I am sorry to see all these "funny" posts here. My partner is from Colombia and I have toured the country extensively. It is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever been to (and I have been to > 60 countries) and the people are the most wonderful, friendly, good-looking and hospitable anywhere. Are there issues with hostage-taking? Sure there are, but these problems are exagerated. Never had a single problem with security in Colombia.
There is a huge Colombian emigrant community in the USA and all over Europe - don't know about Canada but there must be Colombians there as well. I went to the Colombian National Day celebrations here in Amsterdam and there were over 4,000 (ex) Colombians! And please no funny remarks about how you can imagine that there would be many _Colombians_ in _Amsterdam_, as the vast majority of Colombians are in legal businesses.