Reyes, accompanied by Acting Deputy Minister of Business Development Lorenzo Castillo Barvo, held meetings with Chinese investors and visited key industrial sites including the headquarters of technology giant Huawei, the automotive company SAIC, and the electric vehicle manufacturer BYD, which has a notable presence in Colombia’s electric bus sector. The trip also included a tour of Yangshan Port, the world’s largest port, renowned for its state-of-the-art automation and zero-emissions operations, which Colombia hopes to emulate to improve its own logistics infrastructure.

These meetings coincide with Colombia’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has sparked both interest and concern across the region. China’s BRI is a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure and investment strategy aimed at enhancing global trade links. For Colombia, formal participation could mean increased investment in critical sectors such as energy and transportation. However, the initiative has also raised concerns about increasing Chinese influence in Latin America and the long-term geopolitical implications of deepening ties with the Asian power.

Colombia’s government is focusing on collaboration with Chinese entities in infrastructure, renewable energy, and technology, areas that align with global trends towards sustainable development. At Huawei’s Shanghai facility, Reyes explored advances in artificial intelligence, fiber optics, 3D modelling, and 5G technologies, while discussions with companies like Alibaba, ZTE, and Jinkosolar underscored Colombia’s push to boost its digital and green economy.

During his visit, Reyes also participated in the China International Import Expo (CIIE), a major trade event that draws global participants. Colombian companies including LOK Foods, Madremonte, and Minerva showcased their products to Chinese buyers, hoping to capitalize on the growing demand for Colombian goods in China. Reyes emphasized the importance of international trade for Colombia’s economy but stressed that the benefits should reach all sectors of society, particularly rural communities involved in agriculture.

While the Colombian government appears eager to capitalize on China’s economic potential, critics of the BRI are concerned about its broader geopolitical impact. The initiative, which has been expanding across Latin America and other developing regions, often involves Chinese loans for large-scale infrastructure projects. Critics argue that these loans can increase the indebtedness of participating countries, making them more susceptible to China’s economic and political influence.

In a parallel development, discussions about Colombia’s official participation in the BRI were revisited during a trade event between Colombia and China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) in October. Luis Diego Monsalve, former Colombian ambassador to China, indicated that efforts were underway to formalize Colombia’s involvement in the BRI, highlighting the economic benefits but also noting potential risks of growing dependence on Chinese investments.

China’s BRI has sparked concerns about the environmental and financial risks posed by massive infrastructure projects in developing nations. However, Colombia’s government remains focused on harnessing the economic potential of Chinese investment to support its transition to a sustainable economy. This balancing act will be critical as Colombia continues to navigate its relations with China, while ensuring that the long-term benefits of these investments are not overshadowed by the geopolitical risks associated with the Belt and Road Initiative.

As Colombia and China strengthen their commercial relationship, the implications for regional geopolitics and the future of the Belt and Road Initiative will remain a central issue. The growing influence of China in Latin America and the Caribbean is set to redefine trade dynamics and the balance of power in the region in the years to come.

For more details on the BRI and its implications for Latin America, see Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission and Huawei’s Technology Solutions.

Above photo: Luis Carlos Reyes Hernández, Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism (courtesy MinCIT)

The book starts off with a glowing account of the airline’s creation, almost superlative in its description of the personalities involved. However, in the second half the book takes a frank and candid tone when approaching the airline’s growing pains, internal conflict among the founders & investors, missteps, lost battles, and public relations “chicharrones” as they say in Spanish.

While the first half of the book introduces us to the founders and initial investors, the second half gets more serious taking us behind closed doors as the airline metamorphosed from a scrappy startup with 5 aircraft to a well-run enterprise with “adults at the yoke” like current CEO & former LatAm executive Felix Antelo, that continues in growth mode with over 30 new Airbus A320neo aircraft on order and new routes while competitors are mired in bankruptcy.

The book contains a few minor typos that are forgivable for a first edition, and as someone familiar with the subject matter, I would take issue with the author’s description of the bus service in Colombia. While it is true that Viva Air is now in many cases even less expensive (and certainly faster and safer) than bus travel, the major new bus lines for some years now have issued assigned seating in modern motor coaches with bathrooms and onboard Wi-Fi.

