If passed, a $170 fine will be instated to vendors who continue to sell products depicting Escobar, which typically include t-shirts, magnets and shot glasses. The bill also applies to any members of the police force found wearing clothing or accessories representing the cartel leader. The proposal has to go through four debates in order to be approved by congress.

These items are revictimising people who were victims of murderers.

Cristian Avendaño, member of Colombia’s Green Alliance party responsible for the drafting of the bill

A bill to ban souvenirs depicting drug lord Pablo Escobar has been introduced in Colombia's parliament – Associated Press. pic.twitter.com/YBkw3mzWw4

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 6, 2024

“We cannot continue to praise these people, and act as if their crimes were acceptable. These items are revictimising people who were victims of murderers,” said Cristian Avendaño, a member of Colombia’s Green Alliance party responsible for the drafting of the bill, “we must protect the right of the victims to recover…and find other symbols for our country.”

Souvenir vendors in the La Candelaria area of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, have contested the bill, stating that Escobar related merchandise generates a significant amount of their revenue. “Many people make a living from this,” commented a local seller, adding that many tourists from the US, Mexico and Costa Rica constantly ask for these souvenirs. “When you work as a vendor, you try to sell what is most popular. Everyone has their own personality, and if there are people who like a murderer, or a drug trafficker, well, that’s their choice,” another vendor noted.

Avendaño has remarked that the bill equally invokes the Colombian government to investigate the economic significance of this specific market and the number of street vendors affected. If the legislation is passed, a period of transition will be incited, subsequently bringing the government and souvenir sellers together to work on finding new ways of marketing the country.

Pablo Escobar became notorious due to his ordering of the murders of 4,000 people during the 1980’s into the early 1990’s and accumulating a fortune of $3 billion through the establishment of his hugely powerful Medellín based drug cartel. This made him one of the wealthiest people in the world at the time. His forceful criminal activity has made a lasting impression in Columbia and across the world, to the extent that in 2015 Netflix launched a three-season series about his life, portraying him as a merciless but highly astute character. A search block of 300 police officers was sent out by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to detain him for his crimes. Escobar was killed by police in 1993 in an exchange of gunfire atop a building in Medellín.

This is not the first time Escobar’s name has come up for legal claims in Colombia. Last year, the drug lord’s family filed a request to trademark the Pablo Escobar name on what they claimed to be leisure and educational products. A similar request was rejected by the European Union, reasoning that the trademarking would be against “public policy and accepted principles of morality”.

L’article Colombia wants to ban Pablo Escobar souvenirs est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

One third of the Amazon, one of the Earth’s most important green lungs, lies in Colombia and campaigners have long called for protections for not just the forest but its Indigenous population and their homes. But deforestation rates reached record highs in 2017 after the retreat of the Farc guerilla group left instability and rivalry among armed groups that enabled unregulated agribusiness to make incursions into the forest and carry out rampant felling.

44,262 hectares of forest saved

Since 2022 however, and the election of President Gustavo Petro, a left-winger who promised to put a halt to the devastation, logging rates have fallen, by 29% in 2022 and 36% in 2023. That represents “44,262 hectares of forest” saved according to Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad.

It is very good news, but we definitely cannot say that the battle is won. We continue to confront illicit economies.

Susana Muhamad, Colombian Environment Minister

The administration has had to tread several paths to slash the deforestation rate and has used a range of hard and soft persuasive tools along the way, including increased surveillance, armed government presence at key sites, conservation projects with farmers incentivised to take part, as well as peace talks and mediation with guerilla groups. “Peaceful conditions lead to reduced deforestation,” Muhamad said.

Calling the achievement so far “a truly iconic year in this fight against deforestation” the Minister insisted the downward pressure would continue but noted that predictions for next year show challenging times ahead.

Difficult times continue

The drying effect of the El Niño weather system has already been seen to increase deforestation which is spiking accordingly in 2024. And activities that encroach upon the Amazon, such as cattle ranching, mining, logging and the planting of drug crops, continue, the Minister said. A détente with armed rebels, the Central General Staff (EMC), appears to have broken down and the group have not only renegued on promises to protect the forest but are now promoting deforestation.

But with the fast-growing southwestern Colombian city of Cali set to welcome the COP16 United Nations biodiversity summit this autumn, and Colombia’s voice on the environment therefore growing in volume, the Petro government has used the platform to call for developed nations to cancel foreign debt in return for environmental action taken in countries on the front line of climate change.

