Homoeopathy in Colombia, South America

June 14, 2010 by Felipe Cardenas Tamara

Homeopathy Around the World
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Introduction
I want to highlight in this article, in relation to the rich history
of homeopathy in Colombia, the following arguments: i) The
problem of recognition of homeopathy has to do with a conflict
of institutions, which has to be understood from a sociological
perspective ii) The conflict about recognition of practitioners,
what I call pure homeopaths, by society and the State, has
anthropological roots that relate to healing potentials of
individuals and societies. The extinction of homeopathic
practitioners, desired by many, has not occurred yet, because
of their tenacity and creative efforts to spread their knowledge,
and also because homeopathy is an open code science
accessible to scholars, wise men and women, who work to
deepen the knowledge of homeopathy. This essay will combine
historical facts from the beginning and relate those facts to
contemporary issues in homeopathy in Colombia. An
indispensable text about the history of homeopathy in
Colombia is the research done by María del Pilar Guzmán Urrea
and called: “”La alopatía y la homeopatía en el siglo XIX:
conflicto entre dos prácticas médicas” (Allopathy and
Homeopathy in the XIX century: conflict between two medical
practices).2
Geographical context Colombia is located in Northern South
America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Panama and
Venezuela, and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between
Ecuador and Panama, in the timezone GMT -5. The country has
boundaries of 6,004 – Brazil 1,643, Ecuador 590, Panama 225,
Peru 1,496 (est.), Venezuela 2,050 (km), and a coastline of
3,208 (North Pacific 1,448 km, Caribbean Sea 1,760 km) (km).
The presence of Colombia in the Caribbean Sea, through its
ownership of San Andrés Island and Providence Island,
amplifies its boundaries with Nicaragua, Costa Rica, República
Dominicana, Haití, Honduras and Jamaica. The major urban
areas are: Bogota (capital city of the country),
Barranquilla, Cali, and Medellin. Colombia is the second richest
country in the world in biodiversity. From a homeopathic
perspective there has been almost no research done in terms
of exploring the medicinal potential of the territory and its
relation to the rich vernacular knowledge systems found among
peasant societies and the more than 85 aboriginal groups that
exist in the country. The country is considered to have around
10% of all worlds biodiversity. This biodiversity results from
Colombia’s varied ecosystems—from the rich tropical
rainforest, the Andean region, to the coastal cloud forests, to
the open savannas in the Orinoco and to ecosystems found in
the Amazon basin. More than 1,821 species of birds, 623
species of amphibians, 467 species of mammals, 518 species of
reptiles, and 3,200 species of fish reside in Colombia. About 18
percent of these are endemic to the country. Colombia has a
mind-boggling 51,220 species of plants, of which nearly 30
percent are endemic. While on paper nearly 10 percent of
Colombia is under some form of protection, its rich biodiversity
is increasingly threatened by deforestation, livestock
production and urbanization. Today, most of the population
(70%) is living in the major cities and in the Andean region.
Around 65 % of the country is located in the Amazon and
Orinoco basin with a very low population density in those
regions.

Homoeopathy in Colombia
Colombia is located in Northern South America, bordering the
Caribbean Sea, between Panama and Venezuela, and bordering
the North Pacific Ocean, between Ecuador and Panama, in the
timezone GMT -5. The country has boundaries of 6,004 – Brazil
1,643, Ecuador 590, Panama 225, Peru 1,496 (est.), Venezuela
2,050 (km), and a coastline of 3,208 (North Pacific 1,448 km,
Caribbean Sea 1,760 km) (km). The presence of Colombia in
the Caribbean Sea, through its ownership of San Andrés Island
and Providence Island, amplifies its boundaries with Nicaragua,
Costa Rica, República Dominicana, Haití, Honduras and
Jamaica. The major urban areas are: Bogota (capital city of the
country), Barranquilla, Cali, and Medellin. Colombia is the
second richest country in the world in biodiversity. From a
homeopathic perspective there has been almost no research
done in terms of exploring the medicinal potential of the
territory and its relation to the rich vernacular knowledge
systems found among peasant societies and the more than 85
aboriginal groups that exist in the country. The country is
considered to have around 10% of all worlds biodiversity. This
biodiversity results from Colombia’s varied ecosystems—from
the rich tropical rainforest, the Andean region, to the coastal
cloud forests, to the open savannas in the Orinoco and to
ecosystems found in the Amazon basin. More than 1,821
species of birds, 623 species of amphibians, 467 species of
mammals, 518 species of reptiles, and 3,200 species of fish
reside in Colombia. About 18 percent of these are endemic to
the country. Colombia has a mind-boggling 51,220 species of
plants, of which nearly 30 percent are endemic. While on paper
nearly 10 percent of Colombia is under some form of
protection, its rich biodiversity is increasingly threatened by
deforestation, livestock production and urbanization. Today,
most of the population (70%) is living in the major cities and in
the Andean region. Around 65 % of the country is located in
the Amazon and Orinoco basin with a very low population
density in those regions.