On the other hand, I admire the author’s candid recounts of the airline’s early struggles and bootstrap mentality. Safety was never compromised, but the airline struggled at first with e-commerce, reservation systems, and messaging. They eventually got their act together, but fortuitously for the protagonist, it happened simultaneous with the operational meltdown of their main competitor.

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in Colombia, Commercial Aviation (especially the new low-cost model pioneered by Ryanair & Southwest), entrepreneurship—especially outside of the tech/software sector, and even corporate finance. It is a fun but informative read, written in a frank but irreverent style that matches the airline itself.

Finance Colombia’s founder Loren Moss was able to connect with Viva Air’s Executive Chairman Declan Ryan to better understand the gap between what the Duque Administration has said, and what they are doing. Are investors being treated equitably? Play the video to hear first hand. The complete written transcript follows.

Finance Colombia: So I’m here with Declan Ryan. Declan Ryan from Irelandia Aviation and the Executive Chairman of Viva Air. Thank you for your time and for joining us.

Declan Ryan: You’re very welcome.

Finance Colombia: So let’s get right into it. I know you’re busy. We know that in the news right now, the Colombian government, after spending most of the summer saying that all airlines were going to be treated equitably if there was any kind of financing or backup from the government, has announced a $370 million dollar loan to Avianca, even though Avianca is in bankruptcy, and it seems like a shock because I know that Viva was hoping to get a much smaller amount and Viva was in much better, better shape. Can you give us some insight on that?

Declan Ryan: Yes, we had a conference call with the president and his advisers in March at the beginning of the pandemic, and he reassured us then on the call that all the carriers would be treated equally. And of course, we took that at face value. And subsequently we had heard a lot of rumors, but didn’t act upon them until the announcement was made that Avianca was going to get $370 million dollars in the package that Viva had been offered is about twenty $5 million, and it’s through a different scheme. It’s a scheme for businesses and so on. We were quite shocked.

We kind of get that Avianca is a bigger carrier and it’s loved, and you know, people feel like it’s the Delta or the Lufthansa of Colombia. We get all that. But the proportionality between $25 million for ourselves and $370three millions or Avianca. The other thing you have to take into account, Loren, is that Avianca is shrinking because of Chapter 11, and about 12 months ago, they had nearly 200 airplanes. And in the next six months they’re going to be operating 57 airplanes. So it’s a totally different Avianca. And one of the arguments put forward is all about their connectivity, but their connectivity is going to be smaller.

“We have a thousand employees and Medellín is our home”-Declan Ryan

Finance Colombia: Not only that, I think that you guys have something like 20 Airbus, 320 is on order. I know you guys did a $3.2 billion dollar deal for you guys are in growth mode.

Declan Ryan: Yeah, exactly, and low costs have been in Colombia since we started approximately seven years ago. And if you take what a mature market looks like with low cost airlines, we take Southwest in the United States or Ryanair in Europe, it should be about up to, you know, 40 to 50 percent of the market. And we’re only just a little bit over 20 percent. So Viva has a long road to grow and we have another 35 airplanes coming in the next couple of years.

Finance Colombia: I did some back of the napkin calculations and it seems that if Avianca got almost $400 million dollars, then if that were going to be proportionate would be within you guys would be getting at least a hundred million dollars.

Declan Ryan: Yes, we think it’s a little bit over that, but we want to be careful about putting too much pressure on this government and Colombia, because there’s a lot more kinds of priorities when it comes to people’s health and safety and all the issues that are going on in the streets, and, you know, lockdown is very hard for people and we understand that, but we just don’t understand why nearly $400 million dollars have been given to a bankrupt airline.

