Colombia’s Banana Massacre

Killing in the name of business. It’s hard to imagine today that this could have been even momentarily something to pass without condemnation, but times have changed. On Dec. 6, 1928, Colombian soldiers shot to death banana workers on strike at the United Fruit Company. The U.S. government’s man in Bogotá, Ambassador Jefferson Caffery, sent a dispatch home a month later, informing Washington: “I have the honor to report … that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military exceeded one thousand.”

photo: Keystone-France/Getty

Colombia: Guerrillas Demobilize, Forgive & Move On

photo credit: Fernando Vergara/AP

Is peace with a guerrilla movement, followed by democratic political reintegration, actually possible? As Colombia continues to negotiate in Havana with its notorious FARC rebel group, its own history suggests maybe so. Continue reading on Ozy…

I Am A Gypsy

Uncle Conrado was crushing them. One nut after another. He ripped the shells off with his hands and as he popped one into his mouth with one hand, his fingers were already in the bowl, hunting for another. You’d think it would be boring to watch an 83 year old man eat nuts, but it actually wasn’t because it wasn’t just about the nuts.

John Backus: Computer Science Pioneer

It was 1954 and somewhere in the offices of IBM, a 30-year-old whiz named John Backus and a small team of programmers came up with a new computer language. Backus later confessed that he was unsure of what he was doing. But his invention of FORTRAN — the first widely accepted high-level computer programming language — was about to change … well, just about everything. Continue reading on Ozy…

Who is responsible for Colombia’s history of violence?

‘Who is responsible for Colombia’s history of violence?’ is a hard history to unravel.

Colombia’s Security Export

Mexican, Brazilian and even Chilean students pull up seats in Mr. Carlos Ardila Castro’s classroom in the Escuela Superior de Guerra in Bogotá, Colombia. Lesson for the day? How to stop arms trafficking.

Rum And Poetry: In The Company Of Two Colombian Maestros

A mask of gray stubble covered his face. Slicked-back hair. Glasses. He sat in a chair next to a bench filled with books and scraps of leather. The man wore a green sweater and a worn navy coat. It was hard to tell if he was a particularly dignified man or not. The thing is, he was coarse around the edges. If there was dignity, it was hidden, quiet. He propped himself up with a cane in one hand while he poured the bottle of Scotch whisky with the other. It went into my glass.

Someone introduced him to me as Maestro.

Walls in Cartagena: The Ironwork of Ernesto Muñoz

The hot sweat coming through the rugged flannel shirt Ernesto Muñoz was wearing spoke volumes about the man and his dedication to fusing power with elegance: he ripped off the heavy flannel, threw it on a giant stump, studied the piece of iron in his hands, threw the lever on a clamp to secure it, and with the fine teeth of a hacksaw, the blacksmith went into a dizzying spell of thrusts, putting all his might into the beginning of another afternoon building Cartagena.

Pablo Escobar: One of the Bad Boys of Latin American History

He was the original narco — the ultraviolent, extravagant bad guy who set the standard.

How China’s Appetite is Changing Latin America

Protesters fed up with rising prices and cheapening currencies march by the tens of thousands in Caracas and Buenos Aires.

Wes Michael Tomaselli

Category: History

Colombia’s Banana Massacre

Colombia: Guerrillas Demobilize, Forgive & Move On

Is peace with a guerrilla movement, followed by democratic political reintegration, actually possible? As Colombia continues to negotiate in Havana with its notorious FARC rebel group, its own history suggests maybe so. Continue reading on Ozy…

I Am A Gypsy

John Backus: Computer Science Pioneer

Who is responsible for Colombia’s history of violence?

‘Who is responsible for Colombia’s history of violence?’ is a hard history to unravel.

Colombia’s Security Export

Mexican, Brazilian and even Chilean students pull up seats in Mr. Carlos Ardila Castro’s classroom in the Escuela Superior de Guerra in Bogotá, Colombia. Lesson for the day? How to stop arms trafficking.

Rum And Poetry: In The Company Of Two Colombian Maestros

Someone introduced him to me as Maestro.

Walls in Cartagena: The Ironwork of Ernesto Muñoz

Pablo Escobar: One of the Bad Boys of Latin American History

He was the original narco — the ultraviolent, extravagant bad guy who set the standard.

How China’s Appetite is Changing Latin America

Protesters fed up with rising prices and cheapening currencies march by the tens of thousands in Caracas and Buenos Aires.