Ireland's links with Colombia
Letters to the Editor (THE IRISH TIMES).
Monday, February 5, 2007
IRELAND'S LINKS WITH COLOMBIA
Source: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/letters/2007/0205/index.html
A chara,
I welcome your report of January 19th that the Government of Colombia has rescinded its requirement that Irish passport holders obtain a visa in order to visit that country. This measure was discriminatory and unfair, since it singled out Irish citizens from all others of the European Union.
Since there is no Colombian embassy in Dublin, often Irish citizens were compelled to travel to attend at a Colombian embassy in a foreign country (the United Kingdom) in order to process their visa application. The Colombian authorities made no effort to justify the requirement, or even publicise it, so that in the early years there were cases of Irish citizens travelling to Colombia unaware of the need to hold a visa, only to be detained and deported once they landed in Bogotá.
The repeal of the visa measure now gives us an opportunity to look to better relations between Ireland and Colombia. As a frequent visitor to that country, I commend it to the increasing numbers of Irish people who travel to long-haul destinations.
Colombia is one of the largest countries in Latin America, stretching from the Caribbean to the Andes and offering a benign climate and rich culture. The landscape is beautiful and varied - soaring mountain ranges, fertile plains, rain forest, uncrowded beaches. The capital, Bogotá, has much to offer, be it the renowned Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) or the Catedral de Sal (Cathedral of Salt) a few miles outside the city.
Monday, February 5, 2007
IRELAND'S LINKS WITH COLOMBIA
Source: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/letters/2007/0205/index.html
A chara,
I welcome your report of January 19th that the Government of Colombia has rescinded its requirement that Irish passport holders obtain a visa in order to visit that country. This measure was discriminatory and unfair, since it singled out Irish citizens from all others of the European Union.
Since there is no Colombian embassy in Dublin, often Irish citizens were compelled to travel to attend at a Colombian embassy in a foreign country (the United Kingdom) in order to process their visa application. The Colombian authorities made no effort to justify the requirement, or even publicise it, so that in the early years there were cases of Irish citizens travelling to Colombia unaware of the need to hold a visa, only to be detained and deported once they landed in Bogotá.
The repeal of the visa measure now gives us an opportunity to look to better relations between Ireland and Colombia. As a frequent visitor to that country, I commend it to the increasing numbers of Irish people who travel to long-haul destinations.
Colombia is one of the largest countries in Latin America, stretching from the Caribbean to the Andes and offering a benign climate and rich culture. The landscape is beautiful and varied - soaring mountain ranges, fertile plains, rain forest, uncrowded beaches. The capital, Bogotá, has much to offer, be it the renowned Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) or the Catedral de Sal (Cathedral of Salt) a few miles outside the city.
On the coast, Cartagena de Indias, the old centre of the Spanish silver and gold trade, preserves a charming colonial environment. Medellín, "city of orchids and eternal spring", now hosts one of Latin America's greatest technological achievements, the truly spectacular Metrocable, a cable-car system which for less than a euro provides panoramic vistas of the city.
The political and security situation has improved. Even minimal prudence will ensure a trouble-free trip, a fact already recognised by the many thousands of European tourists - Spaniards, Dutch and Germans in the main - who enjoy Colombia each year.
Ireland's links with Colombia are largely forgotten in this country but deserve to be recalled.
Ireland's links with Colombia are largely forgotten in this country but deserve to be recalled.
Most prominent among the Irish who rode with Simon Bolivar in the campaign for Colombian independence from Spain was Cork's Daniel Florence O'Leary, who rose to become Bolivar's right-hand man. Wexford's John Devereux, a veteran of the 1798 Rebellion, formed and led (from the distant rear, it must be said) an Irish Legion that made up part of Bolivar's army.
Clonmel's William Duane produced the first travel book on Colombia, A Visit to Colombia in the Years 1822 & 1823. Irishmen were especially well represented as physicians in the revolutionary forces, and after independence many stayed on to become eminent doctors and surgeons.
When individuals such as myself complained to the Colombian authorities about their visa requirement, it was often pointed out to us that Ireland operates an equally stringent policy in the case of Colombian citizens who wish to visit this country. Indeed, since we have no embassy in Bogotá, Colombians have to undertake the complicated and costly process of applying for an Irish visa through Mexico City, a place some 2,000 miles from Bogotá.
Ireland is guilty of a double standard in maintaining this country's barriers to travel from Colombia. We require no visa for citizens of most of Latin America, for countries such as Bolivia, Paraquay, Nicaragua and Venezuela, yet we single out Colombians. To reciprocate the Colombian government's visa decision and in an effort to boost travel, cultural exchanges and commercial relationships between our two countries, I call on Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern to abolish the visa requirement for short-stay Colombian visitors to Ireland.
Clonmel's William Duane produced the first travel book on Colombia, A Visit to Colombia in the Years 1822 & 1823. Irishmen were especially well represented as physicians in the revolutionary forces, and after independence many stayed on to become eminent doctors and surgeons.
When individuals such as myself complained to the Colombian authorities about their visa requirement, it was often pointed out to us that Ireland operates an equally stringent policy in the case of Colombian citizens who wish to visit this country. Indeed, since we have no embassy in Bogotá, Colombians have to undertake the complicated and costly process of applying for an Irish visa through Mexico City, a place some 2,000 miles from Bogotá.
Ireland is guilty of a double standard in maintaining this country's barriers to travel from Colombia. We require no visa for citizens of most of Latin America, for countries such as Bolivia, Paraquay, Nicaragua and Venezuela, yet we single out Colombians. To reciprocate the Colombian government's visa decision and in an effort to boost travel, cultural exchanges and commercial relationships between our two countries, I call on Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern to abolish the visa requirement for short-stay Colombian visitors to Ireland.
- Is mise,
posted by Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez at 4:34 p.m.
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