Finance Colombia: Not just that, it’s weird because, I mean, their alliances and ties with United Airlines, which has been a big investor in their…I predicted in the past, and maybe I’ve been wrong, I don’t think I am. But I think that it is kind of United’s problem to solve. And United, which counts on Avianca for South American access, would be the logical entity that would step up and do that. I find it hard to believe that if the Colombian government had not done this, there are not enough interested parties outside that would have come and done this. This almost—It just smells bad to me. If I look at it and I’m trying not to be biased, but I am really surprised and shocked.

Declan Ryan: It’s a very valid point, Loren. If you take the US, which is the most advanced aviation market in the world, effectively, it’s like giving all the money to Delta and not giving any to Southwest or United or anybody else. So I think that just highlights the example.

Finance Colombia: What are what the next steps? So you guys obviously are—I’m sure that you’re negotiating with the government and trying to resolve things, what, without disclosing anything strategic, What are the options that are available to you and what do you foresee happening in the near future?

Declan Ryan: We’re obviously going to go back to the government and we are thinking of resubmitting our requirements, but we haven’t decided upon that yet. But effectively, we will be representing to them in the strongest way possible that this is unfair. And it’s not our nature to go down the road of legal options or anything else like that, but I can’t rule them out at this stage because we need to get the rest resolved. And we have a thousand employees and Medellin’s our home, and it’s very important. And, you know. I don’t know how people would fly in Colombia without Viva, because our fares are at the right price and so we’re going to try to…I think the best words I could use at the moment and mediate with government and hopefully they will. They will, you know, deliver on their promise, Loren, because it wasn’t just in this conference call, but President, Duque also made it clear in particular press conferences where he reassured the other carriers, including EasyFly and so on, that we will all be treated equally.

Finance Colombia: It doesn’t look good with his own sister being the Chief Commercial Officer for Avianca, even if they were going to do that, I would just for the perception, maybe announce that in conjunction with saying “here’s what we’re going to do for all the airlines, including EasyFly that’s also in bankruptcy,” maybe if there’s something that they’re going to do with LATAM, perhaps. But I think it  doesn’t pass the smell test that they just came out the way that they did, but you also mentioned something that that I’ve seen.

I can think of some people I know, some of my wife’s friends who the first time they ever flew, maybe they were from a humble background, and the first time they flew was on Viva Air. They took a vacation to Santa Marta and one of her friends was terrified just because she’d never been on an airplane before! And it’s hard for people like us to travel under normal circumstances, every single week to conceive of that, but I’ve seen that case and I’ve talked to some people where it really has made flight possible. I mean, the price is…It’s funny because, I’m up here by the airport and it is now is less expensive to fly on Viva Air to Bogota and back than it is to take the white cars, the taxis from the airport into the city, and actually the flight’s cheaper than the taxi!

“We just don’t understand why nearly $400 million dollars have been given to a bankrupt airline.”-Declan Ryan

Declan Ryan: I’ll touch upon what is happening with passengers in Colombia in a minute. With regard to President Duque and his sister. It doesn’t pass the smell test. And I don’t want to be throwing stones at any particular situation. I have to say, if it was my sister, I’d ask her to get a job somewhere else, because no matter what company your family works for, they’re always going to get a serious cloud over them when you make a decision like this.

Yes, listen, buses are pretty hard-going in Colombia and other parts of South America and, invariably what happens around the world Loren, is people don’t value their time enough and their selves enough, and you know, taking a nine hour bus ride to Bogota, when you could fly at $25 bucks. I just don’t see the reason why people would waste that amount of time. There’s also security and other factors, Safety as well, so, we’re taking a lot of traffic from the buses, and it’s great, there’s nothing nicer than seeing first time flyers on Viva and I think it helps marriages, I think it helps romance, I think it helps family and, if you’re not getting on with your sister, you can say “listen, I’ll fly down and let’s have dinner” and all that kind of stuff so, I think it’s really important for the synthetic of an economy and the people.

Finance Colombia: I remember back in the early 2000’s when I first traveled to Colombia and I took the bus. I first bus tripped to Bogota, because I wanted to see the countryside, but there was a landslide and blocked the freeway and we were stuck out in the middle of nowhere for twelve hours. We couldn’t turn around because we were on the side of a mountain and just had to sit there until some bulldozers came and rescued us, and you don’t have that problem when you’re flying and also, we’ve spoken to some people recently, some technical people there about the type of filtration systems.

