Colombia's Success Story Is Missing Something
Despite its remarkable achievements overcoming a brutal past, Colombia lacks the key conditions to allow it to truly thrive.
An compelling investment opportunity is going begging.
Photographer: Starcevic/iStockphoto via Getty Images
There is perhaps no greater success story in the world over the last three decades than Colombia. To see this, just stand in the middle of the Plaza de Bolivar in the center of Bogota.
In 1988, when I first visited the country, there was a gaping hole along one entire side of the square. That was where the Palace of Justice had been, before guerrillas entered, killed some supreme court justices and took other hostages, prompting a confrontation with the army that left about a hundred dead and the building a smoking wreck. Traffic was acutely congested, in part because traffic lights were smashed so that fragments of green glass could be sold as emeralds. Much of Colombia’s territory was in the control of either guerrillas or paramilitaries, fueled by all-powerful drug cartels. Violence was endemic.