Chilean low-cost carrier JetSmart Airlines has started selling tickets for several domestic routes that will begin on March 14 in Colombia.

It it’s initial phase of operations, the flights will all connect Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport to Medellín, Cartagena, Pereira, and Santa Marta.

JetSmart’s fleet in the Andean nation will consist of Airbus A320 Neo aircraft that can transport 186 passengers.

These domestic flights add to the various international routes that the Santiago-based airline operates within Colombia.

In all, JetSmart, which brands itself as an “ultra-low-cost carrier” and has offered introductory promotional fares as low as 30,000 Colombian pesos ($8 USD) will soon be offering these flights within the Colombian market:

• Bogotá to Medellín
• Bogotá to Cartagena
• Bogotá to Pereira
• Bogotá to Santa Marta
• Bogotá to Santiago, Chile
• Medellín to Santiago, Chile
• Cali to Santiago, Chile
• Cali to Antofagasta, Chile
• Medellín to Lima, Peru
• Cartagena to Lima, Peru

By adding additional capacity, JetSmart is helping to fill the void in an airline market that saw exit of low-cost carriers Viva Air and Ultra Air in 2023. Their departure has left the two largest players, Avianca and LATAM Airlines, with an even more dominant position.

“We see enormous potential in Colombia, to bring low-fare air travel to all Colombians, as well as connect with international destinations to promote development, tourism and connectivity,” said Estuardo Ortiz, CEO and president. “The ultra-low-cost model is back in Colombia.”

JetSmart currently operates domestically in Chile, Argentina, and Peru, with Colombia soon to become the fourth market where it operates locally.

S&P Global Ratings has modified its outlook of the credit rating for Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL) (NYSE: EC) from stable to negative, a determination tied to the drop in the big three rating agency’s outlook of Colombia’s credit rating from stable to negative.

Despite the outlook shift, the New York-based firm has maintained Ecopetrol’s global rating at BB+ and ratified its independent credit profile (Stand-Alone) with investment grade at bbb-, while noting that a review of Ecopetrol’s independent profile is not expected during the next 12 months.

In a statement about the outlook shift, Ecopetrol highlighted that “S&P has stated that Ecopetrol will continue to play an important role in the Colombian economy, and given the government’s participation in the company, its rating will correlate to that of Colombia.”

Photo: Campo Recetor Oilfield in Casanare, Colombia. (Credit Ecopetrol)

This week the Colombian central bank will sit down for the first time in 2024 with urgent business at hand.

Off the record, I am sure most of them would admit to having kept rates at 13.25% for far too long — and there is also a strong argument that they went too high to start with. They made a start in December by cutting to 13.0% but they now need to shift through the gears. Anything less than a move to 12.75% would be total incompetence, and 12.50% would see the seven of them on the road to redemption. Anyone calling for no change, in my view, can only be meddling in politics.

The most recent real sector data from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) for November was poor, and since then yet more clues have appeared (as if even needed). Imports fell by 13% (and for the 13th month in a row) to $5.17 billion, as domestic demand drops out, and there was also the final new home sales number for 2023 that was down 50% year-over-year to 138,151 units.

In the face of all this, rocket science is not required from the central bank.

Not far from the Banco de la República decision will be El Niño, which has arrived in brutal fashion. In the same country where 40 people recently died in a monsoon-provoked landslide, the land is drying out rapidly with historical record temperatures in many regions.

The local weather people (IDEAM Colombia) are anticipating scorching temperatures until April before they normalize. President Gustavo Petro is taking no chances and declared a national disaster, which will give the government extra powers for the next 12 months. On a slightly more optimistic note, ACOLGEN are predicting there is enough energy to see Colombia through the crisis.

In other news, the new tax reform was in the press over the weekend. The Ministry of Finance head Ricardo Bonilla reiterated that thsi was only to reduce the corporate tax burden — and, ironically, ex-finance minister José Manuel Restrepo was questioning whether this is the right time for such a move. Here we have a government, which the opposition states is anti-private sector, lowering taxes — and an opposition that is pro-the-same-sector doubting the timing. Colombian chameleon politics 101.

Finally, a little shout out to The Economist who wrote a piece about the Gustavo Petro, his son Nicolas, and vote-buying at the election. They need a small lesson in Colombian politics. Almost every elected official — including every president — on my watch has been accused of vote-rigging and association with criminal organizations. It is almost a rite of passage.

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LATAM Airlines Colombia will launch a new daily flight starting March 31 from Bogotá to Ibague, the underserved capital city of the department of Tolima in central Colombia.

Tickets are already available for purchase on this route between El Dorado International Airport in the national capital to Perales Airport in Ibaque, which will be served by an Airbus 320 that seats 174 passengers.

With this capacity and projected demand, the Colombian arm of the Chilean airline expects to transport more than 9,000 guests per month between the two cities.

