This balance was presented during the Medellín 2025 Investment Roundtable, a meeting led by ACI Medellín and the Medellín Chamber of Commerce for Antioquia, with the support of ProColombia, Ruta N, ANDI del Futuro, and the Government of Antioquia. In this space, 27 local and regional companies held one-on-one meetings with national and international investment funds in search of capital that allows them to grow, innovate, and consolidate their expansion. Beyond attracting new companies, this strategy strengthens the brownfield model by connecting companies already established in the territory with sources of financing to scale their operations and generate a sustainable impact.

The city has reported 18 new foreign direct investment projects and more than 8,000 jobs projected in 2025. Photo credit: ACI Medellín.

In the most recent Investment Roundtable organized by ACI Medellín and the Medellín Chamber of Commerce for Antioquia, 27 businessmen and 19 investors participated, generating 127 business appointments. As a result of this connection exercise.

“The results of this semester ratify that Medellín is a reliable partner for investment and cooperation. We managed more than USD 168 million and nearly 8,000 jobs, connecting international capital and development finance with high-impact public and private projects in our region. From ACI Medellín, we are carrying out a determined work of global positioning so that the city continues to be on the map of international investment. Cases such as those of Accenture, Recurly, or Health Prime, and projects such as Primavera Norte, which received technical assistance from the C40 program, are proof that internationalization transforms territories, strengthens trust among all actors in society, and is reflected in a better quality of life for our people. Our commitment is clear: to work in an articulated way so that Medellín is increasingly competitive, generates sustainable social development, and multiplies opportunities for those who inhabit it,” said Cristina Zambrano, executive director of ICA Medellín.

Ruta N, a strategic ally of ACI Medellín, has been key in strengthening the city’s science, technology, and innovation ecosystem. In coordination with ProColombia and the ACI, it facilitated the establishment of 10 new companies in the STi sector from the United States, Ukraine, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia, consolidating Medellín as a competitive destination for technology-based companies.

At the Investment Roundtable, more than 27 local and regional companies met with 19 national and international investors to raise capital to boost their growth. Photo credit: Loren Moss.

Through the Medellín Venture Capital program, Ruta N builds local and foreign investment capacities, mapping and attracting more than 200 regional funds interested in investing in the city, training more than 100 new venture capital investors, structuring new investment vehicles, and creating an active investment community with angel investors. Family offices, corporates, and funds. In addition, Ruta N, in alliance with Bancoldex, has invested $3.2 million USD in an investment fund in the city, which in total will make around $10 million USD available to 30 FinTech startups in the region.

Ruta N, in addition to supporting investment rounds with the ACI, also promotes the connection between investors and startups through Startia, the brain of the city’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, with more than 350 technology-based ventures mapped and more than 300 investors, where effective connections can be generated organically. From an international point of view, Ruta N has great allies such as the Royal Academy of Engineering and the government of the United Kingdom, with which in 2025 it allocated £200,000 GBP to the training and scaling of entrepreneurs in the city.

ACI Medellín also highlighted key advances in international cooperation. In this first half of the year alone, Medellín managed $2.58 million USD in technical and financial cooperation, with projects that address issues such as financial education with a gender approach, circular economy, data for public management, and strategies to combat hunger. The city was also selected for international programs such as the City Data Alliance and Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge 2025.

Photo credit: ACI Medellín.

Arajet CEO and founder, Victor Pacheco Mendez (Photo: Arajet)

Dominican airline Arajet announced the launch of its new route to the United States, this time in the city of Chicago, to which travelers can connect from Punta Cana International Airport.

Starting November 15, Arajet will begin operations on the Punta Cana-O’Hare route, with flights three days a week. Sales of flights from Chicago and Punta Cana will be available and can be purchased from $117 USD per leg, according to the company.

Arajet began operating flights to the United States, with Chicago being the fifth city to which it will fly from the Dominican Republic, after Boston, Miami, New York, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The company is financially backed by Bain Capital and Griffin Global Asset Management.

The airline’s expansion into the United States follows the entry into force in December of the bilateral Open Skies agreement between the Dominican Republic and the United States, which eliminates certain restrictions on flights between the two countries.

“Our continued growth allows for greater connectivity for both tourists and the Dominican diaspora, while boosting tourism and economic opportunities throughout the region,” said Víctor Pacheco, CEO of Arajet.

From Punta Cana, travelers can connect to other destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America, Arajet added.

Headline rendered image credit: Arajet.

During a routine immigration checkpoint, Colombian migration officials verified her identity and discovered that she was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice. Upon confirmation, Colombian authorities immediately notified the Metropolitan Police of Cúcuta, who took her into custody and transferred her to the Criminal Investigation Section (SIJIN) in that city.

The filing of the Interpol order involved the Dominican Republic’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, the National Police’s Division of Investigation of Money Laundering and Terrorism (DILAT), and the OCN Office of Interpol Santo Domingo. Ortiz Nova is alleged to be the principal leader of a criminal organization implicated in real estate fraud and money laundering, known as the “Guepardo Case,” which was dismantled on February 7, 2025.

The Guepardo Case involves a criminal organization that allegedly used technological tools and social media to attract victims interested in purchasing real estate in the Dominican Republic

The criminal network reportedly promoted real estate projects, attracting buyers from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the United States, and Europe. They utilized the branding of RE/MAX, one of the largest international real estate brokerages, to lend credibility to their schemes.

