Analysis Report – Medellin Columbia

Medellín, Colombia was declared independent in 1810. This nation tried changing its name seven times. According to history, the culture and traditions are very diverse as it is characterized by a society with unique customs, cultural adaptations, and diverse social patterns. There are different groups categorized as those living at coastal, countryside, and interior regions. Despite having regional cultures, they unite when it comes to national events such as elections, beauty pageants, and sporting activities – coming together to show a common goal.

It borders two oceans, namely the Pacific and Atlantic. The lowland regions have rainforests, inland areas, llanos, and the Andes. Demography shows that the country has an approximate population of 48.6 million. This state is known to have a mixed race. In the total population, 16% is made up of mulattoes, 4% are Zambo, and Europeans, Africans, and Indians make up 20% of the population.

Linguistic Affiliation

In this nation, Spanish has been the official language since the colonial era. Those residing in the Amazon basin represent a portion of the original Medellín Colombian population and do not speak Spanish. English is also utilized in the major cities, primarily by the educated and upper-class groups, though not many residents understand or express it across the nation. Spanish is the means of communication in areas surrounding the urban centers.

Symbolism

The patriotic symbols are used in representing the founders and the War of Independence. The national flag was designed in the year 1806 by Francisco Miranda. The yellow and red colors in the flag were separated by a blue stripe, representing the ocean that separates the nation from the motherland. Yellow symbolizes the riches of the country while red represents the blood shed during the War of Independence. In this nation, the middle class enjoys meals rich in Spanish traditions, a meal is identified through its quantity, not its content.

Dinner usually consists of homemade soups and fresh fruits; the main course is meat or fish served with potatoes or rice.
The lower class people consume more of a carbohydrate-based diet, and meals often end with sweet desserts made from a brown sugar called ‘Panela’. The underlying economy of the nation depends on agriculture and manufacturing exports. Despite the importation of tractors, industrial machinery, and power generators, domestic production helps boost the economy. Although the nation is rich in minerals and natural resources, the GDP contribution from mining is less than 4%.

Land Tenure and Property

According to recent surveys, agricultural and productive forest land is owned by specific individuals. There is variation in the owner-operator relationship since, in small pieces of land, coffee is grown, and there is multinational joint ownership through the use of locally available labor for agricultural plantations and forestry.

There is a problem with land distribution and deforestation mitigation is considered in management practices and policies. Medellin, Columbia is a high-risk country. Many issues contribute to this risk, such as corruption, terrorism, war, environmental concerns, anti-globalization movements, and poverty among others. Our tourist venture is likely to be faced with poverty and corruption risks. The following is a risk analysis for our organization’s tourist venture project.

Corruption risk

According to a recent survey, corruption issues have been well-known obstacles for many organizations planning to invest in this nation. The World Economic Forum confirms that competitiveness is challenged by corruption. In 2016, Medellín, Colombia was ranked 90 out of 176 nations; this ranking was based on transparency. Therefore, it’s likely that our organization could face this challenge.

Further history shows that cases of bribery to win contracts in this country are high; for instance, a Brazil-based construction agency paid $800 million for no less than six years, and an additional $11 million to win a construction contract. Such incidences have prompted a global focus on Medellín, Colombia. Senior members of Uribe and Santos’s leadership in Medellín, Colombia, are under investigation (Truong, 2017, p. 8). Our tourist venture might face this challenge of corruption since many people in society are prone to corruption; the management, working staff, and junior staff might also get involved in corrupt activities. There’s also a potential risk that current tourism ventures and organizations might fear competition and attempt to bribe stakeholders or offer them jobs within their organizations. This could impact our operations, so we’ve set up strategies to mitigate this risk. The country’s political climate is rife with corruption, and high-priority infrastructure developments have been halted due to corruption revelations.

Given that corruption is considered a high-profile challenge for the upcoming elections, candidates are trying to distance themselves from Medellín’s Colombian president, who is alleged to be corrupt. This could impact the tourism sector in several ways, such as contributing to a reduced number of tourists, so it’s important to find ways to overcome such challenges. President Santos issued a decree prohibiting any direct public contracts with NGOs. The Secretariat for Transparency estimates that more than $400 million in public funds are committed to contracts with institutions and NGOs; contracting with such institutions has frequently been abused to steal public funds. President Santos also introduced two anti-corruption bills before Congress: one to establish public registers of company owners (a commitment made in May 2016 at the Anti-corruption Summit in London), and the other to increase penalties for corruption offences. Medellín, Colombia has adopted the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and is a member of the OECD Anti-Bribery Committee. It has also signed and ratified the UN Anti-Corruption Convention.