Declan Ryan: I was going to raise that point and thank you for bringing it up. The aircraft filtration systems are excellent, you get a new quantity of air every couple of minutes and during the lockdown the buses were full, you know, that can’t be safe, and I’m talking about biosecurity now, and the buses. People weren’t wearing masks you know. They say social distancing Loren, is a phrase for people who have money and are wealthy. You know it’s really hard to social distance in Colombia, even in some of the towns and so on. There’s a lot of advantage to flying, and also, how does a doctor who is needed in Bogota get from Cartagena? But hopefully things are a little more open now.

Finance Colombia: Absolutely, I’m glad the airlines have started to fly and domestically hopefully we’ll get the international routes open as soon as possible. One good sign is that the majority of inquiries that we get from readers are people asking when the air space going to open back up. “I have business I need to do in Colombia, I have…” You know, the mining sector, the petroleum sector, even people are ready to go on vacation and get down here and they just have family and friends they need to visit so I don’t think that the demand will be slow to return once the borders open back up.

Declan Ryan: Yes, I think that’s correct and our own view is that the short haul traffic will recover first, I think business traffic is a bit different and if you have long haul flights between Bogota and Madrid, I think you’ll think twice about that, but hopping up to Cartagena or in a 2 or 3 hour flight we think we’ll be fine.

Finance Colombia: Absolutely, thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.

“We want to inform the country that a new phase begins on September 1, where we change the concept of Mandatory Preventive Isolation, with a significant number of exceptions, to having a concept of Selective Isolation, distancing and individual responsibility,” said President Duque on his nightly COVID-19 Pandemic focused TV show ‘Prevention and Action’.

Duque pointed out that in this new stage, “we are no longer going to be governed by exceptions, but by specific restrictions, where restrictions will apply to events and crowds, where we will continue to advance in the opening of sectors with the protocols that have been established by the Ministry of Health, observing the criteria where we all continue to protect ourselves to protect others.”

The president underlined his intention to reopen transportation networks and some entertainment options, but the pandemic and public behavior would be closely monitored, and adjustments made as necessary. The government is also working on a plan to reopen schools, which generally would have already restarted under the Colombian scholastic calendar.

Duque insisted that those able to telework continue to do so, and that they still plan to reopen air travel, gymnasiums and physical fitness facilities, and restaurants, though events and crowds will still remain restricted. Restaurants will open to diners under diminished capacity restrictions, and open-air dining will be encouraged.

Colombian and international airlines have already begun accepting reservations for flights starting in September, and intermunicipal bus transport es expected to begin as well.

The vehicle, which was operated by transportation company Cristales, was driving on the Buga-Buenaventura route through the municipality of Calima-Dariénin in the department of Valle de Cauca when it overturned. The cause of the accident is still not clear, although local media reports have suggested brake failure may have been involved.

Multiple teenage players were killed in the accident as well as one three-year-old boy, according to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo. At least two teenagers reportedly died from their injuries after reaching San José de Buga Hospital.

Local authorities are investigating the cause of the accident, said local governor Dilian Francisca Toro, as the local community mourns those lost.

The tragedy comes just weeks after 14 people were killed in the department of Antioquia, near the municipality in Sabanalarga, after a bus reportedly ran off an Andean roadway and fell into a ravine.

Araújo, who previously served as Colombia’s minister of foreign affairs and minister of culture, will assume leadership of Bogotá’s primary public transportation network as it is beginning to undergo an expansion at the same time the city moves forward with its first metro rail system.

Photo: Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa formally welcomes María Consuelo Araújo as the new head of the capital’s TransMilenio bus rapid transit system. (Credit: Alcaldía de Bogotá)

Araújo, who studied finance and international relations at Externado University in Colombia and government and public affairs at the University of Columbia in New York, most recently was the secretary of social integration in the mayor’s office and earlier served as CEO of Gran Colombia Gold, a Canadian gold mining company that has faced some controversy in the country for its operating practices.