According to the Dominican Procuraduria (Public Prosecutor’s Office), information from the Dominican Republic’s General Directorate of Migration indicated that Ortiz Nova departed for Bogotá, Colombia, on November 13, 2024, during the ongoing investigation. She was expected to return on November 19, 2024, but failed to do so, allegedly to evade legal proceedings. Authorities later determined that she had traveled to Colombia with a stopover in Panama and had no intention of returning.

Claudio Cordero, the Dominican Anti-Money Laundering Public Prosecutor overseeing the case, stated that the Attorney General’s Office will soon provide the necessary documentation to Colombian authorities to initiate Ortiz Nova’s extradition. This process aims to have her face charges related to real estate fraud and money laundering, which have affected numerous victims.

On February 11, 2025, the La Romana Prosecutor’s Office, in collaboration with the Specialized Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prosecutor’s Office, arrested another suspect, Yves Alexandre Giroux. Giroux had fled during a raid on February 7, 2025, and was later apprehended in an exclusive villa in Cocotal, Punta Cana.
Additionally, suspects Marisol Nova Nolasco and Rocío del Alba Rodríguez de Moya have been detained and brought to justice. On February 18, 2025, the Judicial Office of Permanent Attention Services in La Romana imposed coercive measures on Giroux, Nova Nolasco, and Rodríguez de Moya.

The Guepardo Case involves a criminal organization that allegedly used technological tools and social media to attract victims interested in purchasing real estate in the Dominican Republic. Operating under the facade of a company named Novasco Real Estate S.R.L., they offered property projects at prices significantly below market value, enticing buyers who ultimately fell victim to fraud.

Authorities have identified at least 122 victims of this scheme, including 32 foreign nationals. Investigations suggest that the organization deceived these individuals through fraudulent online promotions, illicitly obtaining substantial sums of money. Ortiz Nova’s arrest underscores the effectiveness of international cooperation and stringent migration controls in combating organized crime. Colombian authorities acted immediately upon verifying her identity and discovering an active Interpol red notice against her. She remains in police custody in Cúcuta, Colombia, awaiting extradition proceedings to the Dominican Republic, where she will face judicial processes.

This case highlights the necessity of robust international collaboration to address transnational fraud and the importance of public awareness regarding the risks associated with online transactions involving unverified real estate entities.

Headline Image: Arrest of Loany Lismeiry Ortiz Nova. Photo credit: Colombia National Police.

In this way, the FILBo invites us to think of the body not only as biological matter but as a symbolic space where identity, memory, and resistance converge. For this reason, the Fair’s programming will explore corporeality from literature, science, art, philosophy, and politics. Thus, visitors will be able to approach this theme from various perspectives, such as the female experience, sexual diversity, disability, violence, equity, thought, time, migration, and pleasure, among others.

In this regard, Adriana Ángel Forero, director of the Fair on behalf of the CCL, says that: “the body is the first territory we inhabit, but we rarely stop to explore it in its complexity. At FILBo 2025, we want literature to help us understand it beyond the biological: as a space of memory, identity, and resistance. From science to poetry, the body is the meeting point of our emotions, experiences, and social transformations. In times when questions about our materiality are more urgent than ever, the FILBo will be the stage to reflect on what it means to exist, feel, and share from the body and the word.”

For her part, Catalina Chávez, director of the FILBo on behalf of Corferias, says: “We are proud of the theme of the FILBo this year and we are excited about the arrival of Spain as the guest of honor, as it promises a journey through centuries of literature, thought and culture, in an enriching dialogue with Colombia. This will be a unique opportunity for writers and readers to explore together the connections that unite us at Corferias, a unique place that is an icon of the movement and growth of the publishing industry every year.”

Filbo 2025

First authors announced

The FILBo 2025 will feature the participation of literary figures of national and international stature, such as the renowned writer Laura Restrepo (Colombia), who has masterfully narrated the darkest and brightest corners of the human experience; Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro (Puerto Rico), outstanding novelist and essayist for her works on migration and feminism in the Caribbean.

There will also be the Argentinean Andrés Neuman, poet, narrator and translator, winner of the Alfaguara Prize; from South Korea will come Kim Un-su, author of The Planners, a literary thriller of the Korean crime novel, translated into multiple languages and adapted to the cinema.

Also present will be Arianna de Sousa-García (Venezuela), writer of Atrás queda la tierra, her first narrative work, which is a moving non-fiction novel about the Venezuelan diaspora, the pain caused by dispossession and violence.

Fritz Breithaupt will arrive from Germany with his essay The Narrative Brain explores the impact of stories on society; María Cecilia Barbetta (German-Argentine), winner of several awards in Germany, including the Alfred Döblin scholarship, the Aspekte-Literaturpreis prize, the Chamisso/Hellerau prize; also from the Old Continent the Swiss writer and translator Dorothée Elmiger, Swiss Prize for Literature, will participate.

Connecting visitors with the Caribbean, the Fair will have Frank Báez (Dominican Republic), poet and narrator, creator of the spoken word collective “El Hombrecito”. Traveling to the south of the continent, the Uruguayan Mabel Moraña will talk about corporeality and desire, themes that she has worked on in books such as Pensar el cuerpo. Currently, she is director of the Latin American Studies Program at Washington University in Saint Louis where she teaches courses on viceregal studies to the present day, focusing on the baroque, nationalism and modernity.

