olombia
is a complex and contradictory country with many features that set it apart from
the rest of Latin America. In spite
of its recent economic crisis, Colombia’s once strong and diversified economy
made it one of the few Latin American countries to escape the 1980’s debt
crisis. It is rich in natural
resources such as oil, gas, and coal, and it a major producer of bananas,
emeralds, cotton, textiles and flowers.
Spotlight on Cali
48% of children live in poverty.
53% of children aged 12-17 have no access to schooling.
26% of 15-19 year olds are unemployed.
81% of children who work do so on the informal sector with low income and no social protection.
Between January 1993 and December 1995 there were 6123 murders in Cali.
78% of homicides were committed by minors.
55% of murder victims (3400) were aged between 15-30 years of age.
80% of murders took place in the poorest areas (barrios).
Colombia’s other riches lie in the spirit and culture of its people. Like a mirror image of the land they inhabit, they are tremendously diverse in origin; comprising descendants of plantation slaves and conquistadors and remnants of the once large indigenous population.
However, nowhere in the world is the struggle between good and evil more apparent. Despite its democratically elected government and its political stability, Colombia has an appalling human rights record.
Outsiders often attribute the violence solely to the infamous drug cartels, but in reality, it is a complex mix involving a thirty-year-guerrilla insurgency and increasingly violent backlash from armed forces and state-sponsored paramilitaries. Almost 2 million of the rural population have fled to the squalor of city shanty towns to escape the violence.
Deprived of their basic needs and opportunities, widespread social problems have occurred. Many young people become delinquent and turn to the streets for their livelihoods, becoming involved in drugs, crime and gang violence. In doing so they become a target for the infamous “death squads” which roam the streets of Colombia’s cities looking to cleanse society of undesirables such as street children, prostitutes, homosexual and homeless people. Considering this violence, it comes as no surprise that the UN has named Colombia the most dangerous country in the world for children.
(from Mission, The Xaverian Way, Summer 2000)