During January 2024, the labor landscape in the rural sector and in activities related to agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry, and fishing presented a significant increase in employment, according to data published earlier this month by the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) and analyzed by the governmental Rural Agricultural Planning Unit (UPRA).

In the first month of 2024, the national unemployment rate was 12.7%, one percentage point lower than the rate reported in January 2023 (13.7%). The country’s employed population reached 22 million people, an increase of 533,000 people (2.5%) compared to the same month of the previous year.

In the specific case of the rural sector, in January 2024, in agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing, 3.2 million people were employed.

“This represents an increase of 244,000 people (8.3%), compared to January 2023,” said Claudia Cortés, director of the UPRA. “This figure reflects a notable growth in employment, consolidating this activity as the second that generates the most employment at the national level, with a participation of 14.5%.”

“This increase in rural employment,” she added, “reflects the dynamism and resilience of our agricultural sector. It’s an encouraging sign that we’re making progress in generating job opportunities in rural areas of the country.”

In population centers and dispersed rural areas, the unemployment rate stood at 9.5%, showing a decrease of 0.2 percentage points, compared to the same period of the previous year. The number of employed people in the rural sector was 4.5 million people, 47,000 people lower than the employed population in January 2023, representing a decrease of 1%.

In terms of informality, in the October-December 2023 rolling quarter, the proportion of informal workers, at the national level, in agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing was 85.4%, making it the economic activity with the highest proportion of informal workers in the country.

This data reflect the dynamism and importance of the rural sector in the Colombian economic context, as well as the relevance of continuing to implement policies and programs that promote its sustainable development, and that contribute to improving the working conditions of its inhabitants.

(Photo credit: afelipeug / Pixabay)

A joint initiative launched last year between Collective Mining Ltd. (TSX: CNL) and Colombia’s National Training Service (SENA) has helped more than 280 women graduate from program courses and join the local labor force, the Canadian mining firm recently revealed.

The program, which was designed to strengthen the capacity of rural women from the towns of Marmato and Supía in the department of Caldas, provides educational training programs in a variety of professions, including community tourism and textile apparel design and management.

“We hope to continue with the training and improvement of human talent in the region and that these programs can continue to contribute to better opportunities in the labor market,” said Óscar Andrés Maldonado, director of SENA in Caldas.

“This agreement with Collective Mining contributes to the growth and development of the regional economy,” added Maldonado.

Omar Ossma, chief executive officer of Collective Mining, said that promoting local employment is a key pillar of the company’s development goals.

“Working in alliance with SENA on this initiative is proving to be a winning combination with the graduating students from Supía and Marmato being the main benefactors,” said Ossma. “As our Guayabales project advances, so too will our efforts to leave a positive lasting mark on the communities in which we operate.”

Photo: Graduation event in rural area of Marmato, Caldas, for participants in the the strategic alliance program offered by Collective Mining and SENA. (Photo credit: Collective Mining)

French multinational GreenYellow recently announced that it has secured financing of 172 billion Colombian pesos (around $43 million USD) with Banco de Bogotá S.A. on an 85MWp (megawatt peak) portfolio of solar power generation.

The firm highlighted the move for bringing more renewable energy to Colombia and demonstrating its belief in potential of the energy market in the region.

“This financing structure demonstrates that we have a strong contractual ecosystem in place for each project, as the business setup is analyzed across sales, acquisitions, and the complex integration inherent in an investment of this size,” said Felipe Camargo, CEO of GreenYellow Colombia. “On the one hand, it confirms that we have adequately established the projects from a contractual point of view, and on the other hand, that our clients are considered bankable entities, since we work with companies with solid credit histories.”

The debt operation was structured under the figure of “project finance,” according to Green Yellow, and the financing agreement allowed the refinancing of five solar parks located in the departments of Magdalena (Caimán Cienaguero), Meta (Versalles, Denmark, La Mena), and Córdoba (Alejandría) in addition to two self-consumption projects in Sucre and Boyacá.