And in the Children’s and Young People’s Literature slot, the Bogota International Book Fair will have authors such as: Elise Kova (USA), outstanding because its narrative escapes the usual sensuality, focusing on the emotional growth of its characters and who wrote the bestseller A Duel with the Lord of the Vampires; Susanna Mattiangeli (Italy), 2018 Andersen Award for Best Writer of the Year, the most prestigious literary award in Italy, creator of Crescendo, the story of Milo, a deaf boy, in a village without music and how he discovers it when it returns to his village; Maikel Rodríguez (Cuba), outstanding writer of children’s and young people’s literature, multi-awarded for his horror works, Romance de la Niña Mala Award for his literary career; and Luis Pescetti (Argentina) Latin Grammy for Best Children’s Music Album, ALIJA Award (IBBY Argentina) and Caniem Award for his book Cartas al Rey de la cabina. He will present at FILBo his book, Emotional First Aid Kit for Humans and Superheroes: The Right to Know That We Are Not What We Feel.

Spain, a literary bridge

This year, Spain will be the guest of honor and will arrive with the proposal ‘A culture for peace, with others and with the planet’, the slogan of the program organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Spain and Acción Cultural Española (AC/E). Thus, the Iberian nation responds to the invitation of the Fair with another invitation: to generate a meeting space that has books at its center, a place of knowledge and imagination, an agora for dialogue about the issues that concern citizens today.

In this regard, Antonio Monegal, National Essay Prize 2023, curator appointed by Spain, through its Ministry of Culture and AC/E, for participation in the FILBo 2025, comments that: “it is not a conversation only between Colombia and Spain but between all the countries that share common languages, literary traditions, cultural spaces and history. As in any conversation, each one contributes their experiences, their imaginaries, their memory, from different perspectives of each country. In this dialogue, books are our allies and friends, but they are also indispensable instruments of change. They help us to face the problems of the world, to understand what is happening, to get closer to the experience of others, to learn empathy, to imagine solutions.”

Monegal adds: “Books are also the repositories of memory: they invite us to look back to look to the future. Peace is not reduced to the absence of war, to a truce between violence. Peace is also a desire for understanding, a willingness to negotiate differences and disagreements, a horizon of aspiration to coexistence and a commitment to care for the natural environment that we share.”

Some of the writers with a great impact on narrative, poetry, and essays that Spain will bring, reflecting the diversity that characterizes its current literature, are: Marta Sanz (Madrid), Herralde Novel Prize winner and finalist for the Nadal Prize, whose work investigates memory and identity with incisive prose. Clara Usón (Barcelona), author of La hija del Este, winner of the National Critics’ Prize; her most recent novel, Las fieras, explores a generation marked by violence and political conflict. Francesc Serés (Zaidín, Huesca), Aragonese writer in Catalan, winner of the National Prize for Literature of Catalonia; Ismael Ramos (Mazaricos, La Coruña), one of the emerging voices of Spanish poetry due to the power of his reflections on identity and language; and Leire Bilbao (Ondárroa, Vizcaya), a poet in Basque, whose work rescues Basque orality with a contemporary look.

A platform to connect businesses and industry experts

The Fair reaffirms its role as the epicenter of the publishing business in Latin America during the first half of the year, with the Professional Conferences that include key spaces to strengthen the book industry. In terms of business, there is the International Business Show, the FellowShip Program, and the Librarians’ Mission, which, together with 12 specialized conferences aimed at all the actors in the book chain, make the FILBo the central stage of the industry in the first half of the year.

One of these spaces is the International Business Show, a strategic meeting where publishers, literary agents, and distributors from all over the world will meet to finalize agreements for the purchase and sale of books, as well as publishing and translation rights, promoting the circulation of content at a global level. This commitment energizes the publishing market, facilitating strategic connections and new commercial opportunities for professionals in the sector.

In addition, the Fair will offer two scenarios designed to expand access to Colombian literature, such as the Fellowship Program, which invites seven international literary agents interested in enriching their catalogs with national editorial production.

They are Rory Williamson (United Kingdom), editor at Pushkin Press, where he publishes fiction and non-fiction; Baha Sonmez (Turkey), general manager of Redhouse and board member of the Turkish Publishers Association; Majid Jafari Aghdam (Iran), CEO of Pol Yainci, combines his experience as an editor, translator, writer and poet; Niyazi Khidirov (Azerbaijan), international rights manager at Libra Kitab, a publisher specializing in children’s literature; Massimiliano Bonatto (Italy), editor of Spanish and Latin American literature at Polidoro; Corinna Santa Cruz (Germany), editor at Buechergilde Gutenberg and specialist in Latin American and Spanish literature; and Benjamin Burguete (France), art historian and philosopher in Paris.

And the Librarians’ Mission, which will allow librarians from various regions to strengthen their collections through specialized advice and purchasing spaces, ensuring that more readers have access to a diverse and up-to-date offer.

Within the specialized Conferences are the Book Forums, which allow the exchange of ideas and experiences between the actors of the publishing world. This year, the Book Forums Master Classes will also be strengthened, an initiative that was born in 2024 and has been vital in offering practical learning to professionals in the sector. And for librarians, the Fair has the International Meeting of Librarians, an event designed to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the management and promotion of reading, strengthening their role as essential mediators between books and the community.

