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Columbia

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Colombia is a country that has been ravaged by decades of civil war and has become synonymous with drug-trafficking. Since coming to power in 2002, President Alvaro Uribe has stepped up the war on left-wing rebels and Right-wing paramilitaries are engaged in a peace process. Colombia still has a lot of violence, poverty, and is the center of the world cocaine trade. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombia) The Republic of Colombia, named for the explorer Christopher Columbus, is located in northwestern South America. It is bordered by Panama and the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuela and Brazil to the east, Peru and Ecuador to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Colombia is the fourth largest country in South America and one of the continent's most populous nations. The capital of Colombia is Bogota. Colombia has substantial oil reserves and is a major producer of gold, silver, emeralds, platinum and coal. Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work. Media workers face intimidation by drug traffickers, guerrillas and paramilitary groups. More than 120 Colombian journalists were killed in the 1990s, many for reporting on drug trafficking and corruption. Colombia has a highly stratified society where the traditionally rich families of Spanish descent have benefited from this wealth to a far greater degree than the majority, mixed-race population. This gap in social class has provided a natural cause for the left-wing insurgents. (Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, Gale Research, Page 129) Approximately 1 million native people lived in Colombia before the arrival of the Spaniards. The Spaniards arrived in the early 1500s. Rodrigo de Batidas established the first permanent Spanish settlement, at Santa Marta, in 1525. While the Spaniards were organizing their colonial territories, the native Indians were on the

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