MUMBAI: Reliance Industries, the country’s most valuable company, on Friay said its wholly-owned subsidiary Reliance Exploration and Production DMCC
has signed a deal with Colombian state oil firm Ecopetrol for two deepwater blocks in Colombia.
Under the agreement, the foreign company acquires a 20% stake in Borojo North Block 42 and the Borojo South Block 43 in Colombia, which cover a combined 8,000 sq km in water depths ranging from 60-1,500 metres. Reliance Exploration holds 80% ownership in the blocks and will be their operator, Reliance said in a statement.
Effective November 23, the deal is subject to approval of Colombia’s upstream regulator ANH. Reliance Exploration has completed acquisition and processing of 2D seismic of around 3,000 line km and is in the process of commencing multi-beam bathymetry studies covering both the blocks, Reliance added in the statement.
“As the national oil company of Colombia, Ecopetrol brings a richness of technical and administrative experience in the region. Coupled with the deepwater experience of Reliance, this strategic cooperation could result in a well calibrated approach to risk management and accelerated exploration and development in a large part of Pacific offshore,” the statement added.
Indian companies, such as Essar and Reliance Industries, have been scouting for opportunities to buy overseas assets that have become cheaper in the wake of the global economic downturn. Last month, Reliance Industries had made a preliminary cash offer to buy bankrupt petrochemicals firm LyondellBasell. Essar Oil is in exclusive talks with Royal Dutch Shell to acquire three of its European refineries.
Source: indiatimes.com/
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Colombia: Accused Rebels Held
Three Colombian men accused of belonging to the FARC rebel group have been arrested and charged with holding an unidentified American citizen hostage for more than 10 months, United States prosecutors in New York said Friday. The men — Edilberto Berrio Ortiz, Alejandro Palacios Rengifo and Anderson Chamapuro Dogirama — were arrested Thursday by the Colombian authorities and are accused of holding the hostage from April 2008 to February 2009, after a relative paid ransom. One other suspect in the case is in Colombian custody; five other suspects named in an indictment remain at large.
Source: nytimes.com/
Source: nytimes.com/
Nations pledge help for landmine victims at Colombia summit
CARTAGENA, Colombia — World powers signed a five-year plan Friday to assist victims of anti-personnel landmines and discourage use of the weapons, which claimed the lives of over 5,000 people last year alone.
Representatives of over 100 nations gathered in Cartagena on Colombia's northern coast formally adopted the document on Thursday.
The text, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, says participants are determined to assist the estimated 500,000 people maimed by the weaponry worldwide, with a focus on providing them specialized care with improved access, quality and lower costs.
The Cartagena summit, which began on Sunday, was the second conference reviewing the 1997 Ottawa Treaty that came into force in March 1999 after pressure from victims.
Some 156 nations are signatories to the ban, but three world powers -- the United States, China and Russia -- have declined to join the treaty, which bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines, and calls on countries to destroy their existing arsenals.
The three countries attended as observers, along with delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross, various UN agencies and some 400 representatives from civil society.
Representatives signing on to the document on the closing day of the conference reiterated their commitment to the treaty and vowed to seek its ratification by the 39 non-participating countries -- a goal prioritized by Norway, which presided over the meeting.
The text also recognized care for mine victims as a right, and charged each signatory state with designating a representative responsible to establish and coordinate the new policy.
Since the Ottawa Treaty, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, came into force, 86 countries have eliminated their stockpiles of landmines and only two governments -- Russia and Burma -- still use them, compared to 15 in 1999.
Another 13 non-governmental armed groups have also declined to renounce the use of mines, but that figure is down significantly from the dozens of groups using the weaponry a decade ago.
It is no accident that Colombia is hosting the second review conference of the treaty, five years after the first review in Nairobi.
Colombia has a large number of landmine victims, second globally only to Afghanistan, with more than 8,000 amputees as a result since 1990.
It is also home to the FARC guerrilla movement (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), considered one of the biggest users of the deadly mines among rebel groups.
Source: CARTAGENA, Colombia — World powers signed a five-year plan Friday to assist victims of anti-personnel landmines and discourage use of the weapons, which claimed the lives of over 5,000 people last year alone.
Representatives of over 100 nations gathered in Cartagena on Colombia's northern coast formally adopted the document on Thursday.
The text, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, says participants are determined to assist the estimated 500,000 people maimed by the weaponry worldwide, with a focus on providing them specialized care with improved access, quality and lower costs.
The Cartagena summit, which began on Sunday, was the second conference reviewing the 1997 Ottawa Treaty that came into force in March 1999 after pressure from victims.
Some 156 nations are signatories to the ban, but three world powers -- the United States, China and Russia -- have declined to join the treaty, which bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines, and calls on countries to destroy their existing arsenals.
The three countries attended as observers, along with delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross, various UN agencies and some 400 representatives from civil society.
Representatives signing on to the document on the closing day of the conference reiterated their commitment to the treaty and vowed to seek its ratification by the 39 non-participating countries -- a goal prioritized by Norway, which presided over the meeting.
The text also recognized care for mine victims as a right, and charged each signatory state with designating a representative responsible to establish and coordinate the new policy.
Since the Ottawa Treaty, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, came into force, 86 countries have eliminated their stockpiles of landmines and only two governments -- Russia and Burma -- still use them, compared to 15 in 1999.
Another 13 non-governmental armed groups have also declined to renounce the use of mines, but that figure is down significantly from the dozens of groups using the weaponry a decade ago.
It is no accident that Colombia is hosting the second review conference of the treaty, five years after the first review in Nairobi.
Colombia has a large number of landmine victims, second globally only to Afghanistan, with more than 8,000 amputees as a result since 1990.
It is also home to the FARC guerrilla movement (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), considered one of the biggest users of the deadly mines among rebel groups.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j2ODXpgigFsK1W0fwJDCXs-FMgTg
China Ousts Venezuela As Colombia's No. 2 Trading Partner
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--China has replaced Venezuela as Colombia's second-largest trading partner, as Colombia's oil exports to China have multiplied more than 50-fold over the last year.
Colombian exports of crude, fuels and derivatives to China totaled $235 million in the first 10 months of 2009, up from $4.5 million in the same period in 2008, according to data from Colombia's national statistics agency, or DANE, released Thursday.
"China is investing heavily in Latin America looking to get hold of commodities, which is likely to continue," said Bertrand Delgado, a New York-based research analyst for emerging markets and Latin America at RGE Monitor. "The problem is that Colombia's exports to Venezuela are mainly value-added, while exporting oil is just raw materials. When you try to advance as an economy you try to export as many value-added products as you can."
Colombia's exports to China were valued at $115 million in October, up from $15 million in October 2008. Most of the rise is due to increased exports of crude and oil derivatives, a DANE spokesperson said.
"This year we have shipped 6 cargoes of 1 million barrels [of heavy crude mixed with naphtha] each to China," said Mauricio Tellez, a spokesman for Colombia's state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol SA (ECOPETROL.BO).
Venezuela is traditionally Colombia's second-largest trading partner, after the U.S., but trade between the two neighbors slumped in the third quarter due a diplomatic dispute over the U.S. military presence in Colombia.
Colombian exports to Venezuela in October fell 70% to $195 million on October 2008, after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country will substitute Colombian imports with products from other countries.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Wednesday said Venezuela is currently enforcing an embargo against Colombia and other Latin American countries are taking advantage to substitute Colombian products on the Venezuelan market.
-By Matthew Bristow, Dow Jones Newswires; 57-1-610 70 44 Ext. 1131; colombia@dowjones.com
Source: wsj.com
Colombian exports of crude, fuels and derivatives to China totaled $235 million in the first 10 months of 2009, up from $4.5 million in the same period in 2008, according to data from Colombia's national statistics agency, or DANE, released Thursday.
"China is investing heavily in Latin America looking to get hold of commodities, which is likely to continue," said Bertrand Delgado, a New York-based research analyst for emerging markets and Latin America at RGE Monitor. "The problem is that Colombia's exports to Venezuela are mainly value-added, while exporting oil is just raw materials. When you try to advance as an economy you try to export as many value-added products as you can."
Colombia's exports to China were valued at $115 million in October, up from $15 million in October 2008. Most of the rise is due to increased exports of crude and oil derivatives, a DANE spokesperson said.
"This year we have shipped 6 cargoes of 1 million barrels [of heavy crude mixed with naphtha] each to China," said Mauricio Tellez, a spokesman for Colombia's state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol SA (ECOPETROL.BO).
Venezuela is traditionally Colombia's second-largest trading partner, after the U.S., but trade between the two neighbors slumped in the third quarter due a diplomatic dispute over the U.S. military presence in Colombia.
Colombian exports to Venezuela in October fell 70% to $195 million on October 2008, after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country will substitute Colombian imports with products from other countries.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Wednesday said Venezuela is currently enforcing an embargo against Colombia and other Latin American countries are taking advantage to substitute Colombian products on the Venezuelan market.
-By Matthew Bristow, Dow Jones Newswires; 57-1-610 70 44 Ext. 1131; colombia@dowjones.com
Source: wsj.com
Colombia Bank Says Venezuela Export Dive Prompted Cut
Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Colombian policy makers said a plunge in exports to Venezuela and below-target inflation supported last month’s decision to cut interest rates in an effort to spur a more “vigorous” rebound.
The seven-member board, led by chief Jose Dario Uribe, unexpectedly cut the interbank rate by a half-point to 3.5 percent at its Nov. 23 meeting. A majority of policy makers voted for the cut while others said it could fuel inflation next year, according to minutes posted on the bank’s Web site.
Most board members said the interest rate reduction “will reinforce economic recovery and reduce the negative effects of the slump in trade with Venezuela,” according to the minutes.
Uribe expects that nine rate cuts in the past year will boost credit and consumer demand, helping pull Latin America’s fifth-biggest economy from its first recession since 1998. Uribe last month said that gross domestic product will be flat in 2009 before expanding next year at the lower end of the bank’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.
The peso fell 0.8 percent to a five-week low of 2,007.97 per dollar from 1,992.38 yesterday.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in July he would end imports from his Andean neighbor because of an agreement to allow the U.S. military access to seven Colombian bases. Until last month, Venezuela was the second-biggest destination for Colombia’s exports, data from Colombia’s customs agency show.
A third-quarter contraction of 4.5 percent in Venezuela’s gross domestic product also reduced demand for Colombian goods, according to the minutes. Policy makers forecast the neighboring country’s economy will shrink 2 percent this year.
Export Plunge
Colombian exports to Venezuela plunged 70 percent in October from a year earlier while total exports fell 5.5 percent, the government statistics agency said yesterday.
“It’s logical for them to be worried about Venezuela,” said Alberto Bernal, head of emerging markets research at Bulltick Securities Corp. in Miami. “But I would stop short of saying it’ll kill the Colombian economy.”
Colombia’s annual inflation slowed to 2.7 percent in October, the statistics agency said. That’s below the bank’s 2009 target of 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent and within its 2010 goal of 2 percent to 4 percent. Uribe said last month that inflation may end the year below October’s level.
Some policy makers “expressed fear” that inflation would rise next year as a result of the cut, forcing the bank to raise interest rates before the economic recovery had been “consolidated.”
Uribe said last month that dry weather caused by the El Nino effect may boost prices through the first half of 2010.
‘Lingering Uncertainty’
The economic recovery may be aided by improved growth prospects for the U.S., Colombia’s No. 1 trading partner, the bank said. Still, there is “lingering uncertainty” about how much U.S. consumption and investment will rebound, according to the minutes.
Colombia’s industrial output fell 3.8 percent in September from a year earlier while retail sales declined 7.3 percent, the biggest drop since at least 2000, according to the statistics agency.
“Most indicators of productive activity do not reflect a more profound slump in economic activity, but do not signal generalized growth either,” according to the minutes.
Meanwhile, consumer and business confidence are at a “standstill,” the bank said.