The French firm says that it has now invested 310 billion pesos into its photovoltaic generation portfolio in the country, which is supporting the installation of more than 130,000 solar panels in various locations throughout the country.

“This strategic investment makes clear GreenYellow’s commitment to the development of solar energy in Colombia, contributing to the expansion of clean megawatts installed in the country and thus to the mitigation of global warming,” added the company in a statement.

For its part, Banco de Bogotá praised the efforts to bring more solar energy to the Andean nation.

“We are proud to support initiatives that promote the development of renewable energy sources and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring that our country’s communities benefit from more sustainable and prosperous growth,” said Isabel Cristina Martínez, vice president of sustainability and corporate services at Banco de Bogotá.

(Photo credit: MaxPixel)

New York-based business process outsourcing (BPO) provider Horatio hosted its second annual client summit in the Dominican Republic this month as a strategic initiative to help position Latin America as a hub for customer service excellence, and its executives came away with an even stronger belief in the region’s potential in the industry.

Photo: Horatio launched its Bogotá location last August. (Credit: Horatio)

“Latin America is more than just a destination for outsourcing,” said Jose Herrera, CEO and co-founder of Horatio. “It is a strategic hub where innovation, talent, and customer-centric values converge.”

He added that the event “not only celebrates our accomplishments but also underscores our commitment to driving positive change in the customer service industry.”

Horatio, which employs 1,700 bilingual agents overall and opened its first Colombian office last year in Bogotá, identified the following four highlights from its event in Santo Domingo.

1. Strategic Expansion in Latin America

With a growing presence in Latin America, Horatio is actively contributing to the region’s emergence as a prominent hub for customer service. The summit addressed the company’s commitment to fostering local talent, creating job opportunities, and promoting economic development in the region.

2. Focus on Employee-Centric Approach

The summit highlighted the company’s unique approach to employee well-being and professional development, showcasing how this philosophy contributes to superior customer service outcomes. Horatio facilities include bilingual daycare for working mothers, employee benefits, catered breakfast and lunch, a track field, gym, and more.

3. Bilingual Excellence

Latin America’s wealth of bilingual talent positions it as a key player in providing customer service solutions for the U.S. market. Horatio’s bilingual agents play a key role in delivering top-notch service, bridging communication gaps and enhancing customer experience for their diverse client base.

4. Innovation Showcase

Attendees had the opportunity to explore the strategies that contribute to the company’s success including how a human-centered approach comes first.

The National Football League (NFL) has been expanding its global marketing efforts in recent years, and the Miami Dolphins have been selected as the team that will be the focus of league efforts in Colombia as well Argentina and Mexico.

This expands upon the “Global Markets Program” marking rights that the Dolphins already have been granted in Brazil, Spain, and the United Kingdom, significantly positioning the team located in the Southern Florida mecca of Latino immigration as the most prominent league organization in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking world.

“With more than 2.7 million Miami residents of LatAm origin and more than 66% of Miami-Dade County being Spanish-speaking, Miami is a clear gateway city to Latin America,” said Tom Garfinkel, president and CEO of the Miami Dolphins, in a statement. “And there is no team better positioned to grow the game in LatAm and Spain than the Dolphins.”

For the Dolphins, previous foreign-market engagement efforts have included watch parties for games, fan club meetups with “Dolphins alumni,” youth football activities, and NFL Flag camps.

“Those efforts will continue, as well as expanded programming, digital native-language content and increased retail presence, making it easier for fans to have access to Dolphins merchandise in Argentina, Colombia,and Mexico, to be announced in the coming months,” stated the Dolphins.

Mexico, in particular, has been an early adopter of American football fandom. With a reported 24.1 million total viewers of the most recent Super Bowl, according to the NFL, it has by far the league’s largest international audience.