In Colombia there is a long tradition of practitioners and
Medical Doctors who have practiced homeopathy, but as it
happens in most of the world, homeopathy has always been in
a subordinate condition in comparison to the dominant
biomedical model. According to Fabian González Arias,
Homeopathy arrived at our country around 1825 and 1830
(1998). Some few doctors started to practice in those early
years, but most of the medical community was hostile to the
new medical doctrine. As in many countries, homeopathy in
Colombia has lived through hard times and many struggles. It
was introduced by the doctors Juan Pardo and José Arrubla
whom began to bring the first books and materials to the
country. In those early days few libraries existed. Probably the
coastal cities of Barranquilla, Cartagena and Santa Marta, in
the Caribbean Sea, were visited by homeopaths of other
countries, but there has not been any research to confirm that
assertion. Consequently the history of homeopathy in Colombia
is basically expressed in the records found at the capital city of
Bogotá in the Andean region of the country. Doctor Arrubla
gave some homeopathic books as a gift to Doctor José Felix
Merizalde, who in turn gave them to Doctor Vicente Sanmiguel,
who had lost his child in an epidemic. Doctor Sanmiguel started
reading the Hahnemann’s Organon of Medicine. He was
exceptionally impressed by the ideas of Hahnemann and
decided to close his allopathic pharmacy and abandon the
practice of allopathy. It seems that he was the first Colombian
practioner of homeopathy. Doctor’s Sanmiguel son, an
apothecary, who was called José Peregrino Sanmiguel, was
introduced by his father to the principles of homeopathy. In the
beginning he was especially skeptical. His father challenged
him to make a proving of a substance known only by him. His
son carried out the proving and felt the effects on his mind and
body. The substance came to be Colocynthis. Both father and
son became ardent homeopaths and together with Hipolito
Villamil started to motivate other doctors of the period in the
principles and practice of homeopathy. By around 1837, with
the help of 30 practitioners, they decided to organize the first
teaching center called Homeopathic Institute Of The United
States Of Colombia, April 10, 1837. The first acting president
was Doctor Luis Hernando Alvarez. By 1840, the first journal,
called La Homeopatía, began to be published. The European
doctors Roberto Bunch and David Castillo gave support by
bringing to Colombia books and other documents. A Cuban
doctor, Salvador Riera helped disseminate homeopathy in small
towns near the capital city, Bogotá, and in some northern
provinces. A homeopathic hospital was founded at the town of
Socorro, Santander around 1860`s. There was also a
homeopathic hospital at Chiquinquira, Boyacá. Many priests by
the end of the XIX century practiced homeopathy and were
members of the Instituto Homeopático de Colombia. This
Institute was the first scientific society and was the entity in
charge of the publication and the training of homeopaths and
medical doctors up to 1980. From that date, all the journals,
documentation, certificates that belong to the origins of
homeopathy in Colombia were lost or stolen. It is very difficult
to find the complete numbers of the journal La Homeopatía.