“They didn’t overreact, lowering rates was the right thing to do,” said Bernal, who forecasts the economy will grow 4 percent next year. “But I don’t think they’ll cut again. There’s an acceleration in civil engineering investment, growth in the mining sector and a stabilization of domestic demand.”
Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, who is also the president of the central bank’s board, has said he hopes as much as 55 trillion pesos ($27.4 billion) of infrastructure spending this year will fuel growth and create as many as 800,000 jobs.
Foreign direct investment in the mining industry more than doubled in the first half of 2009 to $1.72 billion, according to the bank.
Source: bloomberg.com/
The seven-member board, led by chief Jose Dario Uribe, unexpectedly cut the interbank rate by a half-point to 3.5 percent at its Nov. 23 meeting. A majority of policy makers voted for the cut while others said it could fuel inflation next year, according to minutes posted on the bank’s Web site.
Most board members said the interest rate reduction “will reinforce economic recovery and reduce the negative effects of the slump in trade with Venezuela,” according to the minutes.
Uribe expects that nine rate cuts in the past year will boost credit and consumer demand, helping pull Latin America’s fifth-biggest economy from its first recession since 1998. Uribe last month said that gross domestic product will be flat in 2009 before expanding next year at the lower end of the bank’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.
The peso fell 0.8 percent to a five-week low of 2,007.97 per dollar from 1,992.38 yesterday.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in July he would end imports from his Andean neighbor because of an agreement to allow the U.S. military access to seven Colombian bases. Until last month, Venezuela was the second-biggest destination for Colombia’s exports, data from Colombia’s customs agency show.
A third-quarter contraction of 4.5 percent in Venezuela’s gross domestic product also reduced demand for Colombian goods, according to the minutes. Policy makers forecast the neighboring country’s economy will shrink 2 percent this year.
Export Plunge
Colombian exports to Venezuela plunged 70 percent in October from a year earlier while total exports fell 5.5 percent, the government statistics agency said yesterday.
“It’s logical for them to be worried about Venezuela,” said Alberto Bernal, head of emerging markets research at Bulltick Securities Corp. in Miami. “But I would stop short of saying it’ll kill the Colombian economy.”
Colombia’s annual inflation slowed to 2.7 percent in October, the statistics agency said. That’s below the bank’s 2009 target of 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent and within its 2010 goal of 2 percent to 4 percent. Uribe said last month that inflation may end the year below October’s level.
Some policy makers “expressed fear” that inflation would rise next year as a result of the cut, forcing the bank to raise interest rates before the economic recovery had been “consolidated.”
Uribe said last month that dry weather caused by the El Nino effect may boost prices through the first half of 2010.
‘Lingering Uncertainty’
The economic recovery may be aided by improved growth prospects for the U.S., Colombia’s No. 1 trading partner, the bank said. Still, there is “lingering uncertainty” about how much U.S. consumption and investment will rebound, according to the minutes.
Colombia’s industrial output fell 3.8 percent in September from a year earlier while retail sales declined 7.3 percent, the biggest drop since at least 2000, according to the statistics agency.
“Most indicators of productive activity do not reflect a more profound slump in economic activity, but do not signal generalized growth either,” according to the minutes.
Meanwhile, consumer and business confidence are at a “standstill,” the bank said.
“They didn’t overreact, lowering rates was the right thing to do,” said Bernal, who forecasts the economy will grow 4 percent next year. “But I don’t think they’ll cut again. There’s an acceleration in civil engineering investment, growth in the mining sector and a stabilization of domestic demand.”
Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, who is also the president of the central bank’s board, has said he hopes as much as 55 trillion pesos ($27.4 billion) of infrastructure spending this year will fuel growth and create as many as 800,000 jobs.
Foreign direct investment in the mining industry more than doubled in the first half of 2009 to $1.72 billion, according to the bank.
Source: bloomberg.com/
Colombia's ISA Raises $191 Million In Share Offer
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--Colombian state-controlled electricity grid operator Interconexion Electrica (ISA.BO), or ISA, raised 384 billion Colombian pesos ($191 million) through the sale of 32 million shares, the company said Friday in a filing to the local market regulator.
ISA sold the shares through a book-building process open to the public between Nov. 30 and Dec. 2. The offer was 2.9 times oversubscribed, the company said in its statement.
The Colombian government, which controls ISA, did not participate in the share offer, and saw its stake in company was diluted to 51.4% of the company from 52.9%, according to ISA's Chief Executive Luis Fernando Alarcon.
The share issue was to finance the company's investment plans, the company said Monday in an ad, published in local newspaper La Republica. ISA is currently investing in new grids and in improving existing grids in Colombia, Peru and Brazil for about $1.8 billion.
In November, the company reported net profit of COP315 billion for the first nine months of the year, up 73% compared with the same period a year ago.
ISA shares rose 0.33% on Friday to COP12,140, while the benchmark IGBC index rose 0.02%.
-By Matthew Bristow, Dow Jones Newswires; +5716107044 ext 1132; colombia@dowjones.com
Source: wsj.com
ISA sold the shares through a book-building process open to the public between Nov. 30 and Dec. 2. The offer was 2.9 times oversubscribed, the company said in its statement.
The Colombian government, which controls ISA, did not participate in the share offer, and saw its stake in company was diluted to 51.4% of the company from 52.9%, according to ISA's Chief Executive Luis Fernando Alarcon.
The share issue was to finance the company's investment plans, the company said Monday in an ad, published in local newspaper La Republica. ISA is currently investing in new grids and in improving existing grids in Colombia, Peru and Brazil for about $1.8 billion.
In November, the company reported net profit of COP315 billion for the first nine months of the year, up 73% compared with the same period a year ago.
ISA shares rose 0.33% on Friday to COP12,140, while the benchmark IGBC index rose 0.02%.
-By Matthew Bristow, Dow Jones Newswires; +5716107044 ext 1132; colombia@dowjones.com
Source: wsj.com
Uribe Says Venezuela Has ‘Berlin Wall’ With Colombia
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said Venezuela has put up an illegal trade embargo that is becoming a “Berlin Wall,” cutting off the South American neighbors.
“People have complained so much about the embargo against Cuba, and now Venezuela has an embargo against Colombia,” Uribe said, according to the transcript of a radio interview posted today on the presidential Web site. “And what worries me, because it generates distrust, is that other countries have taken the opportunity to go to the Venezuelan market and substitute Colombian products.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in July he was “freezing” ties with his second-biggest trading partner and would do away with Colombian imports as Uribe moved ahead with a plan to allow the U.S. military access to seven Colombian bases. The following month Argentina agreed to send Venezuela $1 billion in goods, including 10,000 cars originally slated to come from Colombia.
Tensions worsened last month after Venezuelan soldiers blew up two foot bridges along the shared border. Venezuelan General Eusebio Aguero said last week troops plan to destroy six more such bridges on suspicion they’re being used to traffic drugs and contraband. Colombia says they’re community crossings.
‘Sealing Off’
“Chavez has deliberately tried to downgrade the bilateral relationship on the economic side and politically,” Peter DeShazo, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said in a phone interview. “But in terms of sealing off the border, that would be difficult to do.”
Trade between the two countries last year totaled about $7 billion. In September, Colombian exports to Venezuela fell 50 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to the national statistics agency.
The Colombian peso fell 2.5 percent to 2,075 per dollar on July 29, the day the freeze was announced. The currency has since recovered, climbing to 1,993 per dollar at today’s close.
The plunge in sales to Venezuela has hindered Colombia’s economic recovery and increased unemployment, according to the central bank. Uribe said Colombia is seeking new markets to counteract that slowdown.
“We have faith that we’re taking off in important economies such as Brazil’s, Chile’s, in Central America, in the Caribbean, in Asia,” he said.
Colombia is taking steps to secure free trade agreements with countries including the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea and Australia, according to the trade ministry. Accords with several Central American and European countries went into effect this year.
Source: bloomberg.com/
“People have complained so much about the embargo against Cuba, and now Venezuela has an embargo against Colombia,” Uribe said, according to the transcript of a radio interview posted today on the presidential Web site. “And what worries me, because it generates distrust, is that other countries have taken the opportunity to go to the Venezuelan market and substitute Colombian products.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in July he was “freezing” ties with his second-biggest trading partner and would do away with Colombian imports as Uribe moved ahead with a plan to allow the U.S. military access to seven Colombian bases. The following month Argentina agreed to send Venezuela $1 billion in goods, including 10,000 cars originally slated to come from Colombia.
Tensions worsened last month after Venezuelan soldiers blew up two foot bridges along the shared border. Venezuelan General Eusebio Aguero said last week troops plan to destroy six more such bridges on suspicion they’re being used to traffic drugs and contraband. Colombia says they’re community crossings.
‘Sealing Off’
“Chavez has deliberately tried to downgrade the bilateral relationship on the economic side and politically,” Peter DeShazo, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said in a phone interview. “But in terms of sealing off the border, that would be difficult to do.”
Trade between the two countries last year totaled about $7 billion. In September, Colombian exports to Venezuela fell 50 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to the national statistics agency.
The Colombian peso fell 2.5 percent to 2,075 per dollar on July 29, the day the freeze was announced. The currency has since recovered, climbing to 1,993 per dollar at today’s close.
The plunge in sales to Venezuela has hindered Colombia’s economic recovery and increased unemployment, according to the central bank. Uribe said Colombia is seeking new markets to counteract that slowdown.
“We have faith that we’re taking off in important economies such as Brazil’s, Chile’s, in Central America, in the Caribbean, in Asia,” he said.
Colombia is taking steps to secure free trade agreements with countries including the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea and Australia, according to the trade ministry. Accords with several Central American and European countries went into effect this year.
Source: bloomberg.com/
Colombia’s IGBC Index Rises to Record, First in Major Markets
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Colombia’s IGBC equity index rose to a record, becoming the first benchmark gauge among the world’s largest markets to surpass an all-time high this year, as interest-rate cuts and rising commodity prices lured investors to the nation’s stocks.
The IGBC advanced 1.3 percent today to 11,558.72, topping the closing peak of 11,438.88 reached in November 2007. Only indexes in Sri Lanka and Tunisia, whose market values are less than 10 percent of Colombia’s $126.8 billion, have also exceeded records following the global financial crisis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Bancolombia SA, the nation’s biggest bank, and Cia. Colombiana de Inversiones SA, an electricity holding company known as Colinversiones, helped the IGBC rally 53 percent this year as the central bank cut interest rates to a record low of 3.5 percent. Ecopetrol SA, the state-controlled oil company that holds the biggest weight in the index, gained as crude climbed 72 percent.
“There’s an excess of liquidity because the fixed-income market has lost its appeal as rates are low,” said Estefania Leon, senior analyst at brokerage Correval SA in Bogota. “There’s no offering of new stocks and high demand for equity, so investors have nowhere else to put their money.”
Colombia’s market recovered losses after falling less than other countries last year amid the global crisis that spurred $1.7 trillion in losses and writedowns from financial companies around the world. The IGBC slid 29 percent in 2008, compared with a 54 percent plunge in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Rally This Year
The MSCI gauge of 22 countries has added 74 percent so far this year on speculation developing nations will lead the world economy out of a recession.
“As calm returns globally, so does the appetite for emerging markets, which are more profitable than the U.S. and Europe,” said Camilo Forero, senior analyst at Bogota brokerage Cia. de Profesionales de Bolsa.
Bancolombia, which has gained 73 percent in 2009, weathered a slowdown in Colombia’s economy well, Forero said. Defaults remained steady and interest-rate cuts boosted margins, he said.
Colinversiones rose the most in the IGBC this year, surging 150 percent, while Interconexion Electrica SA, Latin America’s biggest power-line operator, rose 70 percent.
“The whole world has its eyes on the energy sector here,” Forero said.
Argos, Mineros
Inversiones Argos SA, a Medellin-based holding company, rose 96 percent as it focused its portfolio in energy, lifting its investment in Colinversiones and preparing a bid for a stake in electricity firm Empresa de Energia del Pacifico SA.
Mineros SA, Colombia’s biggest gold-mining company, jumped 142 percent for the second-largest gain on the index. Gold climbed to a record as a slump in the U.S. dollar fuels demand for the metal as an alternative asset.
