The Culture of Columbia

Location. Colombia is the northernmost of any of the countries of South America. It has been described as about twice the size of France (Kline) and about the same size as the state of Texas (Embassy). It is the only South American Country to front two major bodies of water; the southern Caribbean Sea meets its north shore, and it fronts the middle Pacific Ocean to its west. The isthmus of Panama divides Colombia's north and west shorelines (Kline).

Population. According to Colombian statistical sources, the population of the country as of 1999 was 39.3 million, growing at the rate of 1.85% per year. A number of ethnic groups make up the population: mestizo, consisting of persons of European and native Indian extraction (58%), white (20%), mulatto (14%), black (4%), mixed black-Amerindian (3%), and Amerindian (1%). The Colombian government reports a literacy rate of 91.4% of the population over age 15 (Embassy). Some 70% of Colombia's population is concentrated chiefly in the western part of the country, in the Andes region, where most of the cities are. The rest of the population is distributed through the central and eastern regions of the country. The capital city, Bogotá, is located near the eastern edge of the Andes in the central part of the coun

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ole matter is complicated by two facts: (1) Colombia is the world's great center of coca, the base crop for cocaine, which positions it in the complex context of global drug trafficking (Kline); and (2) Colombia has been plagued for decades by a series of civil wars, which overlap and converge with drug-related activities, to foster social instability (Le Grand passim). The health-care implications of this set of affairs begin with the fact that Colombia's wealthier classes have ready access to optimal health care. Poor people in both urban and rural locations must rely on government-sponsored social welfare programs (Restrepo and Valencia 272). There is also a tradition of folk medicine among the indigenous peoples of Colombia. McKenna, et al., cite the use of psychotropic drugs for physical and ritual healing. However, access to health care is predicated of social class, not traditional culture. Drug traffickers have reportedly clear-cut rainforest to make room for landing strips and coca fields (Kratz 15). This limits poor farmers' options, and the environmental damage has implications for health care. Pursuant to the so-called war on drugs, the government routinely sprays toxic herbicides on coca fields, but such sprays also
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Approximate Word count = 1348
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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