While Bogotá remains one of the largest cities in the world without a proper metro, the TransMilenio system that was introduced in the late-1990s has been routinely cited as a major success story of public transportation. It is regularly noted by city planners and transport experts in international studies and has served as a model for many cities across the world that have introduced similar bus systems.

WATCH: Enrique Peñalosa TED Talk – Why Buses Represent Democracy in Action

Now, with the capital’s population growing significantly since the dedicated bus-lane system was launched and traffic more congested than ever, the system is scheduled for expansion. Along with an elevated metro, which Peñalosa has been touting since his election in 2015, the TransMilenio is slated to grow significantly.

And now María Consuelo Araújo, who Peñalosa welcomed on Twitter by calling a “formidable public manager,” will be overseeing that project as the planning phase moves past the financing stage and ground is actually broken.

Undertrail.com co-founders, CEO James Figueroa, left, and Eduardo Maldonado

Finance Colombia’s Loren Moss sat down at Avenida Chile’s Juan Valdez for a cup of coffee with Undertrail.com’s parent company Grupo Wayiú co founder Eduardo Maldonado Valderrama to discuss the unique online travel company ‘s origin and where it is headed.

Finance Colombia: So tell me about Undertrail.

Maldonado: Undertrail is the first online travel agency in Colombia and in the region that integrates different means of transportation in one platform—bus ticketing, air ticketing, even boat ticketing into one platform so that that customers can find the best option to get to anywhere in Colombia…and in the next couple years, the entire region.

We are launching a new platform new platform that integrates a route planner where we integrate the offers across travel modes. Right now if you want to for example, go tour the Eje Cafetero (coffee country—Colombia’s picturesque answer to Napa Valley), there is no direct way, the only answers you will find are maybe in a travel guide book, but there is nowhere you can go on the internet to find the best voyage, then book it. Through Undertrail, we are going to show you the way to Armenia or Pereira, whether by bus or plane. The whole package in 10 or fewer clicks.

 Finance Colombia: So somebody can do something like take a plane in one direction and return using a bus; or they can plan the whole trip: they can say “I’m going to take a plane this far and then from there I’m going to take a bus, and then from there maybe I am down in the Amazon and so I take a boat or something like that?

Maldonado: Exactly, that’s the whole thing.  Right now we have already finished the alliances with Bolivariano; that is the top bus company in Colombia. We also are sealing a deal with a shuttle bus company (“flota”) so that for example, you could go from Bogotá to a small town by either service, depending on your needs. The key is that the customer selects the best option due to his or her needs.

Finance Colombia: How big do you think this can scale, how large do you think this can get?

Maldonado: In the first year of the operations we focused on backpackers, because the local market, most of the people that travel by bus don´t have credit cards. Many don’t even have saving accounts, so they can´t buy online. There is a big myth in the local population that buying online is risky, so we decided to focus on backpackers, they don’t care about buying online. We wanted to validate the product with them first.

In the last year we have been investigating how we could successfully scale this product. We know that ecommerce penetration has been accelerating in Colombia and in the region, and we know for example, that during the last year, there were 130 million passenger trips via bus in Colombia, and more than 650 million in the Andean region. Many of those trips, also had an air travel component.

On the other hand, in Colombia during the last four years, bus companies have lost four percent market share to flights. Why? Because now there are low cost air carriers in the market like Viva Colombia, the first local low cost air carrier that launched two years ago. So now, sometimes flight tickets can be as inexpensive as bus tickets. But still, people aren´t going to stop of traveling.

Finance Colombia: Would you say that most of your customers where they come from the US, from Europe, what do you find so far?

Maldonado: 90 % are foreigners, and from that, the biggest slices of the pie are Mexican and Argentine. From the USA I would say about 10%. We also have a lot of people from France.

Finance Colombia:  because you deal a lot with the backpacker crew, have you ever thought about integrating with things like Airbnb or products like that?

Maldonado: In the future we want to integrate with different kinds of products that can complement our offer. But right now, we have to focus on transportation because, that’s the part of the industry that is least developed.