Ecopetrol, which has a 30 percent weight in the index, climbed 29 percent this year.
There is a seasonal factor in equities’ gain, according to Forero. The IGBC has added 9.7 percent in the past month.
“In December there’s higher demand for stocks because of tax benefits,” he said. Assets in equities avoid some taxes under Colombian law.
Increased trading may increase Colombia’s appeal for international investors, said Johanna Castro, head equity analyst at Corredores Asociados SA, a Bogota-based brokerage.
Investors traded 3.5 trillion pesos ($1.76 billion) in shares in October, the highest volume on record in months where there was no initial public offering, according to Bolsa de Valores de Colombia SA, the country’s main exchange.
BVC President Juan Pablo Cordoba said in September he expects an IPO revival as the global recession eases. Biomax Biocombustibles SA, a Bogota-based fuel distributor, plans a public offering in March or April, according to Chief Executive Officer Ramiro Sanchez.
Source: bloomberg.com/
The IGBC advanced 1.3 percent today to 11,558.72, topping the closing peak of 11,438.88 reached in November 2007. Only indexes in Sri Lanka and Tunisia, whose market values are less than 10 percent of Colombia’s $126.8 billion, have also exceeded records following the global financial crisis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Bancolombia SA, the nation’s biggest bank, and Cia. Colombiana de Inversiones SA, an electricity holding company known as Colinversiones, helped the IGBC rally 53 percent this year as the central bank cut interest rates to a record low of 3.5 percent. Ecopetrol SA, the state-controlled oil company that holds the biggest weight in the index, gained as crude climbed 72 percent.
“There’s an excess of liquidity because the fixed-income market has lost its appeal as rates are low,” said Estefania Leon, senior analyst at brokerage Correval SA in Bogota. “There’s no offering of new stocks and high demand for equity, so investors have nowhere else to put their money.”
Colombia’s market recovered losses after falling less than other countries last year amid the global crisis that spurred $1.7 trillion in losses and writedowns from financial companies around the world. The IGBC slid 29 percent in 2008, compared with a 54 percent plunge in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Rally This Year
The MSCI gauge of 22 countries has added 74 percent so far this year on speculation developing nations will lead the world economy out of a recession.
“As calm returns globally, so does the appetite for emerging markets, which are more profitable than the U.S. and Europe,” said Camilo Forero, senior analyst at Bogota brokerage Cia. de Profesionales de Bolsa.
Bancolombia, which has gained 73 percent in 2009, weathered a slowdown in Colombia’s economy well, Forero said. Defaults remained steady and interest-rate cuts boosted margins, he said.
Colinversiones rose the most in the IGBC this year, surging 150 percent, while Interconexion Electrica SA, Latin America’s biggest power-line operator, rose 70 percent.
“The whole world has its eyes on the energy sector here,” Forero said.
Argos, Mineros
Inversiones Argos SA, a Medellin-based holding company, rose 96 percent as it focused its portfolio in energy, lifting its investment in Colinversiones and preparing a bid for a stake in electricity firm Empresa de Energia del Pacifico SA.
Mineros SA, Colombia’s biggest gold-mining company, jumped 142 percent for the second-largest gain on the index. Gold climbed to a record as a slump in the U.S. dollar fuels demand for the metal as an alternative asset.
Ecopetrol, which has a 30 percent weight in the index, climbed 29 percent this year.
There is a seasonal factor in equities’ gain, according to Forero. The IGBC has added 9.7 percent in the past month.
“In December there’s higher demand for stocks because of tax benefits,” he said. Assets in equities avoid some taxes under Colombian law.
Increased trading may increase Colombia’s appeal for international investors, said Johanna Castro, head equity analyst at Corredores Asociados SA, a Bogota-based brokerage.
Investors traded 3.5 trillion pesos ($1.76 billion) in shares in October, the highest volume on record in months where there was no initial public offering, according to Bolsa de Valores de Colombia SA, the country’s main exchange.
BVC President Juan Pablo Cordoba said in September he expects an IPO revival as the global recession eases. Biomax Biocombustibles SA, a Bogota-based fuel distributor, plans a public offering in March or April, according to Chief Executive Officer Ramiro Sanchez.
Source: bloomberg.com/
Child Scare
Without well-rounded meals and education, poor children almost always become poor adults. Shakira tells NEWSWEEK about her fight against that trend.
The Colombian pop singer Shakira, whose 2006 hit "Hips Don't Lie" is among the bestselling songs in history, has also made a name for herself around the world by championing the cause of early-childhood development. At the age of 18, she put much of the money she made from her budding music career into starting up the Barefoot Foundation, which has built six schools for poor children displaced by civil war in Colombia. She is also a founder and leader of ALAS (an acronym that stands for Latin America in Solidarity Action), a group that presses governments to help end poverty in Latin America by ensuring that all kids under 6 have access to health care, education, and proper nutrition. Shakira spoke with NEWSWEEK's Jimmy Langman after she and development economist Jeffrey Sachs lobbied for the cause with Latin American heads of state gathered in Portugal this week at the annual Ibero-American Summit. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Did you achieve what you set out to do in Portugal?
SHAKIRA: It was a great accomplishment to see five presidents there backing up our initiative on child-development strategies. With the help of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, we distributed a document from a group of experts we've worked with that includes recommendations to governments on how to create early-childhood development programs in their countries. Just as exciting, we were able to convince Argentine President Cristina [Fernández de] Kirchner to put early-childhood education high on the agenda of the 2010 summit, which she will host next year in Buenos Aires.
Why does this issue needs to be a higher priority?
There are 35 million people in Latin America who don't receive any kind of education or nutrition at all. The years between 0 to 6 are the most critical years in human life—it's when the brain develops, as well cognitive skills, motor skills, and social skills. And we know from several studies that investing in early-childhood development is the way to reduce poverty, boost economic growth, empower women, prevent illnesses, and prevent the thousands of deaths of children that happen every year to causes that can be avoided.
How will ALAS turn governmental promises into concrete actions?
First, we need to make sure that governments understand how important it is to invest in this sector of the population. Second, over the next year, we will work to create councils in each Latin American government—a group of people who everyday are thinking about how to provide universal coverage to children. The Ibero-American Summit next year is also going to be key to getting early-childhood development at the top of the agendas of each one of the heads of state. It's not going to be easy. But we will insist and insist until we make it happen, because the kids in Latin America are waiting for an answer.
Is the early-childhood development program started by Bachelet, which provides free education and health care to kids from poor Chilean families, a possible model?
Absolutely, it is a model for the rest of the region. Bachelet is a pediatrician who understands what it means for a child between the ages of 0 and 6 to receive proper nutrition and care. It's an experience that must be shared.
How has growing up in Colombia affected your views on this issue?
Latin America, unfortunately, is the most unequal region in the world. The gap between rich and poor is extremely big, and education for some is a luxury when it should be a birthright. Growing up in a country like Colombia, most of the kids who are born poor will die poor. Providing an education with nutrition—because no kid can learn on an empty stomach—offers a child a whole new opportunity for a dignified future. No kid dreams of becoming a militant, a drug trafficker, or a criminal; in the poorest countries and towns they will tell you they dream about becoming doctors, nurses, firefighters, and lawyers. It is society that corrupts their ideals and dreams.
Why are governments failing?
Believe it or not, there are no councils or departments that are specifically dedicated to early-childhood development in many governments. We have the resources to enroll every kid in school, so why are there 75 million kids around the world that have no access to any kind of education?
Source: newsweek.com/
Colombian Mormon denied political asylum
A Colombian man who has been seeking asylum from his native country amid claims that he was discriminated against for his religious and political views had his petition denied by a federal appeals court Wednesday.
The appeal filed by Francisco Alberto Terreros-Guarin was denied by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals because Terreros-Guarin failed to seek asylum within one year of his visa expiring and was unable to show that his life or liberties would be in immediate danger if he returned to his home country, the decision states.
Terreros-Guarin said he was being targeted in Colombia for being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for associating himself with the country's liberal party and for being pro-American and working for American companies.
Terreros-Guarin came to the United States with his wife in 2000 on a six-month tourist/business visa. He told an immigration judge that he and his family were attacked three separate times in 1999, prompting them to sell their family jewelry business and leave Colombia.
According to his testimony to the judge, Terreros-Guarin's family was attacked in April, September and November of 1999. In all three of the attacks, his family was traveling in their car before being confronted by groups of armed men who threatened his life and the life of his family members. He said his family was also threatened and "psychologically tortured."
While Terreros-Guarin believed the three attacks were mostly tied to his political views and his membership in pro-American groups, he said many of the threats stemmed from his LDS religious views. A member of the LDS Church since 1969, he had served a mission in Peru and held various leadership positions in the church in Colombia.
He told officials that there were bombings of LDS chapels and persecution directed at LDS Church members by "Communist-oriented terrorist groups," which see the LDS Church as "an American organization that meddles in Colombian affairs," the decision states.
Though the visas acquired by Terreros-Guarin would have expired in July 2000, he stayed in the United States, eventually filing for asylum status in February 2002. Statute requires that asylum status be sought within one year of the visa's expiration.
Beyond the fact that the required time frame had passed, the decision, written by Judge Timothy Tymkovich, also found that Terreros-Guarin was unable to prove that the persecution he endured in Colombia was prompted by his Mormon religious views or his liberal political opinions.
"The (immigration judge) noted that many people in Colombia espouse the same political views as Mr. Terreros and that his views are well represented within the government of Colombia," the decision states. "There are also many Mormons in Colombia and no evidence that he would be targeted there for his religious beliefs."
Source: deseretnews.com/
The appeal filed by Francisco Alberto Terreros-Guarin was denied by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals because Terreros-Guarin failed to seek asylum within one year of his visa expiring and was unable to show that his life or liberties would be in immediate danger if he returned to his home country, the decision states.
Terreros-Guarin said he was being targeted in Colombia for being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for associating himself with the country's liberal party and for being pro-American and working for American companies.
Terreros-Guarin came to the United States with his wife in 2000 on a six-month tourist/business visa. He told an immigration judge that he and his family were attacked three separate times in 1999, prompting them to sell their family jewelry business and leave Colombia.
According to his testimony to the judge, Terreros-Guarin's family was attacked in April, September and November of 1999. In all three of the attacks, his family was traveling in their car before being confronted by groups of armed men who threatened his life and the life of his family members. He said his family was also threatened and "psychologically tortured."
While Terreros-Guarin believed the three attacks were mostly tied to his political views and his membership in pro-American groups, he said many of the threats stemmed from his LDS religious views. A member of the LDS Church since 1969, he had served a mission in Peru and held various leadership positions in the church in Colombia.
He told officials that there were bombings of LDS chapels and persecution directed at LDS Church members by "Communist-oriented terrorist groups," which see the LDS Church as "an American organization that meddles in Colombian affairs," the decision states.
Though the visas acquired by Terreros-Guarin would have expired in July 2000, he stayed in the United States, eventually filing for asylum status in February 2002. Statute requires that asylum status be sought within one year of the visa's expiration.
Beyond the fact that the required time frame had passed, the decision, written by Judge Timothy Tymkovich, also found that Terreros-Guarin was unable to prove that the persecution he endured in Colombia was prompted by his Mormon religious views or his liberal political opinions.
"The (immigration judge) noted that many people in Colombia espouse the same political views as Mr. Terreros and that his views are well represented within the government of Colombia," the decision states. "There are also many Mormons in Colombia and no evidence that he would be targeted there for his religious beliefs."
Source: deseretnews.com/
Miss Colombia golfs too?
Sure she looks great in a swimsuit, but add golf to the list of talents of Miss Colombia, Daniela Lalinde.
Seven years after she last picked up a golf club, Miss Colombia on Friday took on the longest par-three in golf, Legend Golf & Safari Resort Extreme 19th hole in South Africa.
