Historical Context

In our planet, only a few privileged people are born with a permanent guarantee of financial stability. These people’s enrichment, whether it is legal or not, is frequently incremental. Due to the selective appropriation of the economic resources and to the monopoly of the benefits that derive from such wealth, a lack of equality in the distribution of income and an open exclusion from opportunities of those who are less privileged, is often found in societies like ours.

My work is presented within the context of a country with a wealth of resources and a privileged geographic location. Colombia possesses 1800 miles of coast over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and fertile land in every climate where all sorts of food are produced: fruit, vegetables, cereal, and the best coffee in the world. Our country possesses the largest open-air coal mine in the world, and numerous mines of ferronickel, emeralds, gold, salt, marine salt, oil, gas, hydraulic and eolian energy, and even Coltan (also known as “Blue Gold”), which is an important mineral of great value.

Oxfam‘s report (for the elites govern) refers to the widening gap between rich and poor in the world. According to him, half of the world’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of the richest 1% of the population. Even more shocking, the bottom half has the same wealth as the 85 richest in the world and only 10% of the population accounts for 86% people of the planet’s resources. The rich have become richer each time. In the United States, for example, 95% of the economic recovery that was achieved since 2008 benefited only the wealthiest 1%. Worst of all is that governments are being hijacked by the 1% to rule at your service. Given these facts, the report recalls the words of Louis Brandeis “We can have democracy or we may have wealth concentrated in few hands, but we can not have both.”

“Real power is economic, thus, there is no sense in speaking about democracy”

José Saramago.