Not even the National Library of Colombia has a complete
series of the almost 143 published volumes. For almost all of
the XIX and XX century, the Instituto Homeopático de
Colombia was the main entity for the training of homeopaths,
both medical doctors and practitioners3. The presence of
practitioners has been important in the history of homeopathy
up to the present.4 In many isolated regions and even in the
most important cities, many practitioners were recognized by
the State and gained their training at the Instituto
Homeopático de Colombia. For many of them, living on remote
places, their education was carried out through
correspondence. Because of the difficult sanitary conditions in a
tropical country like Colombia, many doctors understood the
importance of practitioners. Others were hostile and ridiculed
them by calling them teguas, which was a word used to refer
to the person acting as a homeopath. When people in the city
of Bogotá, went to a homeopath and their friends or relatives
knew who was treating them, people would say : “You are
being treated by a tegua, “el que aguitas te da”?(the one that
gives you water). Tegua, was the diminutive expression and
linguistic turn of water (agua). Over the years it came to
express a deceiver. Some MD’s refer to homeopaths as Teguas,
forgetting that everyone who is a homeopath is a Tegua,
because from a classic chemistry knowledge, which we all know
is insufficient to explain homeopathic remedies, really we all
are working with water (teguas). In any case, the presence of
practitioners has been active and significant throughout the
history of homeopathy in Colombia.?By the year 1865, the
Institute of Homeopathy of Colombia had five persons
performing as teachers: José Peregrino Sanmiguel, Salvador
María Alvarez, Saturnino del Castillo, Marcelino Lievano and
Ignacio Pereira. Other doctors participated as honorary
members of the Institute of Homeopathy.?During the
nineteenth century, homeopathy was considered a very
precious art and science by some of the most recognized
members of the Colombian society. General José Hilario López
(Popayán, february 18 of 1798 – Campoalegre, Huila,
November 27 of 1869), serviceman, Colombian politician and
president of the country (1849-1853) was one of the
presidents of the Colombian Institute of Homeopathy (1866).
This president was the one that promulgated Law 15 of May
1850, which declared, under a liberal radical philosophy,
freedom of education and removed the requisite of a
professional title. As a result, the freedom of education opened
a great space for the practice of homeopathy, gaining social
recognition. A couple of decades later, Rafael Pombo, a
prestigious poet from the aristocracy wrote a couple of poems
honoring homeopathy. Another prominent person in the history
of Colombia and president of the country, Rafael Nuñez, was a
member of the Institute of Homeopathy and a great promoter
of homeopathy. After 1860-1870 the golden age of
homeopathy, or at least its opportunity to gain
institutionalization was over. From then on, the evolution of the
allopathic Faculties of Medicine would work to label
homeopathy as a fraud. In that difficult situation, some
homeopaths had relevant positions attending leprosy. That was
the case of the practitioner and patient of leprosy named Luis
Carlos Pradilla, who practiced homeopathy as a patient of
leprosy in the lazaretto, located at the town of Agua de Dios
(Water of God) in the state of Cundinamarca around 18005.
This homeopath, who was a nephew of the medical doctor
Ricardo de la Parra, published with other patients, between
1879 and 1880, a newspaper initially called Hope, but later the
name was changed to The Voice of the Banned. The newspaper
published local news, poetry and articles written by the people
from the lazaretto, along with issues that contained religious,
moral and philosophical topics6. The authors recommended the
catholic virtues of humility and resignation; and suggested
reading and cultivating the spirit in order to overcome
adversity. There is no information about the remedies used by
this practitioner to treat leprosy. (For the testimony of a
contemporary homeopathic patient being treated for flu see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10DO8BQXdkA) The
Institute of Homeopathy of Colombia was very close in ties and
relations with European scientific societies and institutions. The
directors of the Institute traveled and participated in world and
international congresses. The first homeopathy courses taught
in Colombia were copied from the Hahnemanian School of
Chicago. The subjects were: General Anatomy, Physiology,
Botany, Pharmacology, Practical and pathological anatomy,
materia medica, therapeutics, theoretical surgery, legal
medicine, clinics, psychology, obstetrics, chemistry and
toxicology (1866). Until 1864 the Institute had few members.