Accessible only by helicopter, the hole itself measures roughly 1300 feet, both horizontally and vertically. With an amazing shot, Lalinde stunned officials and contestants alike, matching scores achieved previously by world-class professionals including Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald, Trevor Immelman and KJ Choi, according to a release by the golf resort.
Legend Golf & Safari Resort, at the Entabeni Safari Conservancy in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, has hosted the 112 Miss World contestants. Lalinde’s feat comes ahead of the Miss World pageant in Johannesburg, South Africa on the 12th of December.
Standing at the tee, perched on the Hanglip mountain, Lalinde was blown away by the amazing view.
“I’ve never seen a golf hole like this, in the world. It’s not just golf - the view is spectacular and it doesn’t just show you the hole. It shows you the whole of Africa,” Lalinde said.
Unfazed by a challenge that presents a daunting tee-shot to a green the shape of the African continent, Lalinde displayed all the skills gathered over years of playing golf as a youngster. In fact, she had a good grounding in the game, playing with the likes of current Colombian professional, Manuel Villegas, the brother of multiple US PGA Tour winner Camilo Villegas.
Lalinde pledged to take on Legend Golf & Safari Resort’s 18-hole signature golf course. But, before that, there was the small matter of playing Legend’s Extreme 19th hole.
The carry to the fairway is 520 feet and Lalinde had little trouble in negotiating that first hurdle, thumping her drive to the edge of the fairway. She then showed a deft touch by chipping onto the huge putting surface and two-putting from 30 feet, for a highly creditable four.
"I’m just so proud to be the first Colombian to play the hole and at the same time to make a four,” Lalinde said about her glorious put.
Source: colombiareports.com
Christian Louboutin On Colombia: 'They Are Really Into Boobs, The Ass, Dancing'
Shoemaker Christian Louboutin told the truth and nothing butt it when talking to Style.com about his recent world travels. He was particularly enthusiastic about the ladies of Latin America:
"The women in Colombia are so sexy," he gushed. "I had no idea how much Colombia is driven by dancing. They are really into boobs, the ass, dancing."
Louboutin also spent a week in London training for a dance he has to do for a TV program.
"I have a lot more respect for dancing now, having seen how difficult it is to do even the simple steps," he said.
Wow! Does that mean a pair of Louboutin Dancing Shoes is in the works?
Source: huffingtonpost.com/
India's Reliance in deal with Colombia's Ecopetrol
MUMBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Indian energy major Reliance Industries (RELI.BO) said on Friday one of its units signed a deal with Colombian state oil firm Ecopetrol ECO.CN(EC.N) for two deepwater blocks in Colombia.
Stocks | Energy
Under the deal, Ecopetrol will take a 20 percent stake in the Borojo North Block 42 and the Borojo South Block 43, which together cover an area of about 8,000 square kilometres in water depths ranging from 60-1,500 metres, Reliance said in a statement.
Reliance's unit will hold the rest of the stake in the blocks and will be their operator. The deal is subject to approval from Colombia's upstream regulator. (Reporting by Pratish Narayanan; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan) ((pratish.narayanan@thomsonreuters.com; +91 22 6636 9202; Reuters Messaging: pratish.narayanan.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to newsfeedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))
Source: reuters.com/
Stocks | Energy
Under the deal, Ecopetrol will take a 20 percent stake in the Borojo North Block 42 and the Borojo South Block 43, which together cover an area of about 8,000 square kilometres in water depths ranging from 60-1,500 metres, Reliance said in a statement.
Reliance's unit will hold the rest of the stake in the blocks and will be their operator. The deal is subject to approval from Colombia's upstream regulator. (Reporting by Pratish Narayanan; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan) ((pratish.narayanan@thomsonreuters.com; +91 22 6636 9202; Reuters Messaging: pratish.narayanan.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to newsfeedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))
Source: reuters.com/
Colombian Peso Weakens On US Jobs Data; Bond Yields Rise
Colombian Peso Weakens On US Jobs Data; Bond Yields Rise
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--The Colombian peso weakened to COP2,006.25 against the dollar on Friday from COP1,991 at Thursday's close, as a fall in U.S. unemployment sparked a dollar rally. This is the peso's weakest level against the dollar since Oct. 28.
"There was a dramatic change in market expectations about the monetary policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve," said Oscar Montilla, a currency analyst at local bank Davivienda. "Until yesterday we thought that the Fed wouldn't raise interest rates until 2011, but today we got the marvelous news that unemployment had fallen in the U.S. This has led people to predict that the U.S. could start raising interest rates in April next year."
On the debt market, the yield on the benchmark government peso-denominated bond maturing in 2020 rose to 8.074%, from 7.94% on Thursday.
"It looks as though the economic recovery in the U.S. will be quicker than people expected, so people could think that the interest rates in the U.S. and locally could go up more rapidly," said Carmen Salcedo, market analyst with holding company Corficolombiana SA.
The Colombian benchmark IGBC index rose fractionally to a new all-time record high, up 0.02% to 11561.41 points.
Group de Inversiones Suramericana S.A. (GRUPOSURA.BO) was the most heavily traded stock, and fell 0.84% to COP23,700.
-By Matthew Bristow, Dow Jones Newswires; 57-1-610-70-44 Ext. 1132; colombia@dowjones.com
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=QeXZ3mqtebqJ2o6mFIzo6w%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
Source: fxstreet.com/
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--The Colombian peso weakened to COP2,006.25 against the dollar on Friday from COP1,991 at Thursday's close, as a fall in U.S. unemployment sparked a dollar rally. This is the peso's weakest level against the dollar since Oct. 28.
"There was a dramatic change in market expectations about the monetary policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve," said Oscar Montilla, a currency analyst at local bank Davivienda. "Until yesterday we thought that the Fed wouldn't raise interest rates until 2011, but today we got the marvelous news that unemployment had fallen in the U.S. This has led people to predict that the U.S. could start raising interest rates in April next year."
On the debt market, the yield on the benchmark government peso-denominated bond maturing in 2020 rose to 8.074%, from 7.94% on Thursday.
"It looks as though the economic recovery in the U.S. will be quicker than people expected, so people could think that the interest rates in the U.S. and locally could go up more rapidly," said Carmen Salcedo, market analyst with holding company Corficolombiana SA.
The Colombian benchmark IGBC index rose fractionally to a new all-time record high, up 0.02% to 11561.41 points.
Group de Inversiones Suramericana S.A. (GRUPOSURA.BO) was the most heavily traded stock, and fell 0.84% to COP23,700.
-By Matthew Bristow, Dow Jones Newswires; 57-1-610-70-44 Ext. 1132; colombia@dowjones.com
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=QeXZ3mqtebqJ2o6mFIzo6w%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
Source: fxstreet.com/
Friday TV Colombia Newscast
Nevado del Ruiz, Caldas: Join Brian Andrews in his journey to the Nevado del Ruiz. In the headlines, Colombian mine workers expelled from Venezuela are taken from Pueto Inirida, Guainia to their home towns. The first 63 people arrived to Villavicencio in an Air Force plane. Dozens fo people riding horse are travelling from El Retiro in Antioquia to Quimbaya in Quindio to honor the eje cafetero's colonization by the antioquenos back in 1800. The " Lo mejor del 2009" Awards, was held in Bogota. Colombian singer Juanes was named "Person of the year".
Source: colombianews.tv/
Source: colombianews.tv/
Colombia to request resources at climate change conference
Colombia will request resources to protect its vegetation and will ask industrialized nations to finance programs to help the Andean nation adapt to the effects of global warming at a conference on climate change in Copenhagen next Monday.
The Copenhagen Summit will seek to renew commitments made in the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012. At the conference Colombia will request the creation of a fund of almost US$140 billion in resources to be used to mitigate and adapt to climate change, El Espectador reported.
While Latin American is not the greatest contributor to global warming, its nations are among the most affected by it, and are vulnerable to rises in temperature. The United Nations revealed that of all countries in Latin America, Colombia suffers the most from natural disasters due to global climate change.
Colombia is seeking to be recognized as a nation with high vulnerability to climate change, the Colombian Minister for the Environment Manuel Rodriguez said. Rising sea levels threaten to flood its Pacific coast and could destroy 15% of San Andres Island.
At the summit Colombia will also push for industrialized nations to commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
Colombia will voluntarily implement a plan to reduce its own emissions. The country only produces 0.37% of global emissions but will seek to lower them as a demonstration of its commitment to combating climate change, according to El Espectador.
Colombia's strategy to lower emissions focuses on greater use of public transport, the generation of at least 75% of its energy through hydroelectricity, and investment in developing alternative energy sources.
Colombian delegates in Copenhagen will also seek an agreement on forest protection. The premise of the agreement is that developing countries that reduce deforestation will receive economic compensation.
Source: colombiareports.com/
U.S. land mine policy a `slap in face'
Land mines are a blight that keep on maiming, destroying the lives and limbs of the world's poorest people.
But while another 5,000 fell victim to the deadly explosives last year alone, the United States – the world's third-largest stockpiler of land mines – won't sign the treaty to ban them as officials from more than 150 countries meet in Colombia this week to review the progress of the accord.
"President (Barack) Obama's decision to cling to anti-personnel mines keeps the U.S. on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of humanity," said Steve Goose, arms division director for Human Rights Watch.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Obama had not rejected signing the treaty, but was keeping the current land mine policy in place while conducting a review that "was going to take some time."
Ironically, the talks in the Colombian city of Cartagena, which started Sunday and run through Friday, come before Obama is to receive a Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Dec. 10 – an award given partly for his commitment to disarmament.
"Very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the Nobel committee said in its citation.
The 1997 convention, known as the Ottawa Treaty, was hailed as a triumph for Canadian leadership on humanitarian issues. It bars the use, stockpiling, production or transfer of anti-personnel mines, and has been endorsed by 156 countries. But former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy, an architect of the treaty, said it was time for Canada to join other countries that backed it and persuade Washington to sign.
"As Canada works its way up to (running for) a seat in the UN Security Council, it's a positive reminder that it can, and does, play a positive role in agreements that protect innocent people," he said in a phone interview from Winnipeg.
However, he said Obama's failure to reverse a 12-year American boycott of the pact was understandable "with the kind of agenda he has, including health care, climate change and the economy."
And Axworthy added, although the U.S. is a treaty holdout, it is one of the most active supporters of demining efforts, and has not used land mines for almost two decades.
But it still stores 7.5 million anti-personnel mines and 7.5 million anti-vehicular mines, ranking behind only China and Russia for the size of its stockpile.
There are signs the Obama administration is taking the treaty more seriously than George W. Bush, who opposed it.
Observers from four government branches, including the state and defence departments, will attend the land mine conference for the first time.
But Jody Williams, a Nobel laureate for her campaign against land mines, said the decision not to sign the treaty was "a slap in the face to land mine survivors, their families and affected communities everywhere."
Others that have refused to endorse the treaty include China, Russia, Iran, India and Pakistan. Many argue that mines are a vital part of their national security, because they take the place of badly stretched troops in protecting their territory.
Source: thestar.com/
But while another 5,000 fell victim to the deadly explosives last year alone, the United States – the world's third-largest stockpiler of land mines – won't sign the treaty to ban them as officials from more than 150 countries meet in Colombia this week to review the progress of the accord.
"President (Barack) Obama's decision to cling to anti-personnel mines keeps the U.S. on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of humanity," said Steve Goose, arms division director for Human Rights Watch.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Obama had not rejected signing the treaty, but was keeping the current land mine policy in place while conducting a review that "was going to take some time."
Ironically, the talks in the Colombian city of Cartagena, which started Sunday and run through Friday, come before Obama is to receive a Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Dec. 10 – an award given partly for his commitment to disarmament.
"Very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the Nobel committee said in its citation.
The 1997 convention, known as the Ottawa Treaty, was hailed as a triumph for Canadian leadership on humanitarian issues. It bars the use, stockpiling, production or transfer of anti-personnel mines, and has been endorsed by 156 countries. But former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy, an architect of the treaty, said it was time for Canada to join other countries that backed it and persuade Washington to sign.
