Expert: Cesar - 9/23/2009

Question
I was born in Colombia, but moved to the State when I was 13, haven't gone back. My husband & I are planning on visiting next year by February want to know how safe it is to travel from Santa Marta by car to Cartagena , Barranquilla, then take one of those Coach buses to go to Cali, Palmira & Popayan.

Answer
Dear Ms. Cristina:

Safety in Colombia has improved a lot. I have not heard of road kidnappings in years. Roads are much safer now. The coastal cities you are referring to (Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Barranquilla) are pretty safe when driving in them and are safe if remaining in safe areas (like touristic areas and other good areas). Driving between those cities should be pretty safe and I do not think there is guerrilla there. Going south of them becomes unsafe in some areas where a lot of mountains are located because those are hiding places for guerrillas. I do not yet recommend going by car on the right side of Colombia from the coast like in the borders with Venezuela because guerrillas use the border to escape when the military finds them. You are intending to go too far down and most likely you could pass by some areas where guerrilla could be located. Nowadays, guerrillas are not really kidnapping much, if at all. They are now dedicated to the drug trafficking instead of the kidnappings since the later probably requires more work for the money. There are times of the year such as holidays when the military escorts convoys or has more military on the roads for the safety of the people. The other thing is that the military has posts along all of the roads where they do checks and are there to help. There is a very high chance that nothing will happen if you do all of those trips, but to play safe you could choose to fly in some areas where people advise not to go by road.

Me and friends have travelled by bus from Quito, Ecuador until Medellín and did not have any problems. My friends have travelled back to Quito several times and nothing happened despite comments that there is guerrilla near the border with Ecuador. Overall it seems like is safe to go by land to most places, but it is advisable to avoid guerrilla areas just in case. More so for tourists because they represent a good incentive for kidnapping because of the possible large money they could produce in a kidnapping. A good way to know from the people who is on the road is to ask the bus drivers and people who work in the transportation field such as bus companies although they would be biased to saying that the roads are safe. Probably they are, but maybe not in some areas. You could ask military posts along the road about their comments and people along the road.

Cesar
CesarCalifornia@hotmail.com