COLOMBIA. Republic of Colombia
A country in the northwestern part of South America. Area - 1,141.7 thousand km². The capital is Bogotá (7 million with suburbs), major cities: Medellín, Cali, Cartagena. Administrative-territorial division - 32 departments and a capital district. Population - 42 million (2004), Colombians, including Spanish-Indian mestizos - 57%, whites - 20%, mulattos - 14%, blacks - 5%, zambos - 3%, indigenous people - 1%. The official language is Spanish. The dominant religion is Catholicism. The currency is the Colombian peso.
It has diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation (established with the USSR on June 25, 1935, severed in 1948, restored on January 19, 1968).
National holiday - July 20 - Independence Day (1810).
Colombia is a unitary republic. The constitution of 1991 is in effect. The head of state and government, the supreme commander of the armed forces, is the president (since August 7, 2002, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who ran as an independent candidate). Elected by direct secret ballot for 4 years. In 1994, the position of vice president was introduced (currently held by Francisco Santos Calderón). The highest legislative body is the Congress, consisting of the Senate (102 seats) and the House of Representatives (163 seats); elected for 4 years by universal secret ballot: the Senate - by nationwide, the House of Representatives - by territorial and special electoral districts. The chair of the Senate is Claudia Blum de Barberi (since 2005), the chair of the House of Representatives is Julio Eucenio Gallego Archbold (since 2005).
Political parties: The Liberal Party (LP) - founded in 1849; opposition, representing the interests of the national industrial and financial bourgeoisie. It has influence among the intelligentsia, especially in large cities. The Conservative Party (CP) - created in 1848, reflects the interests of bourgeois-landowner circles and the upper echelons of the Catholic Church.
It enjoys support from some segments of the peasantry and the middle class. The Democratic Alliance Party - M-19 - was founded in 1990 on the basis of the disarmed insurgent organization M-19. The Colombian Communist Party (CCP) - founded in 1930, is popular in the guerrilla movement and among some of the associated peasantry.
Trade union associations: General Confederation of Labor, Confederation of Workers of Colombia (part of the WFTU and ITUC), United Workers' Center, National Trade Union Council (coordinates the trade union movement in the country).
Before the arrival of Europeans, the territory of modern Colombia was inhabited by the Chibchan-Muisca, Quechua, Carib, and Arawak tribes. The Spanish appeared on the country's coast in 1499. In the 1530s, the country was conquered by Spanish conquistadors and was named New Granada. During the war of the Spanish colonies in America for independence from 1810 to 1819, the territory of Colombia was liberated from colonial rule and became part of the Republic of Gran Colombia. In 1830, it disintegrated and formed the Republic of New Granada (later known as the Republic of Colombia from 1886). In 1903, part of the territory separated from Colombia with the support of the USA, becoming the independent Republic of Panama.
The internal political situation in the country has been tense for several decades. Guerrilla formations operate in the country, some of which - M-19, the Revolutionary Workers' Party, the indigenous group Quintin Lame's Squad, the National Liberation Army - have laid down their arms and transitioned to peaceful life. Presidents S. Gaviria (1990-1994), E. Samper (1994-1998), and A. Pastrana (1998-2002) have repeatedly taken steps to seek a compromise with the active guerrilla formations.
The activities of drug trafficking organizations pose a threat to internal political stability in the country. Producing only 10% of the cocaine supplied from Latin America to other countries, the largest local drug cartels have almost complete control over the infrastructure of production and distribution of drugs throughout the region, smuggling them to the USA, Western Europe, and other continents. Since the early 1990s, the government has launched a large-scale fight against the drug threat.
In 1994, a series of operations against the largest Medellín cartel in the world were conducted, leading to the elimination of its leaders, including Pablo Escobar. In 1995-1996, the leaders of the Cali cartel were arrested.
Colombia conducts an active foreign policy, is a member of the UN (since 1945), OAS (since 1948), LAES (since 1975), LAI (since 1981), ASI, the Group of Three, the Amazon Pact, and the Non-Aligned Movement, and is part of several alliances of coffee, banana, and other producing countries.
It conducts foreign trade policy aimed at obtaining preferences in mutual trade with the USA, Western European countries, and Japan. It is taking active steps to connect to the North American Free Trade Area. It advocates for broad cooperation and coordination of steps in the international fight against the illegal drug trade.
Colombia is a developing agrarian-industrial country with significant natural resources. It has industrial reserves of oil and gas (total proven reserves of crude oil - 3.5 billion barrels), coal (60% of which is high-quality coking coal; estimated at 21 billion tons, or 40% of existing coal reserves in Latin America), as well as iron and copper ores, gold, and platinum. It accounts for 90% of the world’s emerald production. The territory of the republic is rich in hydropower resources and forests.
GDP - $83.1 billion (2004), GDP growth - 3.9% (2004), inflation - 5.8% (2004). The share of agriculture in GDP - 14%, industry - 32%, services sector - 54%.
The government is implementing an economic reform program that includes import liberalization, privatization of the inefficient public sector, and attracting foreign capital. According to international classification, Colombia is among the countries with minimal risk for invested foreign capital. It does not lack credit from international financial centers. Major investors - the USA, Japan, Germany, Spain.
In industry, developed sectors include petrochemicals, textiles, sewing, tobacco, footwear, automotive assembly, and metalworking.
The leading agricultural crop and an important item of Colombian export is coffee. Colombia ranks second in the world after Brazil in the volume of this product's export. In sectors directly and indirectly related to coffee production (about 650 thousand tons per year), about 40% of the working-age population is employed. Bananas (1.3 million tons per year), cotton, flowers, tobacco, rice, barley, corn, and sugarcane are also cultivated. Some food products, particularly grains and vegetable oil, are imported.
Colombia is among the countries that provide themselves with energy resources. 75% of the electricity produced comes from hydroelectric power stations, and 25% from thermal plants powered by coal.
Foreign trade turnover in 2004 increased to $31.5 billion. Exports - $15.5 billion, imports - $16 billion. The volume of traditional Colombian exports increased by 16.6%, primarily due to the expansion of supplies of natural coal, petroleum products, coffee, and ferronickel. There was also a 22.9% increase in non-traditional exports, particularly due to increased sales of chemical products, cars and spare parts, textiles, and meat. The main trading partner of Colombia is the USA (41.1% of exports and 31.8% of imports). The share of Andean Community countries was 17.8% in exports and 11.8% in imports, and EU countries - 14.4% and 15.9%, respectively.
33% of the self-employed population is engaged in agriculture, 23% in industry, and 20% in the service sector. The unemployment rate in 2004 was 13.9%. Social transformations are being implemented aimed at improving the living standards of a significant part of the population living below the poverty line (about 13 million people). The share of illiterate adults is over 10%.
There are more than 200 higher education institutions in the country, including several universities. About 30 daily newspapers are published, the largest of which are "Espectador," "Tiempo," "Espacio," "Páis," "Heraldo." There are about 200 radio stations and 50 television stations. The national news agency is Colprensa. In 1954, the National Organization of Radio and Television was established.
