General News

Metro-Medellin’s Flower Exports Bloom; Dutch Connection Beats ‘Dutch Disease’

Medellin Herald September 18, 2015

Just a few kilometers to the east of Medellin in the Llanogrande-La Ceja-Rionegro region, the long-established cut-flowers industry is seeing its export profits bloom this year. Thanks to the rise of the U.S. dollar – up about 70% year-on-year, to around COP3,000 per US$1 – flower exporters are

Health & Insurance.

Medicine in Medellin: Medical Tourism Growing (Part One)

Medellin Herald September 18, 2015

Medical tourism is a growing business for metro Medellin thanks to a growing international reputation for high quality, high technology, friendly service, competitive prices – and assurance that patients can communicate with key personnel in English. A logical starting point for English-speaking foreigners considering Medellin for such services is Salud Sin Fronteras

Congresses & Conferences

Medellin to Host Latin America Fashion Strategy Conference October 1

Medellin Herald September 17, 2015

Fashion and textile trade group Inexmoda announced that it’s organizing the Latin America Fashion and Business Strategy Forum 2015 (Foro de Estrategia America Latina Moda y Negocios 2015) October 1 at the Plaza Mayor convention center in Medellin. The “Strategy Forum” brings together senior management of companies in the fashion industry, aiming to analyze “challenges […]

General News

Medellin, Cartagena Making Biggest Gains in Social Progress: IPS Study

Medellin Herald September 17, 2015

Medellin and Cartagena are the two Colombian cities making the biggest gains in a new “Social Progress Index” (SPI, or “IPS” in Spanish) ranking, as found in a study sponsored by major international and Colombian foundations as well as university researchers. According to the study, Medellin and Cartagena posted a 25% gain in the social […]

General News

Medellin Metro Gets Funds to Buy 20 More Trains

Medellin Herald September 16, 2015

Findeter – the Colombian government finance agency – announced September 15 that it has disbursed a COP55 billion (US$18.5 million) loan to Metro de Medellin, enabling the purchase of 20 more train-cars for the city’s hugely popular metro-rail system. The additional train-cars will enable transport of another 200,000 daily passengers, according to Findeter. The Metro […]

General News

Medellin Improves Rankings among ‘Best Cities to Do Business’

Medellin Herald September 15, 2015

Two new studies show that Medellin continues to move-up in regional rankings of Latin American cities that are described as especially good for doing business.Two new studies show that Medellin continues to move-up in regional rankings of Latin American cities that are described as especially good for doing business. One of the rankings — by […]

Health & Insurance.

Medicine in Medellin: Experts Prescribe National Health System Cures (Part Three)

Medellin Herald September 15, 2015

While medical tourism is a growing business for metro Medellin thanks to a reputation for high quality and competitive prices, the national public health system is mired in a financial crisis (see Medicine in Medellin: The National Health Care System, Part Two). However, while the financial problems are widespread across hospitals, clinics, government funding sources […]

Congresses & Conferences

Medellin to Host 15,000 Delegates for FISE Electric Power Conference

Medellin Herald September 11, 2015

The upcoming Feria Internacional del Sector Eléctrico (FISE) conference November 25-27 at Plaza Mayor convention center in Medellin will host some 15,000 national and international delegates and some 300 exhibitors, one-quarter of which are international companies. This sixth version of FISE – which first started in 2006 – is unique among Colombia’s power- industry

Expats Corner

My Favorite Places around Medellin, Part Two: La Vuelta al Oriente

Medellin Herald September 11, 2015

Over the course of traveling around Medellin, Antioquia, and elsewhere in Colombia — off-and-on over a span of nearly 35 years, the last 13 as a permanent resident — I’ve chalked-up a list favorite places that also might appeal to similarly nature-oriented, “foodie-oriented” and curio-oriented tourists and expats. As I live just east of Medellin […]

Volunteering

Worthy Cause in Antioquia: Fundacion Diocesana Compartir Uraba

Medellin Herald September 11, 2015

While Medellin has seen a huge reduction in the amount of gang violence that plagued the city during the Medellin Cartel era of more than 20 years ago, drug-trafficking and gang violence still continues to claim victims in Colombia and elsewhere — with the mostly rural Uraba region of northern Antioquia presenting an especially acute […]