"As Canada works its way up to (running for) a seat in the UN Security Council, it's a positive reminder that it can, and does, play a positive role in agreements that protect innocent people," he said in a phone interview from Winnipeg.
However, he said Obama's failure to reverse a 12-year American boycott of the pact was understandable "with the kind of agenda he has, including health care, climate change and the economy."
And Axworthy added, although the U.S. is a treaty holdout, it is one of the most active supporters of demining efforts, and has not used land mines for almost two decades.
But it still stores 7.5 million anti-personnel mines and 7.5 million anti-vehicular mines, ranking behind only China and Russia for the size of its stockpile.
There are signs the Obama administration is taking the treaty more seriously than George W. Bush, who opposed it.
Observers from four government branches, including the state and defence departments, will attend the land mine conference for the first time.
But Jody Williams, a Nobel laureate for her campaign against land mines, said the decision not to sign the treaty was "a slap in the face to land mine survivors, their families and affected communities everywhere."
Others that have refused to endorse the treaty include China, Russia, Iran, India and Pakistan. Many argue that mines are a vital part of their national security, because they take the place of badly stretched troops in protecting their territory.
Source: thestar.com/
Colombia’s palm growers turn methane into gold
Walter Ritzel is surveying a putrid, Olympic swimming pool-sized pond of rotting palm fruit debris at the Tequendama palm oil plant in Colombia´s far north, with a look of almost paternal pride.
“We are going to turn this,” he says, arcing his hand enthusiastically over the gently simmering brown foam, “into euros”.
The gas that is giving this pond its fizz is methane, and Colombia’s palm oil producers have found a way to turn it into almost €10m a year in extra revenues through carbon trading.
Banding together to create the first sectoral project under the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), they reckon each tonne of methane they mitigate will be worth around €13.75 in certified emissions reductions credits (Cers).
Thirty-two palm producers, about 80 per cent of the Colombian industry, have agreed to cut 757,000 tonnes a year of methane emissions, and harness residual emissions to create up to 200 megawatts of renewable energy.
While the CDM has grouped together similar projects in the past, this is the first time an industry sector has created a project with a shared baseline reduction in emissions, says Thomas Black, executive director of the Bogota-based Andean Centre for Economics in the Environment.
“This is one of the largest methane reduction projects in the world,” says Mr Black. “Here we have a major economic sector that is going to cut emissions, switch to renewable energy and have enough capacity left over to sell back to the national grid.”
The fact that such change is emanating from the palm industry, which the United Nations cites as the main driver of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, is counter-intuitive.
With palm oil present in up to half the foodstuffs found on UK supermarket shelves, environment group Greenpeace estimates a doubling of palm demand from 2000 levels by 2030, and a tripling by 2050.
Colombia’s palm industry, small compared with Indonesia and Malaysia, has also been blighted by the seizure of hundreds of thousands of acres from small Afro-Colombian farmers by paramilitary forces in the remote state of Choco in the late 1990s.
Palm producers moved into the area soon after, and it was not until January 2008 that an investigation was launched into 23 companies accused of having links with paramilitaries. Nine companies have since been ordered to return land to farmers, and investigations into alleged homicides and land seizures continue.
Fedepalma, Colombia’s producer representative body, requires its members to refrain from clearing rainforest and use only former agricultural land, a crucial point in the debate over palm. While groups such as Friends of the Earth maintain there is no such thing as sustainable palm, others such as WWF are attempting to create a market for certified palm grown on former agricultural land.
“The production and use of biodiesel from palm oil on deforested peatlands in the tropics can lead to significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions - up to 2,000 per cent or more when compared with fossil fuels,” says a recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme. “However, a positive contribution to greenhouse gas emissions can arise if the palm oil or soya beans are instead grown on abandoned or degraded land.”
In the sweaty confines of the Tequendama processing plant, Daabon, the country’s biggest producer of organic palm oil, is putting that theory to the test. It is investing $2.5m in converting its waste water treatment ponds and building a plant to transform the captured emissions into clean electricity. It expects to be the first of Colombia’s producers to receive CDM credits, by June next year.
“We see a great opportunity to close the circle,” Manuel Davila, Daabon´s commercial vice-president, told the FT. “We are turning contaminated gases into money … we save energy, we get the [credits], so everybody´s happy.” He estimates the investment will pay for itself within two and a half years.
Mr Davila has also made unwitting carbon offset traders out of some 500 small landholders who sell their palm fruit to his company.
Alfonso Cahuana, who switched from growing rice to palm on his 10ha farm outside Aracataca, birthplace of Nobel prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is tickled by the idea of foreign investors paying for waste water. “Palm is very efficient for me, especially now that I am older. It will pay for my retirement,” he says.
Mr Black, meanwhile, sees potential for palm growers elsewhere, or other heavy-emitting sectors, such as the coal industry, to adopt the model once they see that it is possible to gain full market value for the Cers.
“One of the big discussions leading up to the Copenhagen climate change conference is how to increase the participation of the developing world in climate change mitigation,” he said. “And one of the big proposals is instead of project-by-project emissions reductions, to move an entire sector into mitigation at once so you can really begin to make an impact. This is what Colombia´s palm producers have done.”
While a WWF sustainable palm oil initiative has got off to a shaky start, with only one per cent of available stocks sold to date, James Fry, managing director of agricultural economics consulting firm LMC, says palm companies may have little choice but to capture methane emissions if they are to meet tighter regulations for the use of biodiesel in the US and the European Union.
“The reality is that palm oil internationally does not always have a good image,” says Dr Fry. “What is attractive about projects to capture methane is that you actually don’t just need to burn it and waste it - more and more of the electric power in countries will have to come from these kinds of renewable sources.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
Source: ft.com/
“We are going to turn this,” he says, arcing his hand enthusiastically over the gently simmering brown foam, “into euros”.
The gas that is giving this pond its fizz is methane, and Colombia’s palm oil producers have found a way to turn it into almost €10m a year in extra revenues through carbon trading.
Banding together to create the first sectoral project under the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), they reckon each tonne of methane they mitigate will be worth around €13.75 in certified emissions reductions credits (Cers).
Thirty-two palm producers, about 80 per cent of the Colombian industry, have agreed to cut 757,000 tonnes a year of methane emissions, and harness residual emissions to create up to 200 megawatts of renewable energy.
While the CDM has grouped together similar projects in the past, this is the first time an industry sector has created a project with a shared baseline reduction in emissions, says Thomas Black, executive director of the Bogota-based Andean Centre for Economics in the Environment.
“This is one of the largest methane reduction projects in the world,” says Mr Black. “Here we have a major economic sector that is going to cut emissions, switch to renewable energy and have enough capacity left over to sell back to the national grid.”
The fact that such change is emanating from the palm industry, which the United Nations cites as the main driver of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, is counter-intuitive.
With palm oil present in up to half the foodstuffs found on UK supermarket shelves, environment group Greenpeace estimates a doubling of palm demand from 2000 levels by 2030, and a tripling by 2050.
Colombia’s palm industry, small compared with Indonesia and Malaysia, has also been blighted by the seizure of hundreds of thousands of acres from small Afro-Colombian farmers by paramilitary forces in the remote state of Choco in the late 1990s.
Palm producers moved into the area soon after, and it was not until January 2008 that an investigation was launched into 23 companies accused of having links with paramilitaries. Nine companies have since been ordered to return land to farmers, and investigations into alleged homicides and land seizures continue.
Fedepalma, Colombia’s producer representative body, requires its members to refrain from clearing rainforest and use only former agricultural land, a crucial point in the debate over palm. While groups such as Friends of the Earth maintain there is no such thing as sustainable palm, others such as WWF are attempting to create a market for certified palm grown on former agricultural land.
“The production and use of biodiesel from palm oil on deforested peatlands in the tropics can lead to significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions - up to 2,000 per cent or more when compared with fossil fuels,” says a recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme. “However, a positive contribution to greenhouse gas emissions can arise if the palm oil or soya beans are instead grown on abandoned or degraded land.”
In the sweaty confines of the Tequendama processing plant, Daabon, the country’s biggest producer of organic palm oil, is putting that theory to the test. It is investing $2.5m in converting its waste water treatment ponds and building a plant to transform the captured emissions into clean electricity. It expects to be the first of Colombia’s producers to receive CDM credits, by June next year.
“We see a great opportunity to close the circle,” Manuel Davila, Daabon´s commercial vice-president, told the FT. “We are turning contaminated gases into money … we save energy, we get the [credits], so everybody´s happy.” He estimates the investment will pay for itself within two and a half years.
Mr Davila has also made unwitting carbon offset traders out of some 500 small landholders who sell their palm fruit to his company.
Alfonso Cahuana, who switched from growing rice to palm on his 10ha farm outside Aracataca, birthplace of Nobel prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is tickled by the idea of foreign investors paying for waste water. “Palm is very efficient for me, especially now that I am older. It will pay for my retirement,” he says.
Mr Black, meanwhile, sees potential for palm growers elsewhere, or other heavy-emitting sectors, such as the coal industry, to adopt the model once they see that it is possible to gain full market value for the Cers.
“One of the big discussions leading up to the Copenhagen climate change conference is how to increase the participation of the developing world in climate change mitigation,” he said. “And one of the big proposals is instead of project-by-project emissions reductions, to move an entire sector into mitigation at once so you can really begin to make an impact. This is what Colombia´s palm producers have done.”
While a WWF sustainable palm oil initiative has got off to a shaky start, with only one per cent of available stocks sold to date, James Fry, managing director of agricultural economics consulting firm LMC, says palm companies may have little choice but to capture methane emissions if they are to meet tighter regulations for the use of biodiesel in the US and the European Union.
“The reality is that palm oil internationally does not always have a good image,” says Dr Fry. “What is attractive about projects to capture methane is that you actually don’t just need to burn it and waste it - more and more of the electric power in countries will have to come from these kinds of renewable sources.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
Source: ft.com/
Juanes suggests decriminalization of drugs to end Colombian conflict
Singer Juanes declared Friday his view that decriminalizing drugs would help to end Colombia's armed conflict.
Following discussions with land mine victims at the Ottawa World Summit held this week in Cartagena, the Colombian singer suggested the decriminalization of drugs as a strategy to end the country's interminable conflict.
Juanes stated he believed the government needed to try different approaches to the county's armed groups, "we have to humanize the conflict, beginning by talking simply about things, such as how to be able to walk [safely] to school from one's house," reported newspaper El Colombiano.
Juanes also conveyed his desire to contribute to negotiations between the government and illegal armed groups, "I am very interested to see what we could do ... what we can see is that civil society is very interested in participating more in the construction of peace. We know that the government policy is [closed to the public] but how long is it going to continue like this?"
The singer's statements came during a section of the summit in which more than 500 people affected by land mines from Cambodia, El Salvador and Colombia were invited to voice their opinions. Juanes claimed that there should no longer be a deadline by which victims have to activate their rights - the deadline in Colombia being six months.
"A victim does not stop being a victim after six months. There should not be deadlines or limits by which time the victims has to exercise their rights," stressed Zenaida Arias, who lost two brothers in a land mine accident.
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Ex-Colombian legal aide held in scam
At least two dozen Colombian immigrants and their relatives were allegedly bilked more than $100,000 by a woman posing as an employee of the consul general of Colombia in Houston, officials at the Harris County Sheriff's Office said.
Colombian native Maria Jose Hurtado, 44, was arrested Monday in Katy by sheriff's officers. She was charged with aggregate theft for offering everything from green cards to citizenship to immigrants but never providing the services.
“This was a pretty significant case,” said Lt. Jeff Stauber, with the sheriff's office.
The legal aide worked as a contractor for the consulate for 13 years but was fired in 2008 after a separate accusation of charging Colombians fees for her services at the office.
Before she was fired, she was allowed to enter an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center where immigrants about to be deported were housed. Consular officials are allowed to meet with detainees at the detention centers.
25 alleged victims
And even after she was fired, she managed to enter that detention facility and meet with Colombians. About 80 Colombians are deported every month, said the consulate's legal adviser Johnny Ibarra.