Many of the new homeopaths migrated to other countries. That
was the case of Doctor José Peregrino Sanmiguel who was the
first to take the seeds of homeopathy to the country of
Ecuador. On June 8 of 1865, the Institute was reorganized as
Homeopathic Institute Of Colombia. The statutes were decided
at a work session on the seventh of October, 1865. On that
same day the journal “Homeopathy” was born. For almost 132
years this journal was published (143 issues). The last issue
was published in January 1998 with a complete compilation of
the laws written for homeopathy by the legislative branch of
Colombia during the twentieth century.?In 1867, the National
University of Colombia was established and a professorship of
homeopathy was created. During its history, without a
continuous line, homeopathy has occupied some space at that
campus. It has been, on some occasions, the institution that
has regulated the exercise of practitioners, giving them the
opportunity to legalize their informal status. Today, the main
goal of the allopathic doctors who oversee homeopathy at that
university campus, is to exclude any practitioner from the
exercise of homeopathy on a legal basis; they do not care or
take into account experience or knowledge, but are aware that
homeopaths like Doctor Gonzalo Moncada knows more about
homeopathy than all teachers of homeopathy at that university
campus. I have personally known practitioners that a couple of
decades ago were legalized in their status by assisting training
programs at the National University of Colombia. Today the
environment at the Faculty of Medicine is hostile to
practitioners. Their purpose is to monopolize all alternative
medicine in their hands, going against the spirit of the
Constitution of Colombia. On the contrary, private universities
like Universidad del Rosario have been implementing non-
formal training programs called ‘Diplomados’, this type of
program does not require permission from the National State.
The program from Universidad del Rosario is called Diplomat in
Alternative Medicines: Magnetotherapy, Homeopathy, Flower
essences, Neural therapy and acupuncture. This program is a
step forward if we consider testimonies by practicing
homeopaths, that during the 1960’s, some deans of the
medical school at the Universidad del Rosario promoted
lynching practitioners of homeopathy who lived near
Candelaria, just beside the University campus at the capital city
of Bogotá. Some homeopaths back then worked as tailors and
in the back of their tailor shops they worked as pure
homeopaths. In the year 1869, the sovereign state of
Cundinamarca through a law, assigned to the Homeopathic
Institute Of Colombia, space for establishing a homeopathic
hospital. The idea was to treat the patients who were declared
incurable by allopaths. The hospital was never established
because of economic problems. The anterior law was derogated
by a law of November 3 of 1870. Homeopathy was practised by
many priests. The founder of the first Colombian Religious
Congregation called Dominicas de Santa Catalina de Siena, was
a Dominican priest, Saturnino Gutiérrez (1835-1911) who
gained his homeopathic training from the Colombian Institute
of Homeopathy.

Father Saturnino Gutiérrez O.P

The medical philosophy of both friar Buenaventura García O.P
and friar Saturnino O.P was based on homeopathy. They were
introduced to homeopathy by Doctor José Félix de Merizalde,
who was in charge of medicine at the University of Saint
Thomas. It seems that Doctor Merizalde, introduced as part of
his classes, the Organon of Medicine. Between 1870 and 1880,
the comprehension of the realm of homeopathic philosophy by
friar Buenaventura, allowed him to receive the title of Doctor
by the Instituto Homeopático de Colombia. The homeopathic
‘principles’ served as well in the mission of friar Saturnino.
