilized over the past fifteen years, to stigmatise and displace the city's most vulnerable residents.
More than sixty musicians were threatened with death immediately after El Duke´s funeral. The ceremony was considered a provocation by armed criminal groups, or BaCrim as they are known in Colombia. But ultimately, the police must demonstrate that they are in the business of protection and not pun
As peace talks begin between the FARC and the Colombian government, military victory is still espoused as a final solution by some, while other recall when past negotiations have failed. But there is historical success to learn from too.
Forty-five years of violence have left a country with deep wounds, terrible mistrust and a certain cultural acceptance for breaking the rules of coexistence. The new peace negotiations, which will include "terrorists" go in the right direction but won't be enough
Standing between the government, FARC and international mining companies are the indigenous people of Cauca: unarmed, but capable of reducing a sergeant to tears.
On April 28 French journalist Romeo Langlois was captured by the FARC. The leftist guerrillas demanded a debate on freedom of information as a condition of his release. Instead, this case raises the need for a debate on this never-ending conflict, and on the role of national and international medi
A powerful new political movement bringing rural and urban Colombian civil society onto a common platform poses the real possibility for sustainable peacebuilding in Colombia. The reaction of the government to its emergence will be a path-setting moment.
The number of people in Colombia killed by US tobacco is way beyond the number of Americans killed by Colombian cocaine… Do they have a right to come to the United States and carry out chemical warfare on North Carolina and Kentucky because they have a tobacco problem and it’s coming from here?
A decade of violence and insecurity has deeply marked Colombia's society, politics and institutions. For Colombia to move on, its beleaguered yet independent justice system will have a vital role to play, says Adam Isacson.
Local officials in both British Columbia and Amsterdam wrangle with their respective national governments on the question of how to deal with marijuana trafficking. Meanwhile, Colombia's incumbent president seeks to begin an international dialogue on the legalization of marijuana and other drugs.