She met with detainees in the center and said “I can help you,” Stauber said during a news conference Tuesday, “but it's going to cost you.”
Those services were never provided for the 25 victims who complained to the sheriff's office. The detainees asked their relatives for money to pay Hurtado and some of those victims complained to the consulate who turned the case over to the sheriff's office. All of these cases are from 2008.
Sheriff's officials expect more Colombians to come forward.
“There's really no telling how far back this goes,” Stauber said. “It's pretty egregious.”
Hurtado faces third-degree state felony charges, which could result in up to 10 years of prison time. She remains in the Harris County Jail.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are looking into Hurtado's case. In fiscal year 2009, about 21,000 immigrants were detained in Houston area detention facilities.
jenalia.moreno@chron.com
Source: chron.com/
Colombian native Maria Jose Hurtado, 44, was arrested Monday in Katy by sheriff's officers. She was charged with aggregate theft for offering everything from green cards to citizenship to immigrants but never providing the services.
“This was a pretty significant case,” said Lt. Jeff Stauber, with the sheriff's office.
The legal aide worked as a contractor for the consulate for 13 years but was fired in 2008 after a separate accusation of charging Colombians fees for her services at the office.
Before she was fired, she was allowed to enter an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center where immigrants about to be deported were housed. Consular officials are allowed to meet with detainees at the detention centers.
25 alleged victims
And even after she was fired, she managed to enter that detention facility and meet with Colombians. About 80 Colombians are deported every month, said the consulate's legal adviser Johnny Ibarra.
She met with detainees in the center and said “I can help you,” Stauber said during a news conference Tuesday, “but it's going to cost you.”
Those services were never provided for the 25 victims who complained to the sheriff's office. The detainees asked their relatives for money to pay Hurtado and some of those victims complained to the consulate who turned the case over to the sheriff's office. All of these cases are from 2008.
Sheriff's officials expect more Colombians to come forward.
“There's really no telling how far back this goes,” Stauber said. “It's pretty egregious.”
Hurtado faces third-degree state felony charges, which could result in up to 10 years of prison time. She remains in the Harris County Jail.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are looking into Hurtado's case. In fiscal year 2009, about 21,000 immigrants were detained in Houston area detention facilities.
jenalia.moreno@chron.com
Source: chron.com/
Colombian Admiral Cleared of Drug Charges
BOGOTA – Adm. Gabriel Arango Bacci was cleared on Thursday by Colombia’s Supreme Court, which investigated his alleged ties to drug traffickers.
The high court’s investigators did not find any evidence linking drug traffickers to the admiral, who was forced into retirement, considering the allegations a “set-up” against him.
The judges ordered an investigation of navy commander Adm. Guillermo Barrera and former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos for allegedly giving false testimony.
The Colombian Inspector General’s Office had said the allegations against Arango Bacci were a “set-up,” and the Attorney General’s Office called a short time later for the charges to be thrown out.
Arango Bacci, who was held for 16 months at the Infantry School in Bogota, was alleged to have ties to drug trafficker Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia’s organization.
It was alleged that the retired admiral allowed drug shipments to go through by pulling navy vessels under his command away from the smuggling routes used by drug traffickers. EFE
Source: laht.com/
The high court’s investigators did not find any evidence linking drug traffickers to the admiral, who was forced into retirement, considering the allegations a “set-up” against him.
The judges ordered an investigation of navy commander Adm. Guillermo Barrera and former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos for allegedly giving false testimony.
The Colombian Inspector General’s Office had said the allegations against Arango Bacci were a “set-up,” and the Attorney General’s Office called a short time later for the charges to be thrown out.
Arango Bacci, who was held for 16 months at the Infantry School in Bogota, was alleged to have ties to drug trafficker Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia’s organization.
It was alleged that the retired admiral allowed drug shipments to go through by pulling navy vessels under his command away from the smuggling routes used by drug traffickers. EFE
Source: laht.com/
Aval Sells Record 750 Billion Pesos of Colombia Bonds
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores SA, Colombia’s biggest financial holding company, sold 750 billion pesos ($376.4 million) of bonds in a record offering for the local exchange.
Aval sold five-year debt to yield 3.69 percentage points above inflation, seven-year bonds to yield 4.49 percentage points above inflation and 10-year and 15-year securities to yield 4.84 and 5.20 percentage points above inflation, respectively, Colombia’s stock exchange said in a statement. The company also sold three-year bonds to yield 1.14 percentage points above the country’s DTF interbank benchmark rate.
Total demand for the peso securities was 1.65 trillion pesos, according to the statement. The 750 billion pesos is the most a company has ever sold through the stock exchange in one offering, the bourse known as BVC said in a separate statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Jaramillo in Bogota at ajaramillo1@bloomberg.net
Source: bloomberg.com/
Aval sold five-year debt to yield 3.69 percentage points above inflation, seven-year bonds to yield 4.49 percentage points above inflation and 10-year and 15-year securities to yield 4.84 and 5.20 percentage points above inflation, respectively, Colombia’s stock exchange said in a statement. The company also sold three-year bonds to yield 1.14 percentage points above the country’s DTF interbank benchmark rate.
Total demand for the peso securities was 1.65 trillion pesos, according to the statement. The 750 billion pesos is the most a company has ever sold through the stock exchange in one offering, the bourse known as BVC said in a separate statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Jaramillo in Bogota at ajaramillo1@bloomberg.net
Source: bloomberg.com/
Colombia's Aval To Sell Up To COP750B In Local Bonds Thursday
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--Colombia's largest banking group, Grupo Aval y Valores SA (GRUPOAVAL.BO), which controls four banks and a pension fund among others, plans to sell as much as 750 billion Colombian pesos ($376 million) Thursday to repay existing, expensive debt and take advantage of better market conditions.
The company will offer COP600 billion of new bonds, with the possibility to expand the offer to COP750 billion if demand justifies it, the company said in an ad published in the local newspaper La Republica.
The new bonds will carry maturities of between 3 years and 15 years, with floating rates tied to inflation and to the benchmark DTF rate, which is the weighted average of the rates Colombian banks pay on 90-day certificates of deposit.
Guillermo Rosas, the chief executive of Aval's brokerage unit Casa de Bolsa, said two weeks ago the group is taking advantage of lower interest rates to replace outstanding expensive debt.
Rates are currently lower in Colombia as a result of the expansive monetary policy led by the country's Central Bank. Local pension funds and institutional investors are awash with cash and looking for investment opportunities.
In 2005, Grupo Aval sold five-year bonds paying a spread of 5.03 percentage points over the inflation rate, Rosas said, and it will pay no more than inflation plus a spread of 4.50% this time, the company said in the ad in La Republica.
On top of that, inflation currently stands at historic lows.
Other local companies, such as Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana SA (GRUPOSURA.BO), sold COP250 billion in local bonds last week.
Aval controls four banks in Colombia--Banco de Bogota SA (BOGOTA.BO), Banco Popular SA (POPULAR.BO), Banco de Occidente SA (OCCIDENTE.BO) and Banco AV Villas (VILLAS.BO)--as well as holding company Corficolombiana SA (CORFICOL.BO) and pension fund Porvenir.
The group's banks account for 28.9% of the Colombian total banking industry's loans.
-By Inti Landauro, Dow Jones Newswires; 57-1-610 70 44 Ext. 1131; colombia@dowjones.com
Source: wsj,com/
The company will offer COP600 billion of new bonds, with the possibility to expand the offer to COP750 billion if demand justifies it, the company said in an ad published in the local newspaper La Republica.
The new bonds will carry maturities of between 3 years and 15 years, with floating rates tied to inflation and to the benchmark DTF rate, which is the weighted average of the rates Colombian banks pay on 90-day certificates of deposit.
Guillermo Rosas, the chief executive of Aval's brokerage unit Casa de Bolsa, said two weeks ago the group is taking advantage of lower interest rates to replace outstanding expensive debt.
Rates are currently lower in Colombia as a result of the expansive monetary policy led by the country's Central Bank. Local pension funds and institutional investors are awash with cash and looking for investment opportunities.
In 2005, Grupo Aval sold five-year bonds paying a spread of 5.03 percentage points over the inflation rate, Rosas said, and it will pay no more than inflation plus a spread of 4.50% this time, the company said in the ad in La Republica.
On top of that, inflation currently stands at historic lows.
Other local companies, such as Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana SA (GRUPOSURA.BO), sold COP250 billion in local bonds last week.
Aval controls four banks in Colombia--Banco de Bogota SA (BOGOTA.BO), Banco Popular SA (POPULAR.BO), Banco de Occidente SA (OCCIDENTE.BO) and Banco AV Villas (VILLAS.BO)--as well as holding company Corficolombiana SA (CORFICOL.BO) and pension fund Porvenir.
The group's banks account for 28.9% of the Colombian total banking industry's loans.
-By Inti Landauro, Dow Jones Newswires; 57-1-610 70 44 Ext. 1131; colombia@dowjones.com
Source: wsj,com/
Colombia's gold rush is a rush, hombres
BOGOTA – Some 19 months ago, I had to plead with geologists, photographers and financiers when I told them I intended to return to Colombia’s gold-dusted Antioquia Department.
I am here now in Bogota, the city of 10 million that is Colombia’s capital. Call it a side-trip to see some pleasurable financiers, geologists and engineers from an Antioquia miner whose shares I own and hope one day to make me an immense profit.
On Saturday, I head to Medellin: first stop – EL Marmato, that divided village and mountain I first came to see in May 2008. The place was dusty and at once full of promise. Many of the wildcat mills there were turning daily profits from the mineros ilegales. See the original Thom Report.
Everyone in Toronto, Vancouver and Nevada who knows minerals wants a piece of this nation, South America’s oldest and most stable democracy. This coming week, no fewer than eight companies are hosting tours of Colombia gold properties. Most are scrappy prospectors.
I am in country this time around to see Bob and Gloria Carrington’s Colombian Mines Corp. (TSX: V.CMJ, Stock Forum) – specifically the Yarumalito Project not more than 15 kilometres as the crow flies from El Marmato.
“I had an investor at the SF show just the other day accuse me of manipulating the stock because he could not buy any – or enough of it,” Bob Carrington, a Nevada trained geologist, is telling me now as I write this. Bob has been working in Colombia as a field geologist and now, a property owner, since 1993.
I do not own any shares of CMJ. But Bob and his tight-knit group, including his Medellin-born wife, Gloria, who turns 49 on Sunday, own about 35 percent of the company. The shares, like most Colombia gold mines these days, is trading about 1,000 times more shares daily during this past week than its one-year daily average.
Raymond Chen of the Chinese Investment Club now follows CMJ, who along with me on sage advice from an African prospector in Ghana, began looking at the Carringtons’ tiny gold project in August and September of this year.
Nate Tewalt, who made a small fortune from Great Basin Gold (he was the first CEO in 1998 or so) and Standard Uranium (2004-2006) is also part of this traveling gold show, having hooked up with the Carringtons in late 1996.
I’ll have more on all this when I survive Bogota and get down to business Saturday. The tour on that day is of Medoro (TSX: V.MRS, Stock Forum), which recently consumed shares of the company whose stock I just loved – at the wrong time – some 19 months ago: Colombia Goldfields and EL Marmato.
Goldman Sachs, I am told by U.S. Global Funds’ Frank Holmes in Bogota, just revised up its copper, aluminum, gold forecasts.
TC on TT™
Ticker Trax ™ and Thom Calandraare headed to Colombia and Peru on Thursday. I’ll be kicking rocks at four or five companies in the two nations, including Colombian Mines Corp. (TSX: V.CMJ, Stock Forum) not far from my once long-ago home of Medellin in the department of Antioquia … as well as a separate and privately-held Antioquia property. Also on the radar are Guyana gold mine operator Adrian Hobkirk’s miniscule Caerus Resource (TSX: V.CA, Stock Forum) in Colombia, which has property options and interests in Norte de Santander department. And Cronus Resources, an Ari Sussman consolidator in Antioquia.