L’article Colombia slashes deforestation by 36% but battle for Amazon is not won est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Now, Colombia has launched the first stage of an underwater expedition meant to map the shipwreck and eventually retrieve the treasure inside, which will cost 4.5 million dollars in 2024 alone. According to the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH), the first part of the expedition will solely concentrate on photographing the ship using “non-intrusive” remote sensors. That information may then be used to get a clear idea of the structure of the wreck and its inventory, which could help when retrieving the contents of the galleon. Meanwhile, ICANH has designated San José as a national “protected archaeological area”, a title meant to protect the shipwreck, its surroundings and its contents.

“This government is doing something that is unprecedented… exploring the sinking of the galleon as the possibility of understanding history and culture,” Colombian Culture Minister Juan David Correa said during a news conference in Cartagena on 22 May, when the expedition was launched.

As one might expect though, a 20 billion dollar shipwreck doesn’t go unnoticed and the rights to the San José are heavily disputed. For example, US-based marine salvaging company Sea Search-Armada (SSA), previously known as Glocca Morra, claim to have discovered the shipwreck in the 1980s, long before the Colombian government and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 2015. SSA is therefore asking for 10 billion dollars in the Colombian Permanent Court of Arbitration, which the government is disputing.

Moreover, Colombia has to compete with Spain, on the grounds that the ship was theirs to begin with. Bolivia says the treasure was mined by the indigenous people of the Qhara Qhara nation under Spanish colonial rule, while Peru and Panama, claim the goods were stolen from their lands. Only time will tell whether or not the treasure will actually be found and who will be able to claim it.

L’article Colombia starts expedition to recover sunken treasure boat  est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

The San José galleon was first launched in 1698 and was part of the Spanish Armada de la Guardia de la Carrera de las Indias. Sadly, it didn’t last long as the ship came to a sad ending in 1708 during a battle off Barú Island, south of Cartagena, brought down, according to historians, by a British squadron which didn’t just destroy the ship but also killed all 500 people aboard.

Anno 2024, however, historians and, with them, the people from all over the world, are mostly interested by what material goods the ship was carrying at that moment. The San José was travelling from the New World to the court of King Philip V of Spain, allegedly filled to the brim with treasures from the New World, including over a hundred chests full of emeralds, gold and silver coins.

In 2015, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution managed to locate the remnants of the once mighty galleon, but the Colombian government is keeping the exact location a secret, saying it is protecting it from amateur treasure hunters. Meanwhile, oceanographers are studying its surroundings as to determine the best way possible to explore the shipwreck and submerged robots will do an attempt to retrieve part of the wreck in April and May.

The Colombian government is investing 4.5 million dollars in 2024 alone to fund the exploration mission, but Colombia isn’t the sole nation to claim the treasure. It has to compete with Spain, on the grounds that the ship was theirs to begin with, Bolivia, saying the treasure was mined by the indigenous people of the Qhara Qhara nation under Spanish colonial rule, Peru and Panama, claiming the goods were stolen from their lands.

Only time will tell if the treasure will eventually be found and if so, which country will be able to claim it. Anyway, according to Juan David Correa, Colombia’s minister of culture, it’s not about the financial worth of the contents but about their historical meaning. “History is the treasure,” he told the Associated Press.

L’article Colombia looks to recover billions in expedition to the “Holy Grail of shipwrecks” est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

The statue, depicting one of Shakira’s famous dance moves from the hit “Hips don’t lie” is one of the tallest statues of a pop star ever unveiled, topped only by the almost 8-metre-tall statue of Marlyn Monroe, holding down her skirt, in Palm Springs, California.

On 2 February 1997 “Barranquilla and the world witnessed the birth of a heart that composes, hips that don’t lie, a voice that moves masses and a pair of bare feet that walk for the good of children and humanity”, reads the plaque in front of the statue. The bare feet are a reference to the singer’s charitable foundation “Pies descalzos”, Spanish for “bare feet”, which promotes early childhood development.

While Sharika herself was not at the unveiling ceremony, her parents stood proudly in front of the giant replica of their daughter. “It makes me happy to share this with my parents and especially my mother on her birthday”, Shakira wrote in an Instagram caption, sharing pictures of her parents, brother and Barranquilla Mayor, Jaime Pumarejo.

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A post shared by Shakira (@shakira)

The statue was created by Yino Márquez with the help of his students and the city chose to place it on a recently built promenade along the Magdalena River that runs along the edge of the town. “Thank you to the sculptor Yino Márquez and the students of the district school of arts for this example of the enormous artistic talent of the people of my land”, Shakira wrote on X.