Mexico is also the nation where the Dolphins have their largest international fan base on social media. But while Miami will share marketing rights in Mexico with nine other teams — including the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, and Dallas Cowboys — the Dolphins are the only teams with rights in both Colombia and Argentina.

The NFL hosted its first game in Mexico in 2016 and has now played in front of some 75,000 fans on five separate occasions in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca. There will be no game held in Mexico in 2024, however, as the Azteca is undergoing renovations.

In September, the NFL will host its first game Brazil in September between the Philadelphia Eagles and a yet-unnamed opponent at São Paolo’s Arena Corinthians.

Globally, only Germany, also with 10 team, has as many franchises with marketing rights as Mexico. The United Kingdom represents that next closest with six teams. Germany and the United Kingdom are also the only other nations to host NFL games outside of the United States.

The Dolphins have yet to play in Mexico but in 2007 became the first team to ever play in England. They also played a game in Germany in 2023.

The Global Markets Program began in 2022 with the goal to award international marketing rights to different teams so they could each individually work to “build brand awareness and fandom beyond the US, through fan engagement, events and commercial opportunities, consistent with their home markets,” according to the Dolphins.

“We are excited to be able to better engage with our passionate fans in Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, in addition to Spain, Brazil and the UK, as well as to meet and engage with new fans through game broadcasts and programming, fan engagement opportunities and local community impact efforts,” said Garfinkel.

Overall, according to the NFL, 62.5 million viewers outside of the United States watched Super Bowl in February. This was the largest international audience of all time, and represented a 10% jump from the previous year.

Photo: Miami Dolphins tight end running with the football. (Photo credit: Ed Yourdon)

After Monday’s national holiday, we have just two working days this week in Colombia (and most won’t be in the office) before we shut down fully for the Easter Egg hunt.

Banco de la República cut rates by 50 bps, to 12.25%, on Friday, but despite Chairman Leonardo Villar’s words expressing the “magnitude” of the cut, the simple fact is that:

1. It was the absolute minimum they could have done
2. It was not enough in the eyes of either Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla or the private sector
3. The central Bank remains the single biggest handbrake in Colombian economic expansion.

The committee almost chose to ignore their own most recent analysis, which lowered the 12-month and 24-month inflation estimates to 4.7% and 3.5%, down from 5.7% and 3.8%, respectively. On top of this, according to almost every document you care to read, El Niño has not been as fierce as expected, despite some glorious suntans, and that we are in the final throughs of the drought.

Despite the central bank’s obstinacy, JP Morgan published an upbeat economic report suggesting that first-quarter GDP will rise 4% and that 2024 will total 1.6%, which is at the top end of the range. This would be supported by employment data that has remained robust despite high interest rates badly impacting investment, as well as the housing and automotive sectors, among others. That said, try to find a parking space at any given shopping mall — good luck!

The other talking point last weekend was the ongoing dispute around the government and its tight hold on the budgetary purse springs, especially the 4G infrastructure projects. Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s team is watching the pennies, a fact that hasn’t upset the ratings agencies — but has caused disgruntlement in the regions, especially Antioquia and Medellín.

The 4G projects are 95% finished. But due to overspend, Petro is required to send extra funds — and he hasn’t. As of yet.

The government says the money is coming. But former President Álvaro Uribe, who is ideologically juxtaposed to Petro, isn’t waiting. He has called for Antioquia to raise approximately $250 million USD, take over the 4G projects, and complete the job. Without getting into the political weeds, this is less about 4G projects than political jousting and point-scoring between Bogotá and what is referred to as the Federalist wing in Medellín. Beyond all of that, the legal complexities of such a move must be immense.

It’s a sideshow — but at least an interesting one!

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In this Finance Colombia exclusive, Francisco “Pacho” Santos sits down for an in-depth interview with Loren Moss to discuss current events in Colombia. Santos is the former vice president of Colombia under Alvaro Uribe, and former Ambassador to the United States during the Ivan Duque administration.