In addition to this, the International Meeting of Booksellers will be held again so that these important actors in the book chain can share strategies and challenges of the sector. For its part, the Books for Children and Young People Meeting will bring together publishers specialized in children’s and young people’s literature to discuss trends and opportunities. Also, translation and illustration will have their space with the Forum of Literary and Editorial Translation, the Forum of Comic Professionals, FILBo Ilustra-Ilustropía and the long-awaited portfolio review, where Colombian illustrators will be able to present their work to publishers.

The FILBo will be a meeting point for industry leaders with the Book Fairs Network Meeting, the National Meeting of Proofreaders and FILBo Emprende, which will promote publishing ventures with training and commercial exhibition. The International Copyright Seminar will open a key space for debate on the protection of works, while the FILBo Ilustra Master Classes will bring the best artists closer to the community. Finally, the BAM Film Adaptations of Literary Works will bring together publishers and filmmakers to explore the potential of books on the big screen.

This year’s program features 3,000 activities across 25 event categories, with the participation of 280 national and international guests. Among them are 16 international editors and publishing agents from countries including Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Spain, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Chile.

The event’s agenda will include discussions, workshops, literary activities, and exhibitions. Notable participants include Colombian authors Mario Mendoza, Luis Miguel Rivas, and Velia Vidal. International guests include Andrés Oppenheimer (Argentina), Katie Kitamura (US), Javier Peña (Spain), Audry Magee (Ireland), Aura García-Junco (Mexico), and Carlos Manuel Álvarez (Cuba).

In addition to celebrating independent publishing, the event will commemorate significant milestones, such as the 100th anniversaries of La Vorágine and Colombian comics, the 20th anniversary of Bibliocirco, and the relaunch of the León de Greiff Prize, which recognizes contributions to publishing and literature nationwide.

The Fundación Secretos para Contar, participating for the first time, will conduct workshops at the Jardín Lectura Viva. These workshops, inspired by the foundation’s work in urban and rural areas of Antioquia and Colombia, will focus on reading promotion and narrative creation. The foundation will also unveil its ninth book collection, emphasizing the connection between rural and urban life.

Other highlights include the Cuentódromo, Salón del Libro Infantil y Juvenil, Salón del Cómic y la Ilustración, Salón de Nuevas Lecturas, Salón del Libro Universitario, and Salón de la Autopublicación. The event will also feature book launches, a national booksellers’ meeting, and seminars on editor training and comic research in Colombia.

Bibliocirco will mark its 30th anniversary with a performance on September 7, launching the latest installment in its Cuentico Amarillo series, La niña perdida espera a Peter Pan, written by José Andrés Ardila and illustrated by Yanneth Pineda.

On September 12 and 13, the Secretaría de Cultura Ciudadana and Sura will host conversations under the theme “How to Live Well Together?” These discussions, aligned with the Medellín Te Quiere 2024-2027 Development Plan, will explore social trust, civic culture, and community resilience.

The event is supported by a public investment of $9 billion pesos from the Medellín city government, which aims to promote literacy, writing, and oral traditions across the city’s 16 districts and five townships. Partnerships with organizations such as Comfenalco, Comfama, EPM, Fundación Saldarriaga Concha, and El Colombiano have also facilitated the event’s programming.

MPC Energy Solutions is selling the generated power through a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Spectrum, a leading Colombian energy trading firm and electricity supplier. Parque Solar Los Girasoles will supply around 23 GWh of solar energy per year, helping avoid the emission of close to 100,000 tons of  CO₂ throughout its lifetime. The project is expected to generate an annual revenue of around $1.3 million USD during the PPA tenor.

“Parque Solar Los Girasoles is a significant milestone for Colombia’s renewable energy targets, and a testament to our commitment to helping diversify the energy mix in the country and across Latin America”, said Juan Esteban Hernández, Head of Project Development LATAM of MPC Energy Solutions. “We are excited to see our portfolio of operational projects grow and contribute to the region’s energy resilience and next-generation infrastructure.”

“We are proud to partner with a global sustainable energy provider to power up a solar PV plant in Colombia. The project will help the country make significant strides toward achieving its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050”, said André Fraga, CEO at Spectrum. “Parque Solar Los Girasoles also plays a significant role in supporting Spectrum to become Colombia´s first 100% renewable energy supplier.”

MPC Energy Solutions invested $11 million USD equity to develop and construct the project and intends to secure debt financing post commissioning. Colombian company Socolco S.A.S. acted as the engineering and construction (E&C) contractor, and key components, such as solar panels, were supplied by Trina Solar and inverters by Huawei, were procured by MPC directly.

The Dominican Republic has a very strong reputation as a tourist destination, but now, a group of entrepreneurs hope the country can become both a hub for travel in the way that Copa has made Panamá a connection point, and home for a competitive low-cost airline with Caribbean flavor. Finance Colombia’s executive editor Loren Moss was able to speak to Victor Pacheco Mendez, the CEO and co-founder of Santo Domingo based Arajet. The low cost airline startup is already running routes between the Dominican Republic and regional destinations throughout Colombia, Perú, Ecuador, México, Central America, even island destinations such as Curaçao, Aruba, Sint Maarten and Jamaica.

Finance Colombia: I remember years ago there used to be Dominicana de Aviación but then for a very long time there has been no flag carrier in the Dominican Republic. The founder of VIVA—one of the co-founders, William Shaw was in the region, he was working on something but then he left to go and do other things; why has it been such a challenge to get an airline launched to cover the Caribbean and to be based out of the Dominican Republic?