This brings LATAM’s overall network in Colombia to 16 different cities with a total of 36 routes overall, according to the airline.

“We are pleased to find that there are more and more opportunities to grow our operation in the country, specifically in the destinations that most need connectivity, which allows LATAM to fulfill its task of boosting the supply in Colombia,” said Santiago Álvarez, the executive director of LATAM Airlines Colombia.

“Ibagué is a route of great interest due to its economic, touristic and commercial role in the country, which is why we consider it an excellent alternative to strengthen our domestic network.”

(Photo credit: LATAM Airlines)

US private equity investment firm ACON Investments has announced a definitive agreement to sell Colombian medical materials firm Vitalis to Mexican multinational Laboratorios Sanfer, according to the Washington-based investment firm.

Financial details were not disclosed, and the transaction remains subject to approval by the Colombian and Mexican antitrust authorities, along with other closing details.

Vitalis, a near-50-year-old manufacturer and wholesaler of injectable products used in hospitals, medical institutions and pharmacies across Latin America, has over 700 individual product registrations in more than 20 therapeutical areas.

“The team at Vitalis is enthusiastic to begin this new era of growth, consolidating its position as a key player in the Latin American pharmaceutical market,” said Alberto Hernandez, a partner at ACON. “We are confident that Sanfer’s experience, know-how and leadership will exponentially boost the company’s growth and expansion plans.”

ACON, along with other co-investors, acquired 100% of Vitalis in May 2021, per the company.

“During ACON’s investment, and thanks to the great effort of the Vitalis team, the company rapidly increased sales and profitability as it opened new commercial channels, upgraded all of its manufacturing facilities across Colombia, Mexico and Chile, made important investments in quality control and safety, and implemented industry-leading environmental, social and governance standards,” said Jose Miguel Knoell, managing partner at ACON.

He added that he expects Vitalis to “continue its mission of supplying high-quality, efficient, and secure pharmaceutical products across Latin America, maintaining a focus on patients.”

Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister Álvaro Leyva was suspended from his role for three months by the inspector general for allegedly mishandling the bidding process that would award a private contract to become the next company tasked with printing passports in the Andean nation.

Photo: Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva. (Credit: Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

While bureaucratic details such as passport issuance particulars normally don’t draw significant attention, Colombians have been suffering for months with long wait times and lines while trying to get or renew a passport.

According to the office of the inspector general, Leyva “violated the law, exhibited capricious behavior, and disregarded the principles of transparency and morality” when he cancelled the bidding process last year in which only one company, incumbent provider Thomas Greg & Sons, submitted a bid. Leyva purportedly lacked the legal and technical foundation to make such a decision and may have violated principles of transparency and responsibility in state contracting.

Thomas Greg & Sons had already filed a lawsuit claiming impropriety before the suspension order came down.

For the inspector general’s office, Tatiana del Carmen Moreno, Jesualdo Villero Payares, and Esiquio Manuel Sánchez are the officials handling the case.

The saga may also be entangled by an interpersonal conflict that Leyva previously had with Martha Lucía Zamora, former director of the State Legal Defense Agency (ADJDE). According to local media outlet Reporte Coronell within W Radio, Leyva took issue with a conciliation that had Zamora reportedly made with Thomas Greg & Sons and it led to a a verbal confrontation. Zamora would later resign.

Juan Manuel Galán, former presidential candidate and brother of the Mayor of Bogotá Carlos Fernando, has called for the removal to be made permanent. “We ask that he be removed from office and that a foreign minister be appointed to lead a strategic policy for the nation,” he said in a publicized video.

Others have made similar calls, and one emerging candidate to take over at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if Leyva is ousted is Luis Gilberto Murillo, the nation’s current ambassador to the United States. He formerly served as governor of Chocó and minister of environment.

This article, written by Gavin Voss and Vera Sistermans, 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.

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean face multiple obstacles to effective anti-money laundering enforcement, even though the region ranks above the world average in its adoption of legal frameworks, according to a new report.

The 2023 edition of the anti-money laundering index produced annually by the Basel Institute on Governance highlighted how Latin America and the Caribbean’s multibillion-dollar criminal economies have turned the region into a money laundering hub where criminal groups transform their ill-gotten earnings into usable assets.

Haiti and Venezuela were once again the index’s worst performers in the region. Haiti topped the world risk rankings, with the index criticizing the country’s weak legal frameworks and high levels of corruption. Venezuela fared slightly better, though deep-rooted corruption under President Nicolás Maduro brought down its score.

Suriname, which had previously not been included in the report, ranked as the 16th highest-risk jurisdiction worldwide and third in the region. The country is hampered by a lack of corporate transparency and the strong presence of transnational drug trafficking groups.

