Salon.com > John Otis

Colombia’s “end of the world” bunker

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:16:00 +0000

BOGOTA, Colombia — Whether or not the winding down of the ancient Mayan long-count calendar brings the end of the world on Friday, one Colombian man is taking no chances.

A reporter for the Bogota daily El Tiempo recently toured an elaborate underground bunker built by a businessman in the South American country's central Antioquia department.

The structure features iron and concrete walls 20 inches thick that are coated with copper (to protect those inside from radiation). Inside are bunk-beds, a kitchen and a pantry filled with gas masks, tanks of oxygen and water, and a two-year stock of instant and canned food. Other supplies include winter clothes and seeds to reforest a barren, post-apocalypse planet.

Colombia’s government to hold peace talks with FARC

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:50:00 +0000

Editor's note: Updated with the Colombian president confirming his government has agreed to hold peace talks with the FARC guerrilla group.

BOGOTA, Colombia — For the first time in a decade, the Colombian government appears set to sit down for peace talks with the country’s largest Marxist guerrilla organization in an effort to end nearly half a century of fighting.

Late Monday, President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed mounting speculation that talks between his government and leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, are beginning.

“We’re going to learn from past mistakes so as not to repeat them,” Santos said in a short televised address. “The Colombian people can fully trust that the government is working prudently, responsibly and firmly, always putting the well-being and tranquility of our country’s population first.”

Say goodbye to Colombia’s glaciers

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:01:00 +0000

NEVADOS NATIONAL PARK, Colombia -- Every year, the magnificent glacier-topped mountains of Nevados National Park attract thousands of tourists. But the snow and ice caps -- called "nevados" in Spanish -- are melting so fast that officials may have to come up with a new name for the park.

There used to be 19 mountaintop glaciers in Colombia. Thanks mainly to global warming, there are now only six. And because these remaining ice caps are losing 3 percent to 5 percent of their mass every year, experts predict they will be gone by the middle of the century.

"Our children and grandchildren will look at photos of these glaciers and ask: What happened? Why did they melt?" said Jorge Ceballos, Colombia's foremost expert on glaciers who works for the government's hydrology and meteorology institute.

Glacier retreat receives more attention in countries like Peru, where the ice cap is 20 times larger than Colombia's. There, the natural cycle of ice buildup and melting runoff is critical for the national water supply. By contrast, Colombia has plenty of water from other sources but very little ice and snow.