Perspective Gustavo Silva Cano
Last Friday, Colombia was paralyzed. Everyone was listening to the radio, or watching the news on TV, waiting for the Constitutional Court's decision on the referendum. Here at Princeton, I spent the entire day sitting in front of my laptop, listening to online radio stations and following the hundreds of tweets on the issue.
While there are hundreds of thousands of publications dedicated to the export of Colombian drugs, very little is known about the country's domestic drug use. This, as you may not know, is significantly lower than in countries like the U.S. or Spain, but the government still needs to take action to reduce Colombia's drug consumption.
The Brazilian movie City of God tells the story of drug gangs ruling the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. It also perfectly demonstrates the reality in Colombia's second largest city Medellin and gives little hope.
Colombia has been having its own healthcare debate. If you have been reading Colombia Reports, you will know that two weeks ago the Uribe administration issued a series of highly controversial decrees on reforming Colombia’s healthcare system.
Colombia set a terrible precedent by failing to respond to the invasion of its airspace by a Venezuelan helicopter last week. If Uribe wants to send a message to Hugo Chavez, he should have taken clear action both during and after the incident.
Reach out to the tens of thousands reading Colombia Reports
