Colombia's Capital Finds New Sense of Optimism

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — Once a byword for kidnappings, bombs and chaos, Bogotá has become one of South America’s most attractive cities for foreigners to live and invest in.

The Colombian capital has a buoyant real estate market, thanks in part to a burgeoning economy and improved security. Also, the lessons learned from a local property crash 10 years ago has helped the country avoid the worst of the global downturn.

“Eight or nine years ago, Bogotá was a scary place to visit,” said Brian Andrews, a television news reporter who once worked in Florida and now anchors an English-language news report here.

Álvaro Uribe, Colombia’s president since 2006, has taken a hard line on security issues and scored notable successes against left-wing guerilla groups in recent years. Although the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a rebel insurgency, continues to challenge the government — most recently in December with the kidnapping and killing of a southern governor — the capital city, with a population of 6.5 million, has not been affected.

“Now Bogotá feels like it could be a city in the U.S., but with a particular Latin flair,” Mr. Andrews said.

He has spectacular sunsets from his apartment (“a cathedral of space, full of glass and wood”), in a district that is attracting increasing numbers of professionals. He rents the apartment, a penthouse unit that has one bedroom and two bathrooms just north of central Bogotá, for the equivalent of $500 a month.

In practical terms, it is very difficult for a foreigner to get a mortgage from a Colombian bank unless he or she has a Colombian spouse or has lived in the country for at least six months and has a valid residence permit. But if a mortgage is not needed, non-Colombians can buy real estate with their passport.

The mainly residential sections of northeastern Bogotá, traditionally the preserve of the middle and upper classes, present the clearest evidence of the country’s peace dividend. The streets around the popular park at Calle (Street) 93 are full of new cafes and restaurants, their terraces busy until late evening. Much of the rest of the neighborhood presents a tranquil picture: maids sweeping the front steps, dog walkers exercising their charges.

Mauricio Jaimes, a real estate agent with Buy Colombia Realty, an Internet agency with agents in the country’s main urban centers, said property in the city’s northeastern districts increased in value by an average of 25 percent a year in the boom period from 2003 to 2007, before prices leveled off.

The city’s most expensive real estate is in that section, closest to the mountains that form a natural barrier to expansion on its eastern flank.

High-end units in new, and predominantly red brick, apartment buildings in the northeastern districts of Rosales, Chicó and Bosque Medina now sell for 5.5 to 6.6 million Colombian pesos per square meter — $254 to $305 a square foot. Although prices stagnated in 2008, they did not retreat, suggesting that they were not fundamentally overvalued, real estate experts say. During 2009, Mr. Jaimes said, there was a small increase of 2 to 3 percent in values.

Zoning policies in Bogotá favor mixed commercial and residential areas. That has kept the city’s financial district from being deserted after dark and over the weekend, a drawback in similar districts in South American cities like São Paulo and Caracas.

In 1999, Colombia had its own property crash. Spiraling inflation pushed up adjustable mortgage payments for large numbers of investors and homeowners, producing mortgages that were more costly than the properties were worth.

“Colombians learned from that real estate crash,” says Felipe Gámez, an architect whose construction company is building a 245-room Hilton in the financial district, one of a several luxury-hotel developments in the city. “Home buyers here invest very rationally, and builders begin construction when units are sold. That way, supply matches demand.”

Also, anyone who wants to buy an apartment or home before construction, what the industry calls “off plan,” puts payments into trust funds until the work is completed, a requirement that provides security for the buyer and reduces the risk of tax evasion.

The recovery of the city’s real estate market after the 1999 crash was accompanied by changes in local attitudes about the form and functionality of living spaces, at least among the capital’s most wealthy residents.

“Colombians might have become a little more austere in the last couple of years, but the boom was amazing,” said Yvonne Meyer, editor in chief of Casaviva, a magazine dedicated to residential design and architecture.