Moreover, it has embraced the Organization of American States (OAS) Convention against Corruption (Pless and Fell, 2017, p.36). It is my view that for a tourist venture and other organizations to run efficiently, Medellín, Columbia still needs to enhance enactment for the protection of informants and more transparent and solid systems for public tenders. According to the 2016 report from the National Civil Commission for Fighting Corruption (CNCLCC), Medellín, Columbia has made progress with the issuance of an anti-bribery law as a significant part of the duties for the accession to the OECD. The law establishes that the punitive duties can be transferred from the employees to companies, including supervisors and contractors bribing public servants of a foreign country. Poverty also poses another risk in our tourist venture in Medellín, Columbia. Although recent surveys show that the nation has made some progress in its efforts to fight poverty, there remains a marked difference between the conditions of urban and rural residents.

A quarter of the population resides in rural areas. Poverty has been a significant obstacle in the efforts towards sustainable development in these areas. This population significantly influences the success of any organization or business venture carried out in the country. Poverty has driven many people towards violence and conflicts. According to 2009 figures, poverty affected 46 percent of the total population and 64 percent in rural areas. Extreme poverty impacted 29 percent overall and 40 percent in rural areas. Today in rural Medellín, Columbia, more than 7 million people are poor, and 2 million live in extreme poverty. Many of these individuals, including small-scale farmers and members of indigenous and Afro-Latino descendant groups, have been displaced from their land and lost their assets due to violence and illegal occupation (Méndez et al., 2017, p. 256).

In June 2011, the Medellín Columbian Government sanctioned the Victims and Land Restitution Law, which calls for financial compensation for people impacted by the conflict and returns the land to many displaced families. However, income inequality remains a significant issue in rural Medellín, Columbia, where large landholders control vast areas of underutilized land. In total, an estimated 1.3 million rural families are landless. Half of them work as laborers for owners of medium and large-sized farms. The rest have developed various survival strategies; many are employed in services, commerce, and other non-agricultural activities. There are also considerable disparities in living conditions between the regions (McFarlane, p. 234). The poorest populations reside in the departments of Boyacá, Cauca, Chocó, Córdoba, Huila, Nariño, Sucre, and Tolima. Poverty is exceptionally severe in remote rural regions and conflict zones. Limited access to schooling exacerbates poverty and illiteracy rates are high in agricultural communities.

Needy, poor individuals are no longer typically small-scale farmers struggling to increase their yield productivity. Instead, most rural households are involved in microenterprises. However, whether they farm or pursue other activities, rural men and women are hindered by limited access to productive assets, including land, irrigation, and financial services, as well as social governments, education, technical assistance, and skills training. The lack of infrastructure prevents them from engaging with competitive markets. Women and children, who have the most limited access to resources and assets, are especially vulnerable to poverty. Afro-Latino communities and indigenous peoples, mostly found in remote rural areas, are among the country’s poorest individuals.

Mitigate Corruption risk

Medellín, Colombia, has made a few enhancements concerning the rule of law in the recent decade. The current peace talks with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) are an apparent symptom of increasing political stability. Moreover, a mining boom and improved security conditions have driven steady economic growth since the mid-2000s. However, neither these developments nor the new institutional modifications promoted by the administration of President Santos — the new Anti-Corruption Act of 2011, and the creation of a new Anti-Corruption Office in the Presidency — have contributed to curbing corruption. On the contrary, in Transparency International’s 2012 Corruption Perception Index, the country received its worst score in ten years, going from 57 in 2002 to 94 in 2012 (Rose et al., 2016, p. 13). Whether the country continues to improve its governance will depend on its ability to enforce its robust legal framework and implement its main measures against corruption (Farnsworth et al., 2016, p. 23).

It’s difficult to picture, but most Colombians from Medellín have never lived in a peacefully settled country. The stage of one of the longest armed conflicts in the world, Colombia has endured this internal struggle for over 50 years, which has taken thousands of lives and displaced millions from their homes. Despite this turmoil, Colombia, specifically Medellín, has made significant strides in the battle against poverty. Even during the conflict, the country’s growth exceeded the Latin American average and drastically reduced extreme poverty rates between 2002 and 2014. More than 6 million people rose out of poverty and, for the first time, more Colombians are considered middle class than in poverty. Experts agree that there is an exceptional opportunity for a post-conflict Colombia. A World Bank economic analysis reveals that if the country had been peaceful for the past 20 years, per capita income could have been 50-percent higher than it is today (Boron, 2016, p. 27).