The index ranks countries on a scale of 0 to 10 based on their vulnerability to money laundering and terrorist financing, with 10 signaling the highest risk. A country’s scores are determined by 18 indicators split over five categories: the quality of a country’s legal frameworks, corruption and bribery risk, financial transparency and standards, public transparency and accountability, and legal and political risks.

The quality of legal frameworks accounts for 65% of the total score. Overall, countries in the region scored well in this category with an average score of 5.52, a slightly lower risk than the global average of 5.62. In every other category, however, the region’s average score exceeded the world average.

Below, InSight Crime outlines three key takeaways from the Basel index to explain what it shows about Latin America and the Caribbean’s anti-money laundering capacity.

Corruption, Money Laundering Closely Linked

Corruption and money laundering are intertwined in Latin America and the Caribbean, the report highlighted, with rampant corruption generating high risk despite adequate legal frameworks.

Corruption and bribery risks increased in the region in 2023, according to the report, with countries scoring an average of 5.42 on the indicator, well above the world average of 5.02.

This score reflects previous InSight Crime coverage, which outlined how anti-corruption efforts have stalled around the region in recent years as governments are unwilling or unable to combat the longstanding impact of criminal groups in politics.

In 2023, for example, Paraguay elected Santiago Peña as president, an establishment candidate with strong ties to criminal actors. Colombia, a country with historical links between politicians and drug traffickers, was once again wracked by scandal as President Gustavo Petro’s son admitted to receiving money from criminals that was destined for his father’s campaign.

Similar to other criminal economies, corruption and bribery generate illicit earnings for public officials that must be laundered. This puts extra strain on governments’ anti-money laundering capabilities, which are already hindered by lack of resources and inadequate coordination between law enforcement offices, according to Julia Yansura, director for environmental crime and illicit finance at the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition.

“There’s an unfortunate trend in the region where laws are really good on paper, but they’re not fully put into practice,” she told InSight Crime.

Corruption can also directly stymie money laundering investigations. In Honduras, lawmakers changed an anti-money laundering law in 2022 to make it more difficult to pursue launderers. The reform absolved some politicians, leading to strong suggestions of corruption. In Guatemala, corrupt officials have weaponized anti-money laundering laws to attack political opponents, detracting from investigations into criminals.

Risk Versus Reality

While the index ranks countries on their vulnerability to money laundering, it does not measure the actual amount of money laundering in a given country.

For example, Haiti, the index’s worst performer, is not a major money laundering hub. Instability, a faltering economy, and a weak currency, all aided by continuing gang conflict, drive away foreign launderers, Yansura said.

“The preference of criminals is to move those funds to a large economy with a strong currency,” she explained, citing the example of Panama, long a money laundering hub due to its dollarized economy and centrality to international trade.

The European Union and the G7’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have often pressured small Caribbean island nations to improve their anti-money laundering standards. Out of 27 jurisdictions in Latin America and the Caribbean with complete Basel Index data, many Caribbean island nations ranked near the top of the region for money laundering risk. St. Kitts and Nevis was considered the fifth-highest risk, the Bahamas came ninth, and Barbados 11th.

But larger countries with low risk can see more total money laundering than high-risk small islands.

In Ecuador, which has a comparatively low risk of money laundering (19th in the region), a recent wave of money laundering has accompanied an increase in cocaine trafficking. An estimated $3.5 billion — equivalent to about 75% of Barbados’ total GDP — was laundered through Ecuador’s financial system in 2021, according to the Latin American Strategic Center for Geopolitics (Centro Estratégico Latinoamericano de Geopolítica).

In Uruguay, the lowest-risk jurisdiction in the region according to the index, money laundering cases related to drug trafficking doubled between 2018 and 2022, and experts have warned that legal loopholes and limited law enforcement capabilities have attracted money launderers to the country’s financial system.

Cryptocurrencies and Money Laundering

The rise in the use of cryptocurrencies in Latin America, where most countries have fragile regulatory systems, poses money laundering risks. Many crypto wallets are designed to be anonymous, making it difficult to track suspicious activity.

The fast evolution of the crypto industry and the weak regulation of the sector globally means countries must “supercharge their efforts” against the use of cryptocurrencies in money laundering, the report argued. But crypto remains a minor money laundering method in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The instability of cryptocurrencies means they are unlikely to be a major money laundering avenue anytime soon, Kenneth Rijock, an independent financial crime expert, told InSight Crime.

“Cryptocurrencies are so volatile,” he said. “Even money launderers are afraid of using it because it may be valuable today and worthless tomorrow.”

Stronger regulations for crypto assets service providers and recent convictions involving crypto exchanges might also put criminals off. The Basel Index found that Latin America and the Caribbean’s compliance with FATF guidelines on virtual assets is nearly on par with Europe and well above other regions like South Asia and Africa.

