{"id":24478,"date":"2016-12-20T14:36:56","date_gmt":"2016-12-20T19:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?p=24478"},"modified":"2016-12-20T15:38:49","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T20:38:49","slug":"colombia-the-country-of-the-year-the-economist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2016\/12\/colombia-the-country-of-the-year-the-economist\/","title":{"rendered":"The Economist names Colombia the &#8220;country of the year&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The international accolades just keep coming for Colombia as 2016 winds down &#8211; fresh from being named Lonely&#8217;s Planet&#8217;s No. 2 pick for travel in 2017, the latest positive news for the once no-go country is that <strong>The Economist<\/strong>, an English weekly news magazine and one of the world&#8217;s most respected media outlets, <strong>has named Colombia their &#8220;country of the year&#8221; for 2016<\/strong>. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/leaders\/21712136-which-country-improved-most-2016-our-country-year\" target=\"_blank\">You can read the full &#8216;Country of the Year&#8217; article on the Economist website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2016\/10\/lonely-planet-names-colombia-2nd-best-country-to-visit-in-2017\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>&#8220;Lonely Planet names Colombia 2nd best country to visit in 2017&#8221;<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n<p>The award is given to the country that the publication deems <strong>the most improved over the course of the year.<\/strong> As the article points out,\u00a0&#8220;to win\u00a0<em class=\"Italic\">The Economist<\/em>\u2019s country of the year award, it is not enough to be peaceful and rich&#8221; (otherwise you&#8217;d assume that most Nordic countries would have the award locked down annually). The Economist notes that <strong>previous winners Myanmar and Tunisia<\/strong> were rewarded &#8220;for escaping tyranny and building something resembling democracy,&#8221; and that countries like Switzerland, Japan and New Zealand &#8220;need not apply.&#8221; Estonia, Iceland and Taiwan are all mentioned in the build up to crowning <strong>the champion for 2016: Colombia.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_24085\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24085\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2016\/10\/no-narrowly-wins-in-colombian-peace-plebiscite\/dscn9317ed\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-24085\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24085\" src=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DSCN9317ed.jpg\" alt=\"Colombia's peace deal with the FARC is the principle reason for this award\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DSCN9317ed.jpg 800w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DSCN9317ed-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DSCN9317ed-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24085\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colombia&#8217;s peace deal with the FARC is the principle reason for this award<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So why has this august publication gone with our beloved adopted homeland for this award? According to The Economist the reason is simple: <strong>the &#8220;colossal achievement&#8221; of &#8220;making peace in 2016.&#8221;<\/strong> From a country on the brink of being a failed state, to one which has successfully negotiated <strong>an end to a 52 year war which claimed the lives of over 220,000 people<\/strong>. It&#8217;s not been a bad year for Colombia really! As the article points out, the deal is certainly\u00a0&#8220;incomplete and involves ugly compromises.&#8221; <strong>However, as they also note: &#8220;the alternative is worse.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So congratulations to <strong>Colombia, The Economist&#8217;s &#8216;Country of the Year 2016.&#8217;<\/strong> For our money, a\u00a0worthy winner.<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2016\/10\/21-reasons-why-you-have-to-visit-colombia-in-2017\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Why visit Colombia? \u2013\u00a0\u201c21 reasons why you have to visit Colombia in 2017\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; The international accolades just keep coming for Colombia as 2016 winds down &#8211; fresh from being named Lonely&#8217;s Planet&#8217;s No. 2 pick for travel in 2017, the latest positive news for the once no-go country is that The Economist, an English weekly news magazine and one of the world&#8217;s most respected media outlets, has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[2910,797,356,2891],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.4 (Yoast SEO v18.9) - 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