Victor Pacheco Mendez: Well, I think that if you, if you research the failures within the whole Caribbean, you find that the list is huge, so there is a reason for that and a lot of it has to do with, most of the carriers that have tried to start in the region have been mainly opportunistic carriers that find some ethnic roots or somebody with some money that thinks that they can do some type of operation, but this is the first time that somebody really tries the ULCC (Ultra Low Cost Carrier) business model in the Caribbean.

Arajet CEO and founder, Victor Pacheco Mendez

So, I think that the first thing was figuring out what was the right model and once we did that—and William was one of my seed investors so, William was with us, I hired him in the beginning. At that time, we were called Flycana. A good friend of mine, William. But eventually his dad was falling ill, he was living in Mexico and he got the opportunity to go to Interjet and basically, of course he continues to be a shareholder in Arajet, but he left to do that.

And it took us out a long time, to get Arajet done because it was about putting together the right pieces; it was about convincing the government on changing regulations, to legislate on behalf of the commercial aviation space, it was about being able to compare the DR fiscally to other hubs and be able to convince the government that we have to able to have to have the corporate environment to be equal to other jurisdictions so that a local carrier could compete within the same, let’s say, environment, and that wasn’t the case when we started the journey so, we had to advocate and we continue to do so, we still have some what we called barriers that we are working [on] strongly with the government.

I think, if you see the newspapers of two or three days ago the [Dominican Republic] president said that he is sending from his office legislation that will make the DR (Dominican Republic) more competitive from a fiscal point of view. So, it’s been just a very difficult ride, just with the government piece alone has been very challenging and then besides that of course, we have assembled a team of experts that have built ULCC carriers in other continents, in other regions. In Latin América, for example, our COO is Garret Malone, who was the COO of Viva when Viva started in Colombia, eight years he was the COO of Sky Chile, so having Garret as COO tremendous experience, a veteran, it’s a great thing, he’s a great team member to have and then it was about finding the right capital provider.

We sold the business plan since 2017, 2018. We almost got funded in 2019 and then in 2019, we missed the boat, which is now a very good thing that we did, because then COVID came along. That would have been death! And then, in 2021 once the scare of COVID was leaving we went back to the institutional markets to sell our business plan again and we found a lot of interest. It was incredible, we were almost running an RFP to see who our capital provider was going to be and the main choice was not about valuation, for us the main choice was about who’s the right partner, who do we think as a firm, will support us and will believe in our vision of what we believe we can achieve with Arajet and about chemistry, you know

We ended up selecting Bain Capital and Griffin Asset Management just because we felt that with this guys were a good fit for us and now, I can confirm that having been working with them a little bit more than a year, that these are great partners to have, they, you know really believe in the vision that Arajet has.

Finance Colombia: Now, being based out of the Dominican Republic it’s interesting because for a long time the Dominican Republic has been an attractive tourist destination, but you have you already have some competition. For example, Viva flies between Medellín and Punta Cana, Wingo flies to Santo Domingo, if you look in other countries, American Airlines has historically jealously guarded its Caribbean routes and been very aggressive to try to battle competition when it comes between let’s say Miami and the Dominican Republic, or Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, which has always been a popular route. How would you stay profitable or reach profit and then defend your market and grow your route network against such entrenched competitors?

Victor Pacheco Mendez: Look, Loren, we’re not inventing the wheel. I think that we’re applying the game book or the playbook that other ULCCs have used before. If you look at our 18 routes that are now on sale at https://www.arajet.com/  we only have direct competition in three routes, meaning there are 15 uncontested routes. This [strategy allows us] to mature and give you that oxygen that you need. So, it’s about serving brand new routes and about a mix…about some competition but when we finish creating our network of 54 routes, we will only have direct competition in about 25 of them, at that point.

So, it’s about when do you launch routes where you compete and how you grow brand new, existing routes and you have to try to balance out that. But the good news, and what you can potentially say about us that we will not compete with one carrier for more than six percent of our entire network

Finance Colombia: Now, I look at your route network. You are covering in the Caribbean Kingston, (Jamaica) some of the small islands like Aruba, Curacao, Saint Martin. What about destinations like the US market or Puerto Rico which is “kind of-sort of” the US market but certainly with Puerto Rico’s close ties to the Dominican Republic; What are your plans there? Do you have plans to expand outside the Latin American countries?

Because it looks like you’re already very mature and well along the way as you go, and I would think that also Santo Domingo could be a good kind of a transit point, if look at it. I am not telling you what your strategy should be, but I’m kind of asking the question: If you look at what Copa has done by making Panamá a connector between South America and North America, I always wondered, let’s say if I was flying from the US through a Caribbean destination maybe to a destination in South America, is that all viable? Do you have that in your plans?

Victor Pacheco Mendez: Without a doubt. The reason why we will connect 54 routes from Santo Domingo is because Santo Domingo will be a hub where we will be transferring passengers. So, if you look at what we have done, imagine now when we go north, we are going to fly to 17 destinations in North America that includes Puerto Rico. when we go north, we are not only taking the DR up north now, we managed to get a footprint in South America and Central America and the Caribbean. So, when we go north, it gives us some leverage because in the US you do have more of a competitive environment.

So, you can’t get away with operating, you know, 80% of your routes brand new, you are going to have more competition. So, that’s why people ask us: “how come you don’t fly into the US?” Well, we will fly to the US. We will fly to 17 points into the US but we needed to get a base down South into Central America and the Caribbean so that when we do fly into the north, we have the possibility to offer connections.