She proves her point by referring to some of the magazine’s back issues, which were heavy with advertising for imported wooden floors, luxury spa-type bathrooms and Italian kitchens.

“Our idea of what a kitchen could be changed,” Mrs. Meyer said. “Kitchens used to be solely a place where the maid would prepare food. But not any longer: Now the kitchen has become very much a social area and a focal point of the home. Many now incorporate islands so that the host can show off his culinary skills to guests. The effect is more modern, more urban.”

And televisions have started to appear where they were never seen before: in the reception rooms of upper-class homes. Mrs. Meyer explains that flat-screen TVs are more aesthetically pleasing to Colombians: “They can be fixed on the walls to look like pictures, and don’t look out of place among pieces of contemporary art.”

Abducted Britons freed in Nigeria

Three Britons and a Colombian kidnapped last week in Nigeria's Delta region have been freed, local police say.
Gunmen snatched the group, who were working for oil giant Shell, near the city of Port Harcourt last Tuesday, killing a Nigerian guard.

A police spokeswoman told the AFP news agency all four were "looking okay" but did not say if a ransom had been paid.

The oil-producing region is notorious for kidnappings by militants, who demand a greater share of its wealth.

But the Delta has been relatively calm since most major militant groups agreed to lay down their arms last year after the government offered an amnesty.

But the BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos says that with President Umaru Yar'Adua in a hospital in Saudi Arabia, no-one has been steering the amnesty process.

Many militants say the government has not fulfilled its promises. Our correspondent says there are signs that the hard-won lull in violence is now under strain.

"All kidnapped victims - the three Britons and the Colombian - have been released this evening," Nigerian police spokeswoman Rita Abbey was quoted as saying by AFP.

The four workers have not been identified.

They were attacked by unidentified gunmen last Tuesday morning as they made their way to work at a power plant, police said.

Their police escort was shot dead and the driver was also believed to have been shot.

A police search in and around the town of Aba, some 30 miles (50km) north-east of Port Harcourt, followed.

At the time, Shell expressed concern for the safety of its contractor staff.

The Foreign Office said it was aware of the reports the men had been freed and was making inquiries.

The gunmen had reportedly demanded nearly $2m (£1.2m) for the release of the foreigners.

This was the first violent attack on foreigners in the region for almost two years.

Militants in the Niger Delta have cost Nigeria's oil industry millions of dollars over the years.

A variety of groups have claimed to be fighting for the rights of local people to gain a greater share of the region's wealth.

But in reality, many of the groups have stolen oil from pipelines and extracted ransoms from kidnaps, using the money to arm themselves and finance more attacks.

Colombia Declares Fire Disaster, to Get U.S. Help

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia declared raging forest fires to be a national disaster on Thursday and said it will get equipment from the United States to help douse the flames, further strengthening ties between Washington and Bogota.

Colombia, like other South American countries, is suffering from a drought that has contributed to fires in 11 of its 32 provinces. The government has ordered the temporary closure of some national parks due to the blazes.

President Alvaro Uribe, a Wall Street favorite and the White House's main ally in the region, said that the United States will provide fire-fighting equipment.

The Washington-Bogota alliance has complicated Colombia's relationship with some of its left-leaning neighbors.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says a military pact signed by Colombia and the United States in October could set the stage for an invasion of his oil-rich country, a claim that both countries dismiss.

Chavez accuses Colombia of spy plane incursion

An unmanned spy plane launched from Colombia violated Venezuelan airspace last week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday.

The army has been ordered to shoot down any further incursions, he said on his weekly television and radio show. Chavez said the aircraft quickly disappeared after flying near a military base in the western state of Zulia, on the border with Colombia.

Tensions between Colombia and Venezuela have been high for months over accusations by both sides of attempts to destabilize each other.

Colombia has accused Chavez's government of aiding leftist guerrilla groups that fight in Colombia. Chavez, meanwhile, has strongly objected to an agreement between Colombia and the United States to allow American troops to train at Colombian bases.