Shakira started 2023 on a strong foot, releasing a record-breaking song at the beginning of the year in which she disses her ex-partner and former footballer Gerard Piqué. Among others, the unnamed song, which was recorded with Argentinian DJ Bizarrap in ” BZRP Music Sessions #53″, tells Piqué to train his brain too, not just his body. “A she-wolf like me ain’t for dudes like you. I’ve outgrown you and that’s why you’re with a girl just like you”, says the chorus.

In another verse, the singer says Piqué left her “as a neighbour to the mother-in-law; With the press at the door and the debt at the IRS”, referring to a tax fraud case she’s been involved in in Spain over where her actual residence was between 2012 and 2014. Shakira made the news again this year by choosing to settle the case and pay a €7.5 million fine, as well as an additional fine of €438,000 to avoid a three-year prison sentence.

“This decision to reach a deal responds to personal, emotional and sentimental reasons that have nothing to do with legal [reasons]”, Shakira said in a statement at the time, adding she was ready to defend her innocence but decided to prioritize her career and children. “I have reached the conclusion that winning is not a victory if the price is that they rob you of so many years of your life.”

L’article Shakira gets 6.5-metre-tall bronze statue in her home town est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

In a recent report by International Living magazine, Colombia was ranked one of the cheapest places to live in 2023. According to Euronews, renting a one-bedroom apartment for six months in Bogota would cost roughly €2,000.

“Colombia is thrilled to share with digital nomads the privilege of working from the second most biodiverse country in the world,” Carmen Caballero, President of ProColombia, part of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism said in a statement. “Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, Cali, the Coffee Landscape and other destinations offer a variety of coworking spaces and accommodations with specific programs developed for more extended stays where remote workers will have unforgettable experiences.”

The proposal was presented by Ilana Milkes, CEO of Tech World, at the last Mobile World Congress, after two years of working on it together with the government agency Procolombia. This represents a big step for the country, taking into account the growing technology scene in major cities such as Bogota and Medellin and the preferences of digital nomads to have Colombia as one of their options to move.

Colombia is thrilled to share with digital nomads the privilege of working from the second most biodiverse country in the world.

Carmen Caballero, President of ProColombia

According to MinTic, Colombia’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies, the country is ahead of other countries in the region in terms of Internet and computer penetration; and it is also improving its Network Readiness Index at a faster rate than the world average.

According to a report launched by Data Reportal, there is an excellent outlook for “the digital transformation stage” in Colombia between 2022 and early 2023. The data show a %75.7 internet coverage and an increase of 1.5 million internet users. In addition, fixed internet connection increased by 34.40Mbps.

The initiative is expected to facilitate the arrival of at least 45,000 digital nomads to the country in the first 18 months. It also aims to strengthen the tourism sector and generate foreign exchange.

From a governmental point of view and according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this decision also represents an opportunity given the growing market of digital workers, with high purchasing power and high spending and investment capacity, which represents a significant economic spillover for each individual and in periods ranging up to two years per person.

Colombia is preparing for the arrival of digital nomads. However, there could be potential challenges as well as opportunities ahead, including the need for more significant infrastructure to support remote work and nomadic lifestyles.

What are the requirements?

Hold a passport or travel document valid for six (6) months at the time of application, with pages available to stamp new visas on them. If you are in Colombia, the most recent stamp of your entry to the country must appear; or you must have an equivalent entry authorization.

Fill out the online form by completing the required fields. If you are abroad, you can also submit the application online; go to a consular office in your country of origin, or where you have a temporary or permanent residence permit.

If you meet these requirements you must gather the following documents:

• Attach a 3×4 cm photo, color, white background, recent, front view, without accessories, clear face, in JPG format of 300 KB maximum.
• Labor letter (valid in Spanish or English) issued by the foreign companies for which you provide your services, indicating the type of remuneration you receive.
• Attach labor contract (in case you have one).
• Demonstrate that you are a partner or shareholder of a company through a letter specifying that the work is performed remotely.
• For new entrepreneurs, a motivational letter explaining the project, the financial and human resources you have or aspire to have to carry it out.
• Bank statements to demonstrate minimum income equivalent to three Minimum Legal Monthly Wages in Force (SMLMV) during the last three months. The minimum income requirement is 3 million Colombian pesos or €600 a month
• Health policy with coverage in Colombia, against all risks, during the time of stay in the national territory.