Finance Colombia: That’s smart. I think that if you look at the airline that Mr. Shaw started, they went international, went into Panama a bit early in their life, and had to retrench and pulled back out. But when they got stronger, then they went into US and now they have routes into Miami and Orlando and, I know that they have publicly said that they have some other ones in the works going into South America…Brazil, Argentina now.

So tell me, you mentioned some of the institutional investors, tell me about maybe a little bit about your history and the management what’s your background, I would imagine that you have been in the airline industry?

Victor Pacheco Mendez: Yeah, I started initially—it was the first airline in the Dominican Republic to ever operate new generation equipment. I initially started with an (Airbus) A320 chartering out of the Dominican Republic. The more confidence I got, the more I learned. That’s how I got the idea of changing to a ULCC model, but Arajet exists on top of that. Arajet is a reformatting of that charter that was called Dominican Wings.

Before the airline activities, I was in commercial banking, financial services, business development, real estate development, but I come from a family…my grandfather is an entrepreneur by the name of Victor Mendez Capellán. All of his businesses where focused on the diaspora.

So, in the sixties, he was the first IATA travel agent in the country, and he was responsible for sending a lot of Dominicans to work in the free zones in New York when we were living through a depression in the DR, so thousands and thousands of families, he managed to help them finance their trips to go work there and eventually all of the family would join them. So after that, that brought in American Express, so he represented American Express in the DR, and then that success brought him Western Union and he was the first agent ever, when Western Union went International. DR was the pilot and it had to do with his entrepreneurial track record. So, today he is 94, and his company which is now a commercial bank conglomerate, tends to the diaspora and they still exclusively represent Western Union.

Finance Colombia: Remesas Vimenca? I know them well.

Victor Pacheco Mendez: Yeah. That’s my grandfather. That bug inside of me because I worked with him for many years—what else can we do for our people? What else can we do for the diaspora? And an airline was…it wasn’t really about an airline. Initially, it was about how can I lower travel [costs] for our people? And how can we continue growing and supporting them? The only thing was that he thought that my idea was too ambitious, so he didn’t support me with capital.

He supported me with his heart and wished me well, and that is why it took me too long to get this done because you know I’m not a wealthy individual. I had to find partners and I had to raise money. In 2018, I raised my first $2.5 million (USD) in order to get this done and then we capitalized Arajet and with Arajet, we the retail value of the order we did with Boeing with the help of Bain and Griffin was up to the tune of three billion dollars’ worth of aircraft.  I never imagined it was going to be such a big transaction.

You know, now, we are the first airline ever in Latin America to be born with brand new aircraft and I was trying to solve for lower fares for the country, but it was a tremendous amount of factors, when we we met the people from Bain and they saw the vision, they said, ‘you know, we really believe in this but a country without having a carrier, a successful carrier of this scale needs an OEM meaning an aircraft manufacturer to be in the country as strategic partner,’ my business plan was leasing aircraft.

And so they said, ‘look, we really need to sit down with you because we don’t believe in this unless there’s an OEM based in the DR and to do that we need to buy planes from them.’

And so now, Boeing is established in the DR and they accompanied Arajet from the maintenance, technical and flight point of view, which is tremendously helpful and is the first phase of a partnership that will be successful.

Finance Colombia:  Wonderful. I appreciate you spending so much time with us. I cannot think of anything more difficult than to starting an airline, the only thing more difficult is making it successful. So, we are really glad to see you and want to see your continued success.

Headline photo: Arajet approach at Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten (courtesy Arajet)

Garzón’s own background spans 25 years of experience in forensic engineering, construction vulnerabilities, and pre-loss and post-loss consulting. His experience in the provision of risk and loss adjusting services includes advising on high value disputes within the energy, oil, transportation, commercial and residential property sectors, and advising on high value disputes within the energy, oil, transportation, commercial and residential property sectors.

The two also discuss some innovative things that Garzon’s team is doing with drone technology applied to insurance and risk management applications.

Finance Colombia: Tell me about McLarens’ presence in the region, in Latin America and the Caribbean?

Garzón: In the Caribbean we own operations in Jamaica and Puerto Rico; in Latin America we are in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil, and we have some exclusive partners in Peru, Ecuador, and Guatemala, so yes, we have a very good footprint, a, pretty good presence throughout Latam and the Caribbean.

Finance Colombia: So you’re from Colombia, right?

Garzón: Yes, correct. I was born in Colombia, and I moved to New York in 1997, and I’ve been in the US since then actually, but traveling to Latin America very often due to work and family, but yes, I’m originally from Colombia.

Finance Colombia: How did you end up connecting with McLarens?

Garzón: Well, I am a structural engineer by education, a structural civil engineer. So for many years I worked as a structural engineer on the forensic end, doing investigation in collapses and looking at the nature of failures. So, navigating the forensic world, I found McLarens as my client.

I used to work with all the adjusting firms that operate in the US and in the region and McLarens was one of them, and I have to say not because I work for them now, but McLarens gave me a lot of support on some really interesting losses in Chile after the earthquake, in Colombia and in Brazil, so I was always very close to McLarens.  When the opportunity came to replace the previous regional manager, I got a chance and I’m very happy to be connected that way with them.