Homeopathy help to explain his key concepts about the
importance of the intersubjetive experience. The Dominican
Order was probably the most important religious order in
Colombia since colonial times. Their clergy were very active in
the Departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá, land of the
prehispanic Muiscas, the most advanced indigenous community
at the arrival of Spaniards to the Andean region in Colombia. In
1869 there were 32 homeopaths, three journals (La
Homeopatía, La Sociedad Hahnemaniana in Bogotá, El Correo
in the Department of Bolivar) and five pharmacies in the capital
city, which required a seal from the Instituto Homeopático de
Colombia on the bottles of the remedies they sold. In 1870, the
number of registered Medical Doctors for Colombia was of 675
for a population of 2.9 million inhabitants; which means two
doctors for every 10.000 inhabitants. As a matter of fact, most
of the population was being attended by the vernacular medical
systems and by many practitioners of medicine and
homeopathy.?By 1892, the Homeopathic Institute of Colombia
had 497 medical graduates in homeopathy; many of them
living in different regions of Colombia. In the twentieth
century, another important homeopathic institute was founded
by a practitioner who was trained at the Homeopathic Institute
Of Homeopathy: This new Institution was called Fundación
Instituto Homeopático de Colombia Luis G. Paez. The founder
was a philanthropist who donated his entire fortune to the
Institute. One of the donated lands was stolen by the executor
of the Foundation around 1920, after the death of Doctor Paez.
These lands are known today as the neighborhood of Meissen,
birthplace of the master Hahnemann in Germany. The
neighborhood of Meissen, symbolizes the efforts of
homeopathy to gain recognition in Colombia; today none of the
neighbors know the origin and relation of the name of their
district with homeopathy. The neighborhood is a popular
urbanized area located at the southern part of the city of
Bogotá. This foundation is a very serious institution and has
been doing rigorous provings in the last decade (C.XX). It is
controlled only by MD’s and has no recognition from the
Colombian State. As a result everyone in Colombia,
practitioners and MD´s in a way are practicing homeopathy
illegally. This institute goes to a postgraduate level only for
MDs and veterinary doctors. There is no undergraduate
program in Colombia in the present.

It is important to note that a recent law written under the

government of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, (law 1164 of
2007) recognizes the legal basis of the following alternative
medicines: a)Traditional Chinese Medicine; b) Ayurvedic
Medicine; c) Naturopathic Medicine, and d) Homeopathic
Medicine. Theoretically all of these schools of medicine can be
developed at a undergraduate level. Until now there has been
no proposal by any university to open academic programs to
an undergraduate level. As I have already mentioned, the
tendency is to mix the different approaches of alternative
medicine in short courses, with no depth and real
understanding of similarities and differences among the so-
called alternative medicines. As it happens in the world,
alternatives medicines are viewed, used and marketed to
patients and medical staff as quick healing practices. Up to
1960, many eminent botanists and homeopaths travelled to
our country to visit the Institute of Homeopathy and meet its
members. Some Colombian homeopaths were active
researchers and writers. For example, Doctor Ignacio Pereira,
since 1855 understood the presence of leprosy, tuberculosis
and syphilis as diseases related to parasites or microbes. He
published his results fifteen years before Louis Pasteur. Living
in third world country meant that his work never had the
recognition that medicine bestowed on Pasteur, who lived in a
first world country.7 Over the years, some pure
experimentation or provings had been carried out by different
persons without a rigorous scientific design, or even correct
botanical taxonomy. Unlike Mexico, we have never published a
Colombian Materia Medica. Below is the list of some of the
provings done by homeopaths. The common and scientific
name is given. In most of the cases, I have registered the
scientific name according to the new standards in taxonomy:
Croton lechleri M classified erroneously by Leal Eulogio as
Rhizophora mangle (1905); Sophia Regia, popular name,
amargoso, probably the same serval Silvestre sorbus aucuparia
(1905); Canchalagua, without a botanical classification when
experimented by Luís G Paez, 1897, today known as Erythrae
chilensis Pers m, Gentiana canchalagua,R, Gentianella
magellanica, Scoparia montevidensis (Scrophulariaceae),