L’article Colombia launches new digital nomad visa program est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

1. What makes it so special?

It all starts with how I heard about Rincón del Mar which was not even in the Lonely Planet at the time I visited. A traveller I met in Cartagena and who was praising Dos Aguas, the fantastic eco-lodge where she had been staying, recommended me the place. What makes Rincón del Mar so unique is the combination of this fantastic lodge and the very rough and unspoiled environment. It is not the typical instagramable and beach destination but rather a place you have to “feel” and experience. Nothing you see there is extraordinarily beautiful but there is that very special atmosphere which fills up your heart and soul. 

Getting there is another unique experience. After a few hours’ bus ride from Cartagena to the city of San Onofre, I needed a 20-minute motorbike ride to get to the village. Once I got there, I fell in love with this unpolished diamond: dirty roads, very few shops, loud music, basic houses, children running up and down and no sight of tourists in the main street. Nothing is arranged or made beautiful to cater for tourists and that is exactly why I loved it. 

After a 5-minute walk in the sand carrying my backpack, I reached a cosy, intimate beautiful beach with a very special vibe which made me feel at home. I had arrived at my amazing lodge: Dos Aguas. This is undoubtedly among the top 3 hotels I stayed at in Latin America. 

In Rincón del Mar, visitors can still experience the fishing culture of an Afro-Colombian village with its music, celebrations and traditions. The combination of beach, mangrove, dry forest, livestock and fishing culture and the Afro traditions makes it a very unique place. 

2. What can you do there?

I spent around a week exploring activities ranging from swimming in the warm Caribbean Sea, visiting the nearby exotic San Bernardo islands, which you can explore on a day excursion, doing yoga, savouring delicious fruit juices, playing board games with other travellers or just lying on the beach. It is also possible to go for guided walks in the mangrove or dry forest around the lodge.

There are also plenty of opportunities to immerse yourself in the life of the village. The most special memories are my conversations with the villagers, my experience watching one of the dancing shows of the local kids or a villager teaching me how to prepare a local dish at her place. 

3. The strong sustainable concept of Dos Aguas

I cannot talk about Rincón del Mar without further elaborating on the meaningful concept of the star accommodation there: Dos Aguas. If the village has a very special vibe, it would not be the same without the fantastic sustainable tourism project the owners have created. Their main objective is to preserve the essence of the village both on a social and environmental level. They wanted to make sure the locals are integrated in the project.

The lodge, which offers dorms and private rooms, is a bioclimatic construction which was built by local people with materials available in the region and using ancestral techniques. The owners really wanted to have an open space hotel fully integrated in the natural environment with no barriers between indoor and outdoor spaces. 

Dos Aguas took the deliberate choice to only offer a very limited vegetarian menu in the evening and reduce their benefits to ensure the travellers’ integration in the village and the development of local seafood and fish restaurants. While the owners of the lodge have come up with the ideas of activities, they do not take commissions and all the tours are operated by the community. 

Other interesting features include a zero waste mission, a compost system, a water filter system, the local production of shampoo and soap and a short supply chain with vegetables bought locally and jam and cheese made in the village. In addition to this, the water of the showers is reused for the toilets, no chemical products are used for the cleaning and there is no air-conditioning.

As the owners of the lodge said, they would only recommend Rincón del Mar to people who can appreciate how the village is now. When people say it has potential, they do not like it because they would like the place to remain the way it is. I would highly recommend Rincón del Mar to live an authentic cultural experience close to locals in a relaxing and beautiful setting which has not lost its soul just to please the tourists. The atmosphere, the feeling of being part of the village and the wide variety of activities will make you stay longer than expected. 

L’article Why Rincón del Mar is an off-the-beaten track gem in Colombia est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

“You could win a trip for two to Barcelona, when it’s safe to travel, to go for tapas with me and Gerard Piqué,” Shakira wrote on her Instagram and Twitter accounts. “All to support the education of children in Colombia through our foundation Pies descalzos”.

To launch the competition, the singer used an image where she appears carrying a small sign that says “join Gerard and me for tapas in Barcelona”.

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A post shared by Shakira (@shakira)

To participate one needs to click on the links that she leaves in her posts, and this will in turn send participants to the official page of the foundation; to enter the competition one must make a donation ranging from 10 to 100 dollars and that will add up a number between 100 and 2,000 chances of winning, depending on the contribution.

The competition has already begun and will close on the 5^th of March. The winners will be announced on March 17^th.

L’article Shakira launches contest on social media: Winners will be able to meet her in Spain est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.