Paved with Good Intentions

Right from the title, this book indicates that — no matter how good it is — an intention per se is not enough. Each and every one of the consequences that the “good intention” may entail must be closely measured. The sentence “With good intentions, the road to hell is paved”, attributed to Saint Teresa of Jesus or Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, is what inspires its name.

Released less than a month before the last presidential elections in Colombia, this volume compiles articles published by Mauricio Botero Caicedo, in El Espectador and Las 2 Orillas, since 2010.

Without personal animosity against the then president Juan Manuel Santos or some members of his administration, the author's idea in these columns is to offer a different vision than the official one and that of many media, as well as help readers form an opinion about the support for the different candidates. To this end, it exposes the various proposals put forward in the race, based on the fact that the legacy left by the outgoing government could well be described as “toxic.”

The author, who has never held nor aspires to hold public office, has been a columnist in various media for thirty years, exposing week after week his own perspective on national and international events.