A 2009 success story in northern Colombia, Ventana Gold (TSX: T.VEN, Stock Forum), declined requests to open its property for a visit next week.
In Peru, I will be seeing Fortuna Silver Mines (TSX: V.FVI, Stock Forum) and Focus Ventures (TSX: T.VEN, Stock Forum), declined requests to open its property for a visit next week.
In Peru, I will be seeing Fortuna Silver Mines (TSX: V.FVI, Stock Forum) and Focus Ventures (TSX: V.FCV, Stock Forum), both of them part of the Goldgroup network of mines. Joining me will be several writers and analysts, at least one fund manager, Stanford U.-trained geologist Paul Zweng of Honolulu, assorted financiers and minerals mavens.
(Please see: Thom Calandra’s Stockhouse articles. Thom Calandra owns no shares of Ventana. Nor does he own Fortuna, Focus or CMJ. Thom does own each of the 11 Planetary Prospects in subscriber-supported Ticker Trax™. Thom also has informed Ticker Trax subscribers that he intends – but has yet to – purchase shares of Mexico-focused Animas Resources. He does own shares of Medoro.)
Ticker Trax™
Please see tickertrax.com to learn more about this wealth service and its 11 Planetary Prospects. Also, please see its breakout feature examinations of two Ghana gold prospectors, one Guyana prospector and gold producer and one molybdenum mine in British Columbia proceeding toward its own metals factory. Subscribers, please click here for password-secure Ticker Trax.
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HOLDINGS: Thom’s stock holdings are listed for all Stockhouse members on www.Stockhouse.com under the “portfolio setting” for user TCALANDRA. It is public and free to view. He also owns recently minted gold and silver coins and shares of two private companies. Thom does not do private placements or accept payment in return for coverage. But you can buy him a cold beer in Cabo or a double Grey Goose in Toronto. Thom participates in select company-sponsored and company-paid tours of mining sites.
THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Trax helps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom co-founded and was executive VP of news for CBS MarketWatch and MarketWatch.com. As the voice of Thom Calandra's StockWatch and The Calandra Report, Thom pegged $300-ounce gold as a long-term hold and dyed his hair blonde multiple times as gold surpassed $400, $500 and $600.
Ticker Trax™ is published by Stockgroup Media Inc. Ticker Trax is an information service for subscribers and neither Stockhouse nor Thom Calandra is a broker or an investment advisor. None of the information contained therein constitutes a recommendation by Mr. Calandra or Stockhouse/Stockgroup Media that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Ticker Trax does not purport to tell or suggest the investment securities subscribers or readers should buy or sell for themselves. Subscribers and readers of Ticker Trax should conduct their own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decisions. Ticker Trax will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a reader’s reliance on information obtained in the reports. Subscribers and readers are solely responsible for their own investment decisions. Opinions expressed in Ticker Trax are based on sources believed to be reliable and are written in good faith, but no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to their accuracy or completeness. All information contained in Ticker Trax should be independently verified. The
Source: stockhouse.com/
Colombia’s Riopaila Drops Plans to Sell Bonds, Takes Loans
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Riopaila Castilla SA, a Colombian sugar producer, said it abandoned plans to sell as much as 100 billion pesos ($50.2 million) of bonds in the local market and borrowed from banks instead.
Riopaila took a 10-year loan from Bancolombia SA for 31.4 billion pesos and an eight-year loan with Banco de Bogota SA for 45 billion pesos, the company said in a filing on the financial regulator’s Web site.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Jaramillo in Bogota at ajaramillo1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 3, 2009 15:54 EST
Source: bloomberg.com/
Riopaila took a 10-year loan from Bancolombia SA for 31.4 billion pesos and an eight-year loan with Banco de Bogota SA for 45 billion pesos, the company said in a filing on the financial regulator’s Web site.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Jaramillo in Bogota at ajaramillo1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 3, 2009 15:54 EST
Source: bloomberg.com/
Galway announces start of drilling at its California gold project in Colombia
TORONTO, Dec. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Galway Resources Ltd. (GWY: TSX-V): is pleased to announce that drilling has commenced on its high-grade California gold project in Colombia. Phase I of the planned program will consist of approximately 4,500 meters of diamond drilling and will test along strike previously identified high-grade gold mineralized structures. A second drill will be added in early January 2010. Phase II will consist of up to 25,000 meters of additional diamond drilling.
"Galway is excited to begin drilling at California. The Company's land position is adjacent to and along strike Ventana's La Mascota gold discovery. In the interim, we will be reporting on results from an additional 1,000 geochemical samples, as part of our ongoing exploration efforts," cites Robert Hinchcliffe, President and CEO of Galway Resources.
Drill holes will initially be concentrated in the Pie de Gallo open pit area. Mineralized structures in the open pit are projected to be the same as those that control Ventana's La Mascota and Las Mercedes gold discoveries. Pie de Gallo is a 300 meter long open-pit that has been mined by artisanal miners for hundreds of years. Numerous high-grade channel samples from outcrops and underground workings in the area have been collected and previously reported on (see press release dated August 11, 2009: http://www.galwayresources.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=359418&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Galway-California-Samples-Return-9.2-GT-Au-Along-130-Meters-Including-27.3-...).
Drilling will be conducted by GHM from Medellin, Colombia. The Company expects to complete an average of one drill hole per week with drilling conducted 24 hours per day. Drilling will be supervised by Master Driller Jose Salas, who drilled for four years at Greystar's Angostura gold deposit.
About the Company
Galway Resources is a well capitalized company, primarily focused on the exploration of gold and coal in Colombia. The company recently reported that drilling has commenced at the GALCA coal project in Colombia. The initial 19 hole drill program will be managed and funded by Prodeco, the Colombian subsidiary of Xstrata. For more details see the press release dated November 17, 2009.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward Looking Statements:
Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the completion of transactions, the possibility of coal deposits, future exploration, development and production activities, future expenditures and forecast Colombian coal production. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, without limitation, the timing and success of contemplated transactions and exploration, development and production activities, the realization of coal deposits, the timing and amount of expenditures and actual realized Colombian Coal production. See the "risk factors" set out in Galway's management's discussion and analysis files on the SEDAR website
Source: prnewswire.com/
"Galway is excited to begin drilling at California. The Company's land position is adjacent to and along strike Ventana's La Mascota gold discovery. In the interim, we will be reporting on results from an additional 1,000 geochemical samples, as part of our ongoing exploration efforts," cites Robert Hinchcliffe, President and CEO of Galway Resources.
Drill holes will initially be concentrated in the Pie de Gallo open pit area. Mineralized structures in the open pit are projected to be the same as those that control Ventana's La Mascota and Las Mercedes gold discoveries. Pie de Gallo is a 300 meter long open-pit that has been mined by artisanal miners for hundreds of years. Numerous high-grade channel samples from outcrops and underground workings in the area have been collected and previously reported on (see press release dated August 11, 2009: http://www.galwayresources.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=359418&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Galway-California-Samples-Return-9.2-GT-Au-Along-130-Meters-Including-27.3-...).
Drilling will be conducted by GHM from Medellin, Colombia. The Company expects to complete an average of one drill hole per week with drilling conducted 24 hours per day. Drilling will be supervised by Master Driller Jose Salas, who drilled for four years at Greystar's Angostura gold deposit.
About the Company
Galway Resources is a well capitalized company, primarily focused on the exploration of gold and coal in Colombia. The company recently reported that drilling has commenced at the GALCA coal project in Colombia. The initial 19 hole drill program will be managed and funded by Prodeco, the Colombian subsidiary of Xstrata. For more details see the press release dated November 17, 2009.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward Looking Statements:
Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the completion of transactions, the possibility of coal deposits, future exploration, development and production activities, future expenditures and forecast Colombian coal production. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, without limitation, the timing and success of contemplated transactions and exploration, development and production activities, the realization of coal deposits, the timing and amount of expenditures and actual realized Colombian Coal production. See the "risk factors" set out in Galway's management's discussion and analysis files on the SEDAR website
Source: prnewswire.com/
Alcatel-Lucent consortium wins Colombian submarine cable deal
Dec 04, 2009 (Datamonitor via COMTEX) -- ALU | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- An Alcatel-Lucent consortium has won a contract from Bella Vista Trading Services and Energia Integral Andina to lay a submarine cable in Colombia. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Under the deal, the consortium will lay an 815 km submarine cable network to bring Tolu in the Colombian mainland closer to the San Andres Island with advanced broadband connectivity in 2010. It said the system will support IP-based services and applications, such as on-line tourism services, and e-education and e-government solutions.
Alcatel-Lucent's partner on the consortium is Canada-based marine services provider IT International Telecom. While Alcatel-Lucent will design, manufacture and commission the system based on its dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology and cables, IT International Telecom will design the route and perform marine surveys and installation of the submarine cable system.
Romano Valussi, president of optical and submarine networks at Alcatel-Lucent, said: "Further strengthening our presence in the region, this new project will contribute to the robustness, efficiency and capacity of the global communications infrastructure and broadband penetration in areas where it is still limited."
In September, Alcatel-Lucent won a $30m contract from the Mozambique state-owned telecommunications company Telecomunicacoes de Mocambique to deploy the third phase of the country's 5,500 km national transmission network to connect citizens and companies in the country to the worldwide submarine network.
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For full details on Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) click here. Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) has Short Term PowerRatings of 6. Details on Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) Short Term PowerRatings is available at This Link.
Source: tradingmarkets.com/
Under the deal, the consortium will lay an 815 km submarine cable network to bring Tolu in the Colombian mainland closer to the San Andres Island with advanced broadband connectivity in 2010. It said the system will support IP-based services and applications, such as on-line tourism services, and e-education and e-government solutions.
Alcatel-Lucent's partner on the consortium is Canada-based marine services provider IT International Telecom. While Alcatel-Lucent will design, manufacture and commission the system based on its dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology and cables, IT International Telecom will design the route and perform marine surveys and installation of the submarine cable system.
Romano Valussi, president of optical and submarine networks at Alcatel-Lucent, said: "Further strengthening our presence in the region, this new project will contribute to the robustness, efficiency and capacity of the global communications infrastructure and broadband penetration in areas where it is still limited."
In September, Alcatel-Lucent won a $30m contract from the Mozambique state-owned telecommunications company Telecomunicacoes de Mocambique to deploy the third phase of the country's 5,500 km national transmission network to connect citizens and companies in the country to the worldwide submarine network.
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Source: tradingmarkets.com/
Berlusconi announces visit to Colombia
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced on Wednesday that he plans to visit Colombia to meet the country's President, Alvaro Uribe.
Berlusconi announced his visit at the fourth Conference on Italy, Latin America and the Caribbean in Milan.
"I would like to send a special greeting to the President to thank him for sending his delegates to this conference. I am finishing up the organization of a visit to South America next spring and I would feel honored to be able to go and personally pay my respects and hug him," the flamboyant Italian leader said.
According to Berlusconi, his country so far has had a "timid" relation with Latin America, but that this will change. "Italy has the opportunity to be leader in Latin America. Many think that Spain, because of the language, is the ideal entry to Europe. I refuse to think It's Spain, I think it's Italy," Berlusconi told the conference.
Source: colombiareports.com/
Colombian Oil: The Next Big Thing?
The Colombian government has lifted restrictions on foreigners operating in the oil and gas sector, lowered royalties and improved security. These initiatives have paid off in a big way for Colombians. The country's oil-licensing agency, ANH, said last week that Colombian and foreign companies operating in the country produced an average 704,000 barrels of crude a day in October, that’s 34% higher than in 2005.
Armando Zamora, head of the AHN, announced Colombia’s oil industry attracted about $3.5-billion in 2009 from foreign investors. Expectations are for the same amount in 2010 and the country’s oil industry has enough momentum behind it to reach production of 1 million barrels a day by 2015.
The recent and expected future rise in production levels will come from new discoveries and efforts by firms to boost production at existing fields. Two of the largest growth stories and successes for investors in the global oil patch during the last two years have been in Colombia – Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. and Petrominerales Ltd.