Finance Colombia: You mentioned working on things like failure analysis and adjusting claims, Colombia is a fascinating country, we’ve seen big projects like there was the bridge collapse between Bogota and Villavicencio, the Chirajara bridge I think. Obviously we have the big Hidroituango situation right now, so I think that there are some unique things…Colombia being in some ways an advanced nation, it is part of OECD now, there are some tremendous projects going on down here like the 4G highway project, some of the tunnels are impressive, the tunnel that goes between the airport and outside of Medellin is a new project that’s open, I think they’re about to open up the second shaft that they built because the traffic is already so big.

What are some of the risk areas where Colombia stands out? It’s especially challenging when it comes to insuring some of these mega projects that we’re seeing down here due to the economic growth, but then the mega project can also create mega risk, right?

Garzón: A very good question; so Colombia is located right in the middle of Latin America. You have towards the left Central America, and you have towards the right and down below, the rest of South America, so in Colombia, you have this formation of the Andes, the Andes that starts down in Argentina, Chile and in Colombia and the three branches of the Andes mountains are pretty significant, pretty high and they actually offer pretty significant challenges to the development of the country.

Most of the country, most of the Colombian territory has to cross these three branches of the Andes together here to the Pacific or to the Caribbean coasts, so most of the cities are located on either side of these chains of mountains and the geological challenges and topographical challenges have been for more than 100 years very significant I guess, a roadblock to communicate every area of the country in terms of commerce and transportation and population and all that.

So, building roads between to connect all the major networks of production within Colombia, you have to cross these tremendous mountain chains. For that, there is only one way: You have to build bridges and tunnels and roads. Not only is there the topographic nature of the challenges, but also geological. We have rain, we have earthquakes we have volcanic activity in the region, so if you combine all these challenges…you mentioned a few of the tunnels and bridges that are very challenging to build in the country. I think over the recent years for Colombia, to try to move our country forward we have to move products across the region and you have to build these tremendous projects, and you know, engineering is very advanced in Colombia I would say, but even for international companies coming to Colombia to build this actual work of art, it’s a tremendous challenge that has to be at some point reinsured by reinsurance companies, otherwise it cannot be built.

Finance Colombia: Right, that whole concept of when you have large projects, the idea of being able to spread the risk around I think is fundamental. It’s very common to see insurance syndications. I think with the Hidroituango project we have Mapfre and Sura and other different companies involved. Speaking of that let’s talk about McLarens’ presence, specifically in Colombia and then in the region. I mean Colombia is a fascinating country because you have mountains and then you have two oceans, you have jungle, you have cold areas. What is McLarens’ sweet spot? What kind of risk does McLarens focus on? Different insurance companies often have kind of a sweet spot where some companies focus on maritime risk, other companies look at liability, other companies look at property and casualty. What is, to use an insurance term, the risk appetite of McLarens? I mean when should someone reach out to McLarens, where you might be able to really provide them with what they need?

Garzón: For many years, traditionally we have served the property line of business, which is buildings and any asset that is pretty much operational, you can think of a bridge, of a power plant as something that is built and is up working, running. So, as I said, a lot of these risks, you can think of a factory for instance, they are pretty much prone to having fires or floods due to rains or any other type of losses of that nature, so we have operated in the arena for a long time.

We look at a lot of equipment, if you can think of all the construction happening throughout the country, you have heavy machinery, every time more complex, big pieces of equipment moving around, so from time to time either by operational or you know, man-made errors or natural landslides or things like that, we have losses in that area as well. We have marine and cargo; we have an office in Barranquilla right now on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. You mentioned that we have two oceans, we have two big areas and several ports on the Caribbean side and one big one on the pacific side, so we serve the marine industry and also, we have marine losses due to cargo arriving to the port here that is damaged or these things that are being transported between the port and the interior part of Colombia.

Because of the nature of the work that I’ve been doing for almost 25 years in construction and engineering, I’m pushing the lines of construction and having interesting meetings with some clients in the last couple of months about our expertise in construction. We have worked on construction losses and I’m very interested in growing that line of business as well because we have a tremendous expertise, global expertise, a lot of our insurance clients are located here, and in Madrid, London, in the US, and I see that they’re reinsuring major construction projects so we have the expertise, the technology and they know how to really help our clients: the insurance companies and also the insurers to bring them back to business as soon as possible. But also, we are developing new lines of businesses like for instance cyber. You know, we are penetrating the market on cyber risk, you know, it is today’s new risk. I guess, not only in Latin America but all over the world, we hear about hacking and data breaches and things like that, so we have a wide range of traditional lines of businesses like property and marine, but also we are penetrating some more as I said, construction, financial lines and cyber, and not only the local expertise but also we partner with our international team of adjusters located in the US and in London that help us manage these claims that are more complex and very useful to the local market. So we have a good spread, the type of businesses that we can take care of for our clients.

Finance Colombia: Is there anything that I’ve neglected to ask you, that you wanted to mention, to include?

Garzón: I worked for some of the most sophisticated engineering companies in the past, so something that I’m bringing to McLarens is they use a lot of technology to adjust claims. For instance, we are using a lot of 3D modeling of claims, the claims that we see in the region are very complex, very hard to understand. You have to see that not all the parties that interact during the management of a claim are technical people, so it’s very nice when you have a picture that you can reproduce, you can imagine like a 3D model of a complex bridge, or a complex network of tunnels that you can actually represent that and show that to the clients to help them understand what actually happened during the loss.