Santos is equally outspoken and fluent in English as he is in Spanish, and shares his opinion on:

• Petro’s frustration, improvisation and his stalled reforms
• Colombia’s new Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo
• Weaknesses in Colombia’s prosecutorial structure
• Gustavo Petro’s “Paz Total” or “Total Peace” initiative
• Santos’ time as a victim of kidnapping and how it shaped his politics
• The state of the Colombia – US bilateral relationship
• The surging cocaine production in Colombia
• A critique of both Biden & Trump
• The failure of US domestic drug policy
• Colombia’s health system & Petro’s proposed health reform
• The governance crisis at Ecopetrol
• The Thomas Greg passport scandal in the foreign ministry
• Fiscal discipline and institutionality in the current administration
• The former Vice President’s future projects

his article, produced by the Venezuelan Investigation Unit, was originally published by InSight Crime, a Medellín-based foundation dedicated to the investigation and analysis of crime and security in Colombia and Latin America.

The capture in Colombia of a leader of a faction of the Venezuelan mega-gang, Tren de Aragua, has highlighted the organization’s little-known role in drug trafficking.

Photo: Colombian police arrested Carlos Antonio López Centeno, alias “El Pilo,” and 10 other Venezuelans in Riohacha. (Credit: Policia Nacional de Colombia)

Colombian police arrested Carlos Antonio López Centeno, alias “El Pilo,” along with ten other Venezuelans in the municipality of Riohacha, La Guajira department, in northern Colombia, on March 9.

Investigations by Colombian police and prosecutors showed that the group planned to pick up 3 tons of marijuana that they intended to traffic across the border to Venezuela. Police also seized multiple weapons, grenades, an armored vehicle, and 10 kilograms of marijuana during the arrest.

“This criminal group is directly associated with the Tren de Aragua, a criminal outsourcing that is trying to enter the country to traffic drugs from the north of the country … to Venezuela,” said Nicolás Alejandro Zapata Restrepo, deputy director general of the Colombian National Police, at a press conference.

El Pilo was a well-known member of the gang. He had been held in Tocorón, the infamous prison in Venezuela’s Aragua state that served as Tren de Aragua’s center of operations until it was taken over by Venezuelan security forces in September 2023. From the prison, he oversaw the coordination of the organization’s clandestine operations in Güiria, a coastal town in Venezuela’s northeastern state of Sucre.

InSight Crime Analysis

The exposure of Tren de Aragua’s business on Colombian soil indicates that the gang’s criminal portfolio in the region is expanding, especially its involvement in large-scale drug trafficking.

Although authorities and intelligence reports accessed by InSight Crime confirmed the gang’s involvement in drug trafficking, there have been no previous prosecutions, nor suggestions, that it is involved in the trafficking of such large quantities of drugs.

In Sucre, Tren de Aragua’s operations have consisted of monitoring vessels smuggling people and drugs, extorting money from local merchants and producers, and finding human trafficking victims.

A local lawyer who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals explained to InSight Crime that the group also provides security services to drug boats.

However, the discovery of the plan to traffic 3 tons of marijuana is a game-changer in the gang’s criminal development, providing evidence of its steps into the regional drug trade.

According to the 2023 anti-drug report by Venezuela’s National Anti-Drugs Superintendence (Superintendencia Nacional Antidrogas – SUNAD), the Paria Peninsula in Sucre is under the domain of the Tren de Aragua and has become a key maritime corridor for the transnational transfer of drugs coming from Colombia, specifically from La Guajira.

The trafficking of marijuana from Venezuelan shores has been increasing in recent years. In 2022, a 1.5-ton shipment of marijuana that had come from Venezuela was seized in Martinique.

This article, produced by the Venezuelan Investigation Unit, was originally published by InSight Crime, a Medellín-based foundation dedicated to the investigation and analysis of crime and security in Colombia and Latin America.

