New Colombian president brings peace and prosperity
Colombia’s new president, Juan Manuel Santos, is seen as a new kind of South American statesman who is capable of bringing both safety and prosperity to a country that for years was associated in the public mind with death squads, guerrilla violence and drug trafficking.
“His selection as president also confirms that Colombia is now acceptably safe and pleasant to visit. Under his predecessor, Alvaro Uribe, narco-violence has been on the wane even in such formerly notorious cities as Medellin,” said The Miami Herald
The new president is a graduate of the University of Kansas and Harvard Graduate School.
Threats from guerilla forces, including FARC, have been reduced to remote areas of the interior little visited by tourists, says the news site.
“As security has improved, so has the economy, and virtually all major centers of tourist interest — from the capital Bogota on down — have been buzzing with activity and groundbreaking progress, such as Bogota’s new Transmilenio bus system,” it says.
The city of Cartagena has long been Colombia’s the main tourism magnet. Its 16th-century walled old town is one of the hemisphere’s foremost gems. It is both larger and more architecturally diverse than its counterparts in San Juan and Panama City, and visitors happily share the streets and cafes with locals.
There is also plenty to see and do, including the Palace of the Inquisition; San Felipe fortress; La Popa monastery; a museum devoted to Colombian emeralds; baroque colonial churches and plazas; and the colonial walls themselves, atop which you can stroll and enjoy a bite or a beer.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of lodgings and other tourist facilities here in all price ranges, including budget.
Bogota, once largely the province of business travelers, has also been seeing a marked increase in foreign vacationers.
Other worthwhile stops in Colombia include Zipaquira, a cathedral carved from an underground salt mine; Santa Marta, the hemisphere’s oldest city (1525), with plenty of historic sites and fascinating pre-Colombian ruins, ecotourism, beaches and budget-oriented facilities; and even once-feared Medellin. The “city of eternal spring” in the mountains has seen a renaissance, adding cutting-edge fine architecture to its colonial jewels; you can visit coffee plantations nearby, and August’s spectacular Flower Festival is one of the hemisphere’s great spectacles.
By David Wilkening
David
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