That helped us a lot when making big investments in technology and the 3D modeling technology is something that I’ve been working for maybe the last 15 years in the design world and now we’re using some of that to help our clients make things easier to understand and speed up the resolution of a claim so the clients can be paid sooner rather than later and that everyone is satisfied at the end of the day because they understood what actually happened, so I think we have a big investment on that.

I think during the pandemic also it was very important to be able to perform and conduct remote inspections to have somebody else going to the site without me, from Miami or somebody from the UK, or somebody from Madrid going to the site. We were able to monitor claims remotely, drive through the site and use tools like Matterport, for instance, that we’re using today, Matterport is a tool that pretty much scans your loss and you’re able to send that to the client, so the client can walk through the loss as if you were there, so things like that are able to be more efficient, to navigate through the losses faster, help the clients and, not only the insured clients, but also the insured seeing what actually happened without having to go there. It’s a big step from having to speak these still pictures or drawings, especially with the claims that we see every day that are more complex in nature.

Finance Colombia: How do you spell that tool? so that I make sure that I…

Garzón: So Matterport…and also we use Revit tools. It’s a drafting tool that is used in the design of the most complex jobs throughout the world, we use Revit for claims. And something that is pretty unique to McLarens: I’ve seen all our competitors and I can say that we know how to use it and we are ahead of everybody else on implementing that technology.

The San Andrés cable extension connects with the main submarine trunk in place since 2013 that runs 17,500 kilometers and connects Colombia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Florida, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, México and Brazil. In Colombia the undersea fiber network owned by América Movil (operating under the Claro brand name) lands in both Barranquilla and Cartagena.

Colombia’s President Ivan Duque (above, 3rd from left) was on hand at last month’s launch ceremony on San Andrés, where he said: “Today with Minister Carmen Ligia Valderrama, with the private sector, with the regulators and with Claro, we are complying with the archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia, delivering a new submarine cable that will exponentially multiply the capacity to access information and the download capacity. This is quality of life: this is telemedicine, tele-education, better services for tourism and better digital payment services”.

San Andrés is a Caribbean archipelago consisting of the three inhabited islands of Providencia, Santa Catalina, and the largest, San Andrés with a population of approximately 60,000. The islands suffered severe damage in 2020 by Hurricanes Eta & Iota. Providencia took a direct hit from which it is still undergoing reconstruction. Though Colombian territory, the islands are roughly 150 miles off the coast of Central America, and the native Raizal population speaks a Creole English in addition to Spanish. The islands are very popular with tourists, especially from South America.

“For me, it is a source of great pride to be part of a company that is contributing to the development of the country through network coverage, access to technology and the development of digital ecosystems. Today we are taking a huge step forward in technology by connecting San Andrés to the world through this submarine fiber optic cable, which will bring unprecedented benefits to the inhabitants of the island and to the tourism, commerce, health, education, and government sectors,” said Carlos Zenteno, president of Claro Colombia.

According to Colombia’s Minister of Information & Communications Technology (MinTIC) Carmen Ligia Valderrama Rojas: “This cable is going to be fundamental so that the islanders can upload and download their content much faster, continue with their online training, access better daily services in health, tourism, education, and thus improve their life chances.”

Fiber termination. Photo courtesy América Movil

Seven guards of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Instituto Nacional Penitenciario y Carcelario – INPEC) were charged with allegedly running a clandestine delivery service within the Tramacúa Prison in the northeastern Valledupar department, prosecutors announced.

This article generously shared by Insight Crime. The original can be read here.

The INPEC guards were said to have acquired a drone to deliver drugs, cellphones, electronics, alcohol and food to inmates at the maximum and medium-security prison.

The contraband goods came at a hefty mark-up. A hamburger delivery reportedly cost around $64 and an order of fried rice set prisoners back an eye-watering $100; alcohol around $255; a delivery of marijuana cost around $385; and sim cards went for $515.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, the prison deliveries generated an income of just under $9,000 per month, which was divided among the seven guards.

The operation was reportedly discovered following a mistaken delivery, in which the drone laden with 18 cellphones landed where it was not supposed to. The INPEC guards are now behind bars themselves.

InSight Crime Analysis

The use of drones to smuggle contraband into prisons has become commonplace across Latin America and around the world.

Cases have been reported across Latin America and internationally. In addition to Colombia, cases have been reported in Ecuador, Chile and Puerto Rico, as well as in the United States and Canada.

The use of drones by prison guards to deliver contraband sets a rarer precedent. However, INPEC, Colombia’s national prison system, has faced numerous corruption scandals in recent years. Officials have been known to charge inmates for perks, accept bribes and extort inmates.

Poorly paid prison guards, who make on average $208 to $625 per month, are easy targets for inmates looking to smuggle contraband into the prison and to flaunt prison rules.

In an interview with El Tiempo in 2019, Elkin Cárdenas, an INPEC employee for more than 20 years, rattled off a list of contributing factors, including a poor selection process, the young age and inexperience of recruits who can be hired at 18 years old, and long work hours. Up until 2021, prison guards could be on shift for up to 24 hours straight, but a decree passed last April limited shifts to 12 hours and a total of 44 hours a week.

This article generously shared by Insight Crime. The original can be read here.

Headline photo:A joint tactical autonomous air resupply systems (JTAARS) carries a small package during the Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment (MFIX) at Fort Sill in the United States, April 12. The JTAARS experimented with the possibility to use unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomously… (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) Used for illustrative purposes.