Stereotyping Colombians the wrong way.

It always hurts when it seems people only want to see what is wrong with your country. (As a citizen of the United States, I can understand what that is like with all the anti-americanism!)
Looking for what is wrong with someone's country is not always well received. It can be taken as demeaning, xenophobic and racist.. racist because it involves a negative categorization of an ethnic group (or a set of ethnic groups) example: Black's are drug traffickers = Colombians are drug traffickers = Asians are Drug Traffickers = Chinese are drug traffickers = Whites are Drug Traffickers. Same thing.

If they ask you if you have a kilo of cocaine in your backpack, or if your family is on the drug business, tell them no, and then ask them why they are so interested to know (at this point ignorance is quite obvious)! Tell them that if they can stereotype you as a drug dealer, you can stereotype them as drug users!

You come from a beautiful country that I would love to visit again. I was studying in Quito, Ecuador for a while this summer and got to travel to Medellin, Colombia and spend a weekend there. I saw some of the city and part of the Feria de Flores. Someday I would like to go back and spend more time in your country to see more of Medellin and/or visit other cities like Cartagena that has so much history to see. My short weekend in "Medallo" could only scratch the surface! Every country is much more than what makes for a great action movie or a sensationalist news report. Show them pictures of your home country and talk to them about what it has to offer. Educate them about the reality.

Even when it comes to the negative things people hear and say about Colombia, you can turn them around into saying something positive about your home. Why? Because you don’t just come from a country of drug dealers and guerrillas, my friend–you come from a country whose determined people have struggled to preserve one of Latin America’s oldest democracies even when confronted with overwhelming obstacles. A nation shows strength in its perseverance, and what your country has done to better itself in only the last ten years is worthy of our admiration.



Sigue adelante, amigo, y no te desanimes!

Source: http://travel.indie.my/2011/02/01/how-to-cope-with-the-colombian-stereotype/