Chavez did not say who is suspected of launching the spy plane, but he said that such planes are "technology of the empire," referring to the United States.

"We will not fall for provocations, but, of course, we are on alert," Chavez said.

Colombian and American authorities did not immediately respond to the allegation.

Colombia must understand that violence is counterproductive

In the late 1940's, when David Bushnell was a student, Colombia was seen in positive light, as a forward looking democracy in a continent where such regimes were not the norm. Yet, these years of tranquility would shortly come to a close and that image would suffer great damage with the Bogotazo, the infamous day in 1948 when the leading presidential candidate for the liberal party, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, was assassinated. This event unleashed La Violencia, a prolonged period of political warfare that paralyzed and divided the country for more than 20 years. Yet, by that time, Bushnell had already decided to specialize in Colombia and its history. He wanted to identify the origins of Colombia's happiness, one which he hoped would soon return.

The peaceful times didn't return swiftly, but that did not stop Bushnell in his adventure, it only made it better. And after forty years of research and extended stays in the country, he published The making of Modern Colombia: a nation in spite of itself, a book that incorporated adaptations of previous works and lectures. The book is regarded by some as the best general history of the country ever written. Although it may seem odd that a foreigner was responsible for the best account of the nation's triumphs and woes, Bushnell simply states that "sometimes an outsider can identify particular characteristics or take note of things that the natives never talk about because they take for granted."

For him, Colombia's story is worth telling because there are some situations and experiences in which the country stands out and differs from other Latin American nations. He mentions two in particular: the history of elections and the lack of strong dictatorships. One of the most particular traits in Colombian history is the number and frequency of uninterrupted elections, which make it a great case study for anybody interested in elections. Also, Colombia was one of the very few countries in the region who lacked strong dictators. General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, who ruled in the early 1950's is perhaps the closest example of an authoritarian leader and, as Bushnell states, "in many countries Rojas would not have been a dictator at all." He also highlights that although there have been exceptions, Colombia has held a strong political record that respects the idea of a constitutional republic prescribed by heroes of the independence like Santander and others.

Bushnell also talked about Colombia's present situation. Hesitant to state his position on the issue of re-election, a growing trend in the region, he simply states that "although I am not one of those who is horrified by the possibility of another Uribe term- I do not think Uribe is trying to make himself a bloody tyrant- I think a constitution should not be reformed very often, it is written for the long term.."

The recognized historian also stated that nations must learn from their past to have a more prosperous future. In Colombia's case, the country must liberate itself from the stigma that "Colombia is all about violence." In fact, if one carefully looks at the country's history one sees that the first half of the twentieth century was relatively peaceful and progressive, and he hopes these days will soon return. According to Bushnell, for this to occur, "Colombia must understand that violence is counterproductive, violence leads you nowhere.". He leaves us with an optimistic outlook because he truly believes that if violence is controlled, as he hopes it will be in the next five or ten years, Colombia can expect a peace dividend and may even forget about the political turmoil and violence that have marked its recent years.

Ecuador: Report Says U.S. Aided Attack on Rebels

A report by Ecuador's government said American military personnel stationed at an air base in Manta helped with intelligence to plan the 2008 attack by Colombian forces on an encampment of Colombian rebels in Ecuadorean territory. More details from the 130-page report related to the claim of American military involvement in the attack on the rebels — members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC — were not immediately available on Thursday. A spokeswoman at the United States Embassy in Ecuador could not be reached for comment.

The attack, which killed Raúl Reyes, the FARC’s second-in-command, and two dozen others, soured relations with Colombia and led to a purge of Ecuador’s military command by President Rafael Correa. Although Mr. Correa ended a military deal that had allowed American soldiers to be stationed in Manta because he felt it compromised Ecuador’s sovereignty, Ecuador’s relations with the United States remain better than those between the United States and Venezuela or Bolivia.

Uribe's Constitutional Challenge

The heroic Colombian president is putting his gains at risk by trying for a third term.