Rubiales is a fast growing heavy oil producer whose production has grown from 21,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) to 41,000 bpd in the last two years, and has a clear path to doubling that production again by the end of 2010. The stock has gone from $2 to $14.50 this year.
Petrominerales has hit some very large wells, up to 10,000 bpd, and has grown production from 2,000 to 30,000 bpd in the last five years. The stock went from $3 to $22 per share in 2007 and from $5 to $17 this year.
This kind of growth has spawned a quick land rush in the South American country, with management from both these two companies and ex-management from the state oil company trying to get in on the action.
The result? Several new junior oil explorers with top quality management and big land positions in a country with proven permissive geology. And all of them have been able to raise large amounts of money.
All this sounds great for retail investors, and it is, but there is one big caveat: these companies have issued large amounts of stock at low prices to get their initial land positions. So it may take a lot of production growth to catch up to valuations. However, if they strike one good well into a large oil formation, the large amount of shares outstanding will no longer be an issue.
Each of these companies has one key person with big company experience in Colombia, and a former high-ranking official from some national oil company (NOC) in South America.
Here are three Canadian-listed junior Colombian oil plays.
Canacol Energy Ltd.
Production: 2,000 bpd
Shares Outstanding: 326 million
Net Cash: $12-million
President and CEO Charle Gamba was VP of Exploration for Occidental Petroleum in Colombia from 2004 to 2006. The COO, Mark Holliday, comes from Petrominerales. Director Alvaro Barrera-former President of Ecopetrol, the state oil company of Colombia.
Canacol has interests in 22 fields, including a couple in Brazil and Guyana. The Corporation has increased net 2P reserves by 347%, from 1.247 million barrels of oil (mmb) in 2008 to 4.334 mmb in 2009, with a corresponding increase in NPV10 of 72% from US$55.817 million in 2008 to US$96.171 million in 2009. The Corporation has also established a significant conventional oil exploration position with interests in 15 exploration contracts covering over 2.4 million net acres. The Corporation operates two producing oil fields, Rancho Hermoso (100% working interest) and Entrerrios (60% working interest), located in the Llanos Basin of Colombia. In Brazil the corporation has a non-operated 47.5% working interest in 4 producing oil fields located on the Reconcavo Basin.
But their big story is that they have a 10% interest in a billion barrel discovery called Capella (The Capella heavy oil discovery accounts for the majority of additional reserves added during the course of 2009) – and they own 100% of two nearby blocks, with what looks like similar geology.
Canacol’s plan is to slowly build up production over the coming 6 months with low risk and inexpensive drilling, before going after these much larger targets.
Alange Energy Corp.
Production: 1,534 bpd
Shares Outstanding: 745.4 million
Net Cash: $40-million
CEO and Chairman Luis Giusti was formerly Chairman and CEO, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) and is an External Director of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. Director Mauricio Salgar was COO of Ecopetrol (Colombia’s state national company) until 2007.
Alange has interests in 11 properties in Colombia. The key producing asset is the Cubiro Block in central-eastern Colombia, with the Santa Cruz in the north, the La Punta in the middle, and Topoyaco property in the south of the country, providing exploration potential.
Alange will drill more than 50 development wells and roughly seven exploration wells by the end of 2010. It has implemented exploration and development programs to increase the current total production of approximately 3,000 bpd to approximately 5,500 bpd by the end of 2009 and to over 10,000 by the end of 2010. As a result of the acquisition of an additional 19.27% working interest in Cubiro production Alange Energy’s share of production will increase by 600 bpd or almost 50% to reach 1,800 bopd at present and then increasing to about 3,300 bpd by the end of 2009 and to more than 6,000 bpd by the end of 2010.
Management is also confident that it will be reporting an increased level of total oil reserves and prospective resources for the Cubiro property when it prepares an updated National Instrument 51-101 technical report on its properties at the end of the year.
Alange’s portfolio has a lot of natural gas as well as oil.
Petramerica Oil Inc.
Production: 0
Shares Outstanding: 321,654,094
Net Cash: $34-million
Petro America is the newest of the bunch. The big coup for Petro America is that they have recruited most of the senior operational management from Petrominerales – Paul Kroshko, Anh Vardalos and Wade Spark. This team was instrumental in developing Petrominerales’ key asset, the Corcel Field. Wells there have an initial production rate of 10,000 bpd – BIG wells.
One director from Pacific Rubiales, Augusto Lopez, sits on the board of Petro America and Ron Pantin, CEO of Petro Rubiales, is on the Advisory Board.
So between the management track record at Petrominerales, and the fact that a couple Pacific Rubiales people are involved early, Petro America could quickly build into a fast growing oil producer. If Pacific Rubiales gets bought out (Pacific Rubiales has reached a production level of 117,784 barrels of oil equivalent per day (bpd) of gross operated production, equivalent to 48,667.7 bpd net after royalties in all its assets in Colombia) than Petro America is the junior that should benefit the most, as it appears key members of that team could be moving here.
Petro America has interests in 5 properties in three major oil producing basins in Colombia, for a total of more of more than 550,000 acres. Petro America recently announced it has been awarded a farm-in by Pacfic Rubiales on the CPO-1 Block which is located in the Llanos Basin of Colombia. The CPO-1 Block lies on trend and to the northeast of the Caracara field.
As these well-funded plays start drilling, institutional and retail investors alike will be watching to see which horse comes out ahead. Shouldn’t Colombian oil be on every investor’s radar screen?
Richard (Rick) Mills
rick@aheadoftheherd.com
If you’re interested in the junior resource market and would like to learn more please come and visit us at aheadoftheherd.com
Previous articles:
Contaminated mining environments: It’s better to be green
Donner Metals: Near-term producer with deep-pocketed partner
The coming food shortage: Potash as fuel for food
Richard is host of aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the junior resource sector. His articles have been published on over 60 websites including: Wall Street Journal, Financial Post, 321Gold, Kitco, USAToday, SafeHaven, Stockhouse, Casey Research, The Gold/Energy Reports, Gold-Eagle, Market Oracle and Financial Sense.
Richard mills does not own shares of any company mentioned in this article. None are advertisers on aheadoftheherd.com
Source: nationalpost.com/
Colombia prepares for long period of drought
The El Niño phenomenon that extended Colombia's last dry season is now responsible for an early end of the rainy season. The "summer" that now follows will be hot and dry, experts say.
According to the director of Colombia's meteorological institute IDEAM, Ricardo Lozano, the country is now preparing to face this extended period of drought.
As a result of the long dry period from May to October, and a short rainy season that did not result in the rainfall that was expected, the level of rivers is lower than usual after a rainy season, which could result in lacks of electricity.
In an interview with newspaper El Espectador, Lozano warns that "summer" will not only arrive sooner, but will probably last longer too.
Authorities have already updated their distaster prevention plans, are being extra cautious about forest fires and have warned people not be exposed to the sun too much to avoid dehydration in case of a heatwave.
Despite the historically short rainy season, thirteen people were killed and four are still missing following landslides and floods triggered by heavy rainfall.
Source: colombiareports.com/
Colombian Banks' Jan-Oct Combined Net Up 15% To COP4.80 Tln
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--Colombia's financial institutions posted a combined profit of 4.80 trillion Colombian pesos ($2.41 billion) in the first 10 months of the year, up 15% from COP4.17 trillion in the same period in 2008, the country's banking regulator said Tuesday.
Locally owned private-sector banks reported COP2.81 trillion in profit in the January-October period, up 0.7% from COP2.79 trillion in the same period last year.
Non-consolidated profit of Bancolombia SA (CIB), the country's largest bank, fell 7.6% to COP827 billion in the first 10 months of the year, down from COP894 billion in the same period a year ago.
Banco de Bogota (BOGOTA.BO), the country's second-largest bank, posted a profit of COP627 billion in the first 10 months of the year, up 11% from the same period last year when it booked a profit of COP567 billion.
The profit of foreign banks with operations in Colombia rose 36% to COP670 billion in the first 10 months of the year from the same period last year.
The local unit of Spain's BBVA (BBV) reported the biggest profit among foreign banks, posting a profit of COP330 billion in the first 10 months of the year, up 7.4% from COP307 billion registered in the period last year.
The profit of the Colombian unit of U.S.-based Citigroup Inc. (C) jumped 67% to COP199 billion in the first nine months of the year from COP119 billion in the same period of last year.
Spanish bank Banco Santander SA's (STD) Colombian unit reported a profit in the first 10 months of the year of COP78 billion, 95% higher than in the same period a year ago.
The local unit of HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) reported a net loss of COP24.2 billion, compared with a net loss of COP24.4 billion in the first 10 months of last year.
-By Inti Landauro, Dow Jones Newswires; 57-1-610 70 44 Ext. 1131; colombia@dowjones.com
Source: wsj.com
Locally owned private-sector banks reported COP2.81 trillion in profit in the January-October period, up 0.7% from COP2.79 trillion in the same period last year.
Non-consolidated profit of Bancolombia SA (CIB), the country's largest bank, fell 7.6% to COP827 billion in the first 10 months of the year, down from COP894 billion in the same period a year ago.
Banco de Bogota (BOGOTA.BO), the country's second-largest bank, posted a profit of COP627 billion in the first 10 months of the year, up 11% from the same period last year when it booked a profit of COP567 billion.
The profit of foreign banks with operations in Colombia rose 36% to COP670 billion in the first 10 months of the year from the same period last year.
The local unit of Spain's BBVA (BBV) reported the biggest profit among foreign banks, posting a profit of COP330 billion in the first 10 months of the year, up 7.4% from COP307 billion registered in the period last year.
The profit of the Colombian unit of U.S.-based Citigroup Inc. (C) jumped 67% to COP199 billion in the first nine months of the year from COP119 billion in the same period of last year.
Spanish bank Banco Santander SA's (STD) Colombian unit reported a profit in the first 10 months of the year of COP78 billion, 95% higher than in the same period a year ago.
The local unit of HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) reported a net loss of COP24.2 billion, compared with a net loss of COP24.4 billion in the first 10 months of last year.
-By Inti Landauro, Dow Jones Newswires; 57-1-610 70 44 Ext. 1131; colombia@dowjones.com
Source: wsj.com
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Colombia Twitter
Colombia (pronounced /kəˈlʌmbiə/), officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðe koˈlombja] , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia also shares maritime borders with Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Colombia is the 26th largest nation in the world and the fourth largest in South America. It has the 29th largest population in the world and the second largest in South America, after Brazil. Colombia has the third largest Spanish-speaking population in the world after Mexico and the United States.
The territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous nations including the Muisca, Quimbaya, and Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonisation which ultimately led to the creation of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (comprising modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama) with its capital at Bogotá. Independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 "Gran Colombia" had collapsed with the secession of Venezuela and Ecuador. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada. The new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation (1858), and then the United States of Colombia (1863), before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. Panama seceded in 1903.
Colombia has a long tradition of constitutional government. The Liberal and Conservative parties, founded in 1848 and 1849 respectively, are two of the oldest surviving political parties in the Americas. However, tensions between the two have frequently erupted into violence, most notably in the Thousand Days War (1899-1902) and La Violencia, beginning in 1948. Since the 1960s, government forces, left-wing insurgents and right-wing paramilitaries have been engaged in the continent's longest-running armed conflict. Fuelled by the cocaine trade, this escalated dramatically in the 1990s. However, the insurgents lack the military or popular support necessary to overthrow the government, and in recent years the violence has been decreasing. Many paramilitary groups have demobilized as part of a controversial peace process with the government, and the guerrillas have lost control in many areas where they once dominated. Meanwhile Colombia's homicide rate, for many years the highest in the world, has almost halved since 2002.
Colombia is a standing middle power with the fourth largest economy in South America. It is very ethnically diverse, and the interaction between descendants of the original native inhabitants, Spanish colonists, African slaves and twentieth-century immigrants from Europe and the Middle East has produced a rich cultural heritage. This has also been influenced by Colombia's varied geography. The majority of the urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains, but Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines. Ecologically, Colombia is one of the world's 18 megadiverse countries.
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