# Colombia has been wracked by civil and drug wars for decades now, but there are signs of a change. Medellín, once the stronghold of a series of drug cartels, has launched programs to reintegrate guerrilla fighters into civilian life. The upper reaches of the Rio Magdalena were long a battleground of FARC rebels and paramilitary groups. Now the area is open to tourism again. But relations with neighboring Venezuela are strained. President Hugo Chávez and his agenda of 21st century socialism is also causing a rift in his own country. But one thing Colombia and Venezuela do have in common is a vast wealth of untouched nature.