Many initiatives are already underway for a post-conflict period. The Bank, for instance, is supporting Colombia, particularly Medellín, with objectives related to land protection, formalization, and compensation rights, especially for those displaced by decades of conflict. Women play a significant role in these efforts. Another significant issue is the reparations given to victims (Spenceley and Meyer, 2017, p. 434). The World Bank is creating a multi-donor fund for post-conflict Colombia, with its first step being to improve the government’s operational capacity to implement the collective reparations program. This initiative will benefit vulnerable groups of individuals who have been victims of the conflict, such as Afro-Colombians or Indigenous communities. Progress has also been made in assisting youth and vulnerable groups. A peace and development project generated social, economic, and environmental benefits for approximately 90,000 recipients.

More than 600 associations have been supported by getting a greater say in civic life, which has likewise fortified the state at the local level. Various initiatives include helping youth escape the spiral of violence and promote peace through arts, music, or sports.

Recommendations

The following are my recommendations: Tourism should be used as a possible tool for eradicating poverty and mitigating corruption in Medellin, Columbia. The government, the NGOs, and all the relevant stakeholders must be included in any business ventures. All ventures related to tourism should be paying much attention to the impact of their operation on the society, and their efforts in eradicating poverty and mitigating corruption, should be much included in their strategic plans. The competitiveness and success in economy through tourism can drive poverty eradication and corruption mitigation (Truong, 2017, pp. 1-16).

Planning and development of tourism in destinations should involve a wide range of interests, including participation and representation from poor communities. During the planning and development, the poor should be included in the committees and summits, and strategies should as well be built based on corruption mitigation in Medellin, Columbia through tourism. Impacts of tourism on poverty alleviation should be effectively monitored. The efforts of corruption and poverty mitigation should be keenly observed. The government should also support the tourism sector with resources and assets in poverty alleviation and fight against corruption. In addition, much attention should be employed when it comes to access to market, beneficial links should efficiently be established where the poor are also included.

References

Boron, V., Payán, E., MacMillan, D. and Tzanopoulos, J., 2016. Achieving sustainable development in rural areas in Medellín, Colombia: Future scenarios for biodiversity conservation under land use change. Land Use Policy, 59, pp.27-37. Demir, E. and Gozgor, G., 2017. What about relative corruption? The impact of the relative corruption on the inbound tourism to Turkey. Farnsworth-Alvear, A., Palacios, M. and López, A.M.G. eds., 2016. The Medellín, Colombia Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. Hlady Rispal, M. and Servantie, V., 2017. Business models impacting social change in violent and poverty-stricken neighborhoods: A case study in Medellín, Colombia. International Small Business Journal, 35(4), pp.427-448. Kubickova, M. and Li, H., 2017. Tourism Competitiveness, Government and Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) Model: The Evaluation of Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras. International Journal of Tourism Research, 19(2), pp.223-234. Martínez, L., Short, J.R. and Estrada, D., 2017. The urban informal economy: Street vendors in Cali, Medellín, Colombia. Cities, 66, pp.34-43. McFarlane, C., 2016. Urban Poverty in the Global South: Scale and Nature by Diana Mitlin and David Satterthwaite; Reducing Urban Poverty in the Global South by David Satterthwaite and Diana Mitlin. Méndez-Giraldo, G.A., López-Santana, E.R. and Franco, C., 2017, September. A Hybrid System Dynamics and Fuzzy Logic Approach to the Social Problem of Corruption in Medellín, Colombia. In Workshop on Engineering Applications (pp. 250-262). Springer, Cham. Pless, J. and Fell, H., 2017. Bribes, bureaucracies, and blackouts: Towards understanding how corruption at the firm level impacts electricity reliability. Resource and Energy Economics, 47, pp.36-55. Rose-Ackerman, S. and Palifka, B.J., 2016. Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform. Cambridge University Press. Spenceley, A. and Meyer, D. eds., 2017. Tourism and Poverty Reduction: Principles and Impacts in Developing Countries. Routledge. Truong, V.D., 2017. Tourism, poverty alleviation, and the informal economy: the street vendors of Hanoi, Vietnam. Tourism Recreation Research, pp.1-16.

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