The difference between a modern republic of self-governance and the ersatz "democracy" of many underdeveloped countries is that the former is ruled by institutions, the latter by men.
So which does Colombian President Álvaro Uribe want for his country?

In a republic, institutional order is bound by a rule of law designed to protect the rights of individuals against each other and against the power of the state. Property rights, civil liberties and human progress all fare better when state actors, even those who are wildly popular, are constrained by institutional checks and balances.

For most of the past seven years Colombia has seemed to be inching ever closer to this higher ideal. Many aspects of daily life here have improved immensely since Mr. Uribe took office in August 2002. The rebirth of personal security and the professionalism of the military that is largely responsible for it are both products of Mr. Uribe's leadership.

So too is the improved investment climate, and the fact that the state oil company can now make use of private capital. The state telecom company has been partially privatized. Teachers unions have had to accept some limitations on their generous pensions. Colombia has signed and ratified a free-trade agreement with the U.S. (yet to be ratified in Washington) and has begun to look to Asia for new trade, tax and investment treaties.

Having watched their country climb out of what seemed like a bottomless pit of despair in 2002, Colombians have had reason to believe that they were leaving the Latin American world of caudillo government. But now there is concern that Mr. Uribe's efforts to hang onto power by altering the constitution, so that he can run in the May presidential election for a third term, will undermine the gains the nation has made and jeopardize future progress.

On most days Mr. Uribe maintains that he is only a bystander in the project to change the constitution; it is the people who are trying to recruit him. Yet there is at least a grain of truth to claims that he has fomented the amendment drive.

The issue might have died in Congress last December had not his interior minister revived it. "He should have worked to create a government that isn't just about him," one Colombian legal expert from Mr. Uribe's side of the aisle complained to me. Instead, "he allowed the re-election project to go forward" and now election year chaos looms.

The chaos is due to the fact that time is running out. The constitutional court, which must rule on whether a popular referendum on the third term can be held, will recess next week. That could push a decision to mid-January.

Even if the court rules in Mr. Uribe's favor, it is not clear that the referendum could be organized before the March deadline for candidates to declare their intention to run. If the referendum is held and Mr. Uribe loses, which is possible, given the participation-rate hurdle that he has to clear, an uribista candidate is going to have a late start at campaigning.

Because of this time line, supporters of Mr. Uribe's vision for the country say that his re-election bid puts the party's chances to win the May election at risk, while opening the door to a president who is too soft on national security. This is troubling given the current state of affairs.

Organized criminal networks financed by U.S. and European drug consumption remain a threat to the Colombian population. One of those is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has an alliance with Venezuela's Hugo Chávez.

Mr. Chávez's military threats are not taken seriously here because the Venezuelan forces are known to be in shambles. But there is concern about Mr. Chávez's informal destabilization efforts. His militias roam the border area, and he has closed the busy crossing at the city of Cúcuta. Speculation that organized crime may be infiltrating the Colombian judiciary cannot be easily dismissed either.

Many of Mr. Uribe's cohorts say that Colombia would benefit most with a new uribista government to tackle these problems and continue with economic liberalization. Third terms, they point out, are notoriously tired. They also worry that he is setting a precedent that will harm the country later on. If he can stick around endlessly, what's to stop a Chávez-like figure from doing the same some time down the road?

Most importantly, they argue that a modernizing Colombia requires leadership that defends the rule of law, not one that manipulates it when convenient. "We believe that Colombian law should apply," Luis Carlos Villegas, president of the Colombian business group known as the National Association of Industries (and a longtime supporter of Mr. Uribe) said in a media interview earlier this year.

"We don't deny that Uribe has been one of the best presidents in Colombia," he said. But he went on to add that there are "dozens" of Colombians who are qualified for the job.

There can be no doubt that Mr. Uribe loves his country. What better way to show it than to stand for the rule of law by stepping aside as it demands?