We will definitely have the 50,000 pesos banknote. It will be shown in the city of Cali on December 1, 2000. The lyric poet of Cali, Jorge Isaacs, will be the personage depicted ont he note, which is the highest denomination issued in all of Colombia's history.

Jorge Isaacs has received homage of the philatelists of Coolombia in various ways: in 1954 by a stamp in which depicted the monument to that poet and his work "Maria" erected in Cali; in 1977 in a proeuction on Colombian literary figures the poet appeared in profile and in the background of the "El Paraiso" estate, and in 1996, in the series "Pioneers of Petroleum" which was composed by ten persons headed by Isaacs.

Let us remember that Isaacs was born into a comfortable and distinguished family of "high society". His father was an English Jew who arrived in Cali from Jamaica. His infancy and youth passed without any financial problems, and he studied in the choicest colleges in Bogota. The death of his father required that he suspend his university studies and return to Cali to take over control of the haciendas and family business. he took part in various activities such as exploitation of oil and minerals, and later took on diplomatic responsibilities. Between 1871 and 1872 he was Consul in Chile. His poor skill in negotiations and teh diversity of his interests resulted in betrayals and traps and frauds, which caused him to spend a large part of his time in litigation and disputes seeking to recover much of his assets.

He took part in the civil war that ended in 1861 on the side of the Conservative party. In 1866 he returned to Bogata as a Deputy, and in 1867 published that which would be his pinnacle work, "Maria." In 1869 he switched to the Liberal Party and as a Liberal was secretary of the Chamber of Deputies. There began a number of years of intense political activity: Secretary of Public Instruction of the State of Cauca, Representative in the Assembly of Antioquia, a liberal warrior, and in 1880 Chief of the State of Antioquia. That was the last public responsibility that he bore, then deciding to dedicate himself to the exploitation of coal.

He died in misery at the age of fifty-eight years, in the city of Ibague. His ashes were passed on to Antioquia, where they were entombed in the Cemetary of Saint Peter in its monumental mausoleum, the work of sculptor Marco Tobon Mejia.

There are four poets that have been depicted on our banknotes: Caro, Nunes, Silva, and Isaacs.

Currently in the Congress of the Republic is the Reform Project, which will eliminate three zeroes on our banknotes. The new peso will be the equivalent of 50 cents; that is to say a North American dollar will be worth 2 new Colombian pesos.

In the Project the idea is to keep the current design of the notes, with the elimination of three zeroes and the word "thousand", thus those that are now circulating will change from $2,000 to N$2.00, that of $5,000 to N$5.00, that of $10,000 to N$10.00, that of $20,000 to N$20.00, and that of $50,000 to N$50.00. If the project is approved, a lot of people will never know or have in their packets a $50,000 note, because the issue which will be circulated in December will be replaced almost immemdiately by the N$50.00. On the collector's level, the $50,000 note will be an exceptional piece despite its high face value and possibly on the one issue, and it will not be easy to find them in bank packs of 100.

In the middle of December the $1,000 coin will again be circulated even though there's no way of avoiding massive counerfeiting of those coins. We think that the design will be the same as the last issues. If the reform is approved, it will become another sought-after coin that will rapidly disappear, andits equivalent will be the N$1.00 although we still do not know whether that will be represented by a coin or a banknote. For the moment, let us prepare the coins in our fathers and grandfathers, as in Colombia the culture of money ended 50 years ago; a "little coin" is good only for begging.

Source: El Mundo, Thursday, November 23, 2000