Earlier this month, the third capital market working table was held at Financial Superintendence of Colombia (Superfinanciera) with a goal of presenting progress of the joint strategy between the government and the private sector to strengthen the presence of new issuers and local and foreign investors in the market.

According to Superfinanciera, progress is currently being made in a range of areas, including:

• the structuring of the regulatory proposal for its subsequent publication for comments
• covering issues such as the revision of the rules applicable to short selling
• improvement of cash operations through general investment instructions and aggregation of positions
• regulation of the activity of recurring lending of securities
• strengthening of liquidity maker programs
• revision of the conditions for the recognition of known and/or recurring issuers
• conditions for access to issuance and placement programs
• expansion of the scope of the financing of securities activity
• requirements for advisory activity
• harmonization of the issuance of bonds and securities with credit content such as CDTs

For its part, Superfinanciera says it will update some instructions related to the threshold for simplified linkage in low-value intermediation operations and electronic order routing systems, as well as those required to make the national government’s objectives in terms of liquidity and market access viable.

Various stakeholders, in a statement, agreed that the development of the capital market is fundamental for the economic and social growth of the country, and all agents must, from our different roles, actively contribute in order to strengthen it.

Finally, they reiterated the need for private sector agents, especially commercial and investment advisors, to promote among their clients the different business alternatives in the stock market to increase the levels of savings and investment of Colombians.

Representatives from the following agencies and companies all participated in the working session: Superfinanciera, Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, the URF, Banco de la República, the Directorate of National Taxes and Customs (DIAN), the Colombian Stock Exchange (BVC), the Securities Market Self-Regulator (AMV), Asobancaria, Asobolsa, Asofiduciarias, Asofondos, the Association of Financing Companies (AFIC), and the Federation of Colombian Insurers (Fasecolda).

Canadian mining company Collective Mining Ltd. (TSX: CNL) earlier this month announced the discovery of high-grade gold and silver rich porphyry style mineralization at its Guayabales Project in the Colombian department of Caldas.

The site, referred to as Box, hosts the same mineralization styles, geochemical footprint, and geology as the nearby Apollo site, and more drilling is planned for April 2024, according to the Toronto-based company.

“Located towards the southwestern end of our 4.5-kilometer porphyry trend, Box is truly a remarkable target,” said Ari Sussman, executive chairman, in a statement. “All the ingredients are in place for a new discovery to be made through drilling considering the large scale of the target area with the abundance of high-grade precious metal samples collected from a combination of porphyry related host rock units.”

In announcing the discovery, the company included these details:

• The Box target is a porphyry centre measuring approximately 1 kilometers by 0.7 kilometer by 0.4 kilometer vertical as defined by soil anomalies for gold, silver, zinc and lead as well as geological mapping and rock chip sampling.
• Multiple mineralization styles have been identified at Box and include porphyry with vein stockwork, brecciated porphyry and extensive zones of sheeted, high-grade, carbonate and base metal veining (“CBM veins”) trending southeast to northwest and east to west. The porphyry bodies at Box host high-grade gold measuring up to 5.18 g/t gold and the sheeted CBM vein systems have returned values up to 55.53 g/t gold, 665 g/t silver and 0.44% copper.
• The Box area has very limited outcrop exposure due to extensive vegetation cover, landslides and historical volcanic ash. Recent landslide activity has exposed four new outcrop zones within several creeks which highlight four new brecciated porphyry bodies with adjacent porphyry vein stockwork and high-grade CBM veins. Reconnaissance work within the streams has identified multiple well mineralized float boulders from other potential sources upstream.
• A previous three-hole scout drilling program in 2021 did not drill test the large target area outlined in this release but indicated that a large hydrothermal fluid system may be in close proximity.
• The mineralization styles, geochemical footprint and geology of Box is identical to that seen at Apollo and recent work highlights that the brecciated porphyry bodies of both porphyry centres are linked as part of a now well-defined east-west structural corridor.

Photo: On site at the Collective Mining project in Colombia. (Credit: Loren Moss)