BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s central bank chief said on Friday his main challenge over the medium term was preparing the nation for a normalization of U.S. monetary policy, possible rate hikes by developed nations and a drop in commodity prices.

After years of near-zero interest rates, the United States is showing signs that an end to expansive monetary policies could occur in two or three years as its economy gains steam, Jose Dario Uribe told the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit.

BOGOTA, May 23 (Reuters) – A Latin American bloc that
includes Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Chile on Thursday agreed to
eliminate tariffs on most goods to promote free trade between
the countries and increase exports to Asia.

The members of the nascent Pacific Alliance group also aim
to promote free market policies as the key to economic growth,
attract more foreign investment and integrate their capital
markets and energy networks.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s coffee farmers are striving to sell their surging coffee output by getting a foothold in new markets in the Middle East and Latin America, and also by winning back disenchanted vendors who sell in the country’s traditional markets, the head of the growers federation said on Tuesday.

Good crop weather, increased fertilization, and the progress of a coffee tree renovation program will lift Colombia’s production to 10 million bags in 2013, up about 30 percent from 2012, and pave the way for higher output in the future, Luis Genaro Munoz told the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit.

BOGOTA, May 17 (Reuters) – The Organization of American
States on Friday published a report calling for
decriminalization of drug use and for greater coordination
between nations in tackling the scourge.

“The report presented by the OAS today is a vital piece in
the construction of a common way to fight this problem,”
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said during the
presentation of the 200-page report in Bogota.

BOGOTA, May 15 (Reuters) – Colombia, the world’s
fourth-largest exporter of coal, said on Wednesday it produced
18.4 million tonnes of coal in the first quarter, a drop of 21.4
percent from the same quarter last year, due to labor disputes
as well as port and rail disruptions.

Workers at Colombia’s top coal miner, Cerrejon, walked off
the job for more than a month in February, demanding better
wages and benefits. Weeks of tough negotiations led to the
signing of a three-year agreement in March, but Cerrejon said it
will likely miss its 2013 output goal of 34 million tonnes.

BOGOTA, May 9 (Reuters) – Colombian Finance Minister
Mauricio Cardenas on Thursday described the collapsed Interbolsa
brokerage as a “launderette” and a “sewer” after accusations
from a lower house lawmaker that it laundered cash from drug
cartels and Marxist FARC rebels.

Interbolsa, the largest brokerage in the fast-growing Andean
country, was intervened and dissolved in November following a
liquidity problem that left it unable to make $11 million in
scheduled bank payments.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s former leader Alvaro Uribe on Sunday rejected an accusation by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that Uribe was plotting to kill him as the desperate ploy of a dictator trying to hide his illegitimacy.

In the latest in a string of explosive accusations from Hugo Chavez’s recently-elected successor, Maduro said on Friday he had evidence that Uribe was conspiring with the Venezuelan opposition to kill him.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombian lawmakers on Wednesday rejected a polarizing bill to allow same-sex marriage in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, as hundreds of people took to the streets to demonstrate for and against the measure.

The bill was rejected by 51 out of 102 lawmakers in the Senate – with 17 in favor. The negative vote was widely expected, given that lawmakers from the ruling coalition had made an alliance to oppose the initiative.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombian lawmakers on Wednesday rejected a polarizing bill to allow same-sex marriage in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, as hundreds of people took to the streets to demonstrate for and against the measure.

The bill was rejected by 51 out of 102 lawmakers in the Senate – with 17 in favor. The negative vote was widely expected, given that lawmakers from the ruling coalition had made an alliance to oppose the initiative.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Monday said he is no longer considering running for a shorter term of two years in 2014 and told lawmakers it was too early to consider an extension of presidential terms to six years.

Santos on Friday signaled he may seek re-election, but only if he can stay in office for two more years, half the usual term. He also said that from 2016 onwards, the presidential term should be extended to six years and that a president’s right to stand for re-election should be scrapped.