We still have one year to make things right.

Today Colombia celebrates the 199th anniversary of its Independence Day. Last week, the Colombian government raised to this unique celebration by announcing that the US military presence in Colombian bases will expand significantly in the short/mid term. I cannot imagine what surprises the government will have for us for next year, in occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Independence day.

I have a humble proposal for such an important anniversary. It is unquestionable now that Colombia is a failed country, regardless of what you understand by "failure". That said, the best thing we can possibly do for 2010 is to formally accept the reality of our failure as a country. More precisely, by 2010 Colombian leaders should start with all the necessary procedures so as to ensure that Colombia ceases to be an independent country, and becomes part of one of the current empires around.

No, I am not joking. I think we could talk to the UN, and make our case. It should be fairly simple to convince them of our failure. Perhaps they can help us in setting up a bid mechanism, so as to become part of the best developed country around. The country offering the best conditions to govern us would be the winner of the bid. Sensible options would be the US and Spain. In both cases, becoming part of them would be a mere formality; we have been behaving like one of their colonies for a very long time now. They treat us accordingly, too. So it would be like one of these couples that have been living together for a long time, and that one day discover that for some bureaucratic reason (say, cheaper taxes) making things formal is convenient.

The main advantage I see is that nothing would really change: our leaders are already used to report to someone in Spain and the US, and both countries already exploit our resources and talent accordingly. There would be many benefits of making our failure formal. Apart from the immediate order, development, and civility that a foreign empire could enforce in Colombia, there would be other small benefits. For instance, we Colombians would get a decent passport to travel around. The developed country that wins the right to rule Colombia would get access to our natural resources (most notably, water) and to our two oceans. This is not to be underestimated. For the US, I suppose having a fixed colony in South America should be very attractive: they would be close to Venezuela's oil and would neutralize the growing influence China and Iran have in the continent.

I am confident all the Colombian leaders that follow this blog will take my proposal into account. They have one year to make things right.