Increased oversight and reporting requirements for crypto exchanges will make a difference, but will take time to implement, said Marianne Richardson, research coordinator at IBI Consultants, a firm that specializes in security issues in Latin America.

“Many people, including governments, still do not know how this works,” she told InSight Crime in May of last year.

This article, written by Gavin Voss and Vera Sistermans, 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.

Sociedad Portuaria El Cayao (SPEC LNG) and Höegh LNG reached an agreement that would allow the firms to take advantage of all the installed capacity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) housed by the Höegh Grace tanker until at least 2031. Following the move, more than half a billion cubic feet per day (mpcd) could be leveraged to strengthen the supply of natural gas in Colombia, according to the companies involved.

Known as a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU), the Höegh Grace is a tanker that has been operating in Cartagena Bay since December 2016 with the capacity to store up to 170,000 cubic meters of LNG and an installed regasification capacity of 533 mpcd — a sum that could help meet a sizable volume of the national demand for natural gas.

“The agreement with SPEC LNG demonstrates how valuable floating regasification terminals can be as reliable and sustainable infrastructure solutions,” said Erik Nyheim, CEO of Höegh LNG, in an announcement. “We are pleased to help Colombia secure access to international LNG markets and ensure the reliability of its energy system.”

The SPEC LNG regasification terminal plays the role of infrastructure agent for receiving, storing, and regasifying liquefied natural gas purchased by its users on the international market as part of the support scheme for electricity generation defined by the Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission (CREG, for its acronym in Spanish).

“This is very good news that comes at a key moment for the country, because in view of the uncertainty scenarios to face the natural gas deficit projected by the Mining and Energy Planning Unit (Upme), this agreement strengthens our project to expand the current regasification capacity from 400 to 533 Mpcd, which would contribute to the supply of natural gas in the medium and long term for Colombia,” said José María Castro, general manager of SPEC LNG, in the announcement.

This past weekend saw the passing of Piedad Cordoba, a leftwing politician who campaigned vehemently for the Peace Process as well as other minority rights. Despite the usual formalities around the passing of anyone, she was utterly despised by the Uribe tribe to the right. To be fair, I doubt she sent Christmas cards either.

Photo: Piedad Córdoba, former senator in Colombia. (Credit: Olivier Hansen)

But these figures are of upmost importance in any democracy — balance and counter balance, the two elements to be found in any pantomime. And few democracies more resemble Peter Pan or Beauty and the Beast than Colombia’s.

I remember, in my youth, the fury I felt towards the likes of Arthur Scargill or Micheal Foot (kids, ask your parents). But I was wrong. They were the voice of balance, but fortunately the United Kingdom has the luxury of a long, long democratic history and one of political tolerance. Colombia is still far from that point. The legal persecution by both left and right, not to mention the wanton assassinations of social leaders and journalists, tells us that.

We have had 20 years of right — and extreme right — governments, and after an initial few years of improved security and Santos’ peace agreement, they have solved few of Colombia’s deep seated problems. Millions cannot feed each other, corruption is rife at all levels, education is still not a “right,” and inequality remains at sub-Saharan levels

Now it is the turn of the left and President Gustavo Petro, another pantomime villain for the right.

Ironically, it is the left who are currently more disappointed by his 18 months in power. The economy is fine, he has made some strong moves on subsidies, and unemployment has improved. The economy has also slowed, but that is due to high interest rates and driven by global — not local — events.

But Petro is trying to reform the whole country and there is simply not enough time. Therefore, those who voted for change aren’t going to be satisfied. The right’s only fear is that he isn’t enough of a disaster — as that might complicate their campaign in 2024.

The country needs both sides of the spectrum. But still far, far too many, especially on the right, don’t accept that simple democratic rule. When debating, they only use the examples of socialism in Venezuela, Bolivia, or Ecuador as opposed to the many fine examples across the world.

I remain agnostic in my view of politicians in Colombia, at either national or regional level. I have met a lot of them from both sides. All very charming.

But would I trust them to walk my dog? Well, that’s another thing.

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Canadian mining company Collective Mining Ltd. (TSX: CNL) (OTCQX: CNLMF) recently ranked second in the 2024 OTCQX Best 50, an annual list that recognizes the top-performing companies traded on the OTCQX Best Market over the previous year.

The list includes both international and US companies traded on the market and is formulated by weighting a company’s total return and average daily dollar volume growth throughout 2023.

Bravo Mining Corp. ranked first on this year’s list ahead of the Toronto-based mining firm, which maintains gold and silver mining projects in Guayabales and San Antonio in the Colombian department of Caldas.

Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust, LithiumBank Resources Corp., and Data Communications Management Corp. rounded out the top five.

Three other Grayscale-tied firms and two other mining firms — Gold Reserve, Inc. and G Mining Ventures Corp. — completed the top 10.

Photo: Collective Mining personnel in Colombia. (Credit: Loren Moss)