Colombia

Regional push to solve Venezuela-Colombia dispute

Argentina has been playing a double-headed role in attempting to resolve the latest dispute between Bogota and Caracas over Colombian rebels allegedly operating in Venezuela.

Both Nestor Kirchner, the former president and secretary general of regional grouping Unasur (the Union of South American Nations) and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the incumbent president and Nestor’s wife, held talks with Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia’s president-elect this week.

Nestor said that his meeting with Santos, who was in Buenos Aires as part of a regional tour, was "fruitful", while Cristina talked of "establishing dialogue".

Nestor has conducted a series of phone calls with Alvaro Uribe and Hugo Chavez, Colombia and Venezuela’s incumbent presidents respectively, and other Latin American leaders on the issue.

He is also chairing Unasur's meeting on Thursday in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, in a special session to try to ease tensions.

The two Kirc

The FARC side of the story

In Cauca, Colombia is still at war. You find trenches in every corner, tanks, Blackhawk helicopters and lots of soldiers. Fighting takes place here almost every day and people have gotten used to it. More than that, they are certain that on election day there will be attacks.

But in spite of all that military presence we managed to find the left-wing Farc rebels, who are still fighting the Colombian government. We drove to the city of Toribio in the middle of the mountains and that's when we saw them. They were getting ready to attack the military. They were carrying RPG's and AK-47. They were coming out from the mountains, from the sewage canals, from everywhere. They said that a fight with the military was coming.
 
Later on, we saw them again. They set up a checkpoint on the road. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded for hours.

Colombia's healthcare 'crisis'

In past elections in Colombia, security was always a top concern of voters. But with the security situation in places like Bogota much improved in the past 8 years, polls have shown that social issues such a jobs, education and healthcare have become the primary anxiety people will consider when voting in this election for president on Sunday.

Healthcare is one issue that has been talked about a lot in Colombia lately. The system is dominated by private health insurance companies.

The public healthcare system for the people who cannot afford private insurance - about half of Colombia’s 44 million people - is in debt by some estimates to the tune of $3 billion dollars.

In short, there is simply no more money in government coffers to fund extensive healthcare for those who need it the most and can’t afford private insurance. Even the government has admitted in recent weeks the system is in crisis.

Colombia election final stretch

 There are still six days until Colombians select their next president, but this past Sunday was the day of important rolling up the sleeves and spelling out ‘closing arguments’ face-to-face with voters for all the candidates. Unlike the United States, for example, in Colombia there is a moratorium on formal campaign activities the week before the election.

So Sunday was a crucial milestone for the candidates to make their final appeals to their supports, and undecided voters.