Schkuhria pinnata (Asteraceae); Curare, Strychnos toxifera
R.H. Schomb. ex Lindl; Mangle Colorado, Rhizophora mangle L,
information given by doctor Mauro Hernández Mesa, on July of
1976 being President of the Institute of Homeopathy of
Colombia; Guaco, Mikania laevigata Sch.Bip.ex Bake; Coca,
Erythoroxylum coca; Pacurú Niara according to Doctor Mauro
Hernández Mesa the specie is Ternstroemiflora de Mildbr. The
Pacurú Niara was shown at Paris in the Exposition Universelle
(1889) by the Colombian botanist José Jerónimo Triana who
gave sufficient quantity to Doctor Roulin for its chemical
analysis; unfortunately this scientist mistook the sample for
curare; Guambi, Anthelmia of Linneo; Algarrobo, Courbaril of
Linneo (HYMENAEA COURBARIL);Yoco, PAULLINIA CLAVIGERA
VAR BULLATA, Caparrapi, Magnolia hernandezii (Lozano)
Govaerts; a small poison frog (Phyllobates) called by natives of
Choco Chequeneaara, Basuniara, Fiu fiu and Kokot. More
plants: a poison plant called Mata negro (Glabra), a plant used
by Indians in Colombia and Guatemala. The Chicha, a
traditional fermented beverage, containing a mixture of flour
and maize. Some pathosgenias have been carried out with
borracheros (datura arborea, solanaceas). Many practitioners
have carried their own pathogenesis, unfortunately there is no
standardized book or publication with any of the experiments
conducted by homeopaths in Colombia. Currently the
Foundation Institute of Homeopathy of Colombia Luís G. Paez
has being doing some research and pure experimentation. In
Bogotá, nowadays, there are some 90 Medical Doctors with
specialization on homeopathy listed in the yellow pages.
Although regulations say that only MDs can treat patients with
homeopathy, many non-MDs are practicing homeopathy and
they are tolerated. There is an organization for homeopaths in
Santa Fe de Bogotá, the Asociacion Medica Homeopática de
Colombia (ASMHOC) and also one consisting mainly of
practitioners, Asociación Colombiana de Homeópatas
(Asocoldo). Universidad del Bosque, a private University, has
designed a non-formal diplomat with 240 hours of teaching,
only for MDs. The National University of Colombia, the major
university of the country, recently opened a post-graduate
program of Alternative Medicines with emphasis in
Homeopathy, Chinese medicine and acupuncture,
homotoxicology, Chiropractic, and Osteopathy. This program
pretends to teach the basics of the above arts of healing in only
two years. My personal training started with the long distances
courses of Homeopathy (1998-2001) offered by the British
Institute of Homeopathy; my tutor was Joan O’ Connor, who
was living in Canada. Later I took probably the last Course of
Homeopathy imparted by the Instituto Homeopático de
Colombia before its actual President, Doctor Fabían González,
went to live in Canada; he is working in Montreal, Canada as a
homeopath8. Recently, there are two “official” schools, which
only accept MDs: Escuela de Medicina Juan N. Corpas and
Instituto Homeopático Luis G. Paez. There are other schools
that teach homeopathy as a career (with no government
recognition) or as a postgraduate medical course: Fundación
Homeopática de Colombia, Fundación Colegio Nacional de
Medicina Homeopática y Naturismo. Fundación Hahnemann is
directed by Doctor Carlos Santos. The last time I heard him
speak, he told us that his school was closed until the total
regulation of law 1164 by a governmental decree. Some
training of MDs is being carried out by pure homeopaths in
Cali, one of the major cities of the country. There are some 30
homeopathic pharmacies in Bogotá, 10 in Medellin. The training
schools for homeopaths were active for an important life span
during the twentieth century. I recall the Fundación
Homeopática de Colombia directed by Doctor Vicente Alvarez,
with a six years curriculum; another school was Escuela de
Medicina Homeopática Leon Vannier. It seems they had only
one program (1978) and their courses in homeopathy lasted
two years. Nowadays, some homeopaths, like Doctor Jaime
Pinilla are doing provings, in his case with the insect known as
PITO (Triatoma infestans), which is the transmitter of
tripanosoma cruzi (Chagas-Mazza disease). Personally, I have
been promoting research with solanaceas.9 Many of the
provings carried out over a period a 173 years have been lost.
They were never published or some homeopaths died without
transmitting the findings of their provings. In the last three
years, under the guidance of the National Service of Learning
(SENA), a state institution, practitioners in homeopathy have
been the main protagonists in the definition of professional
competence that theoretically will regulate the practice of
homeopathy in Colombia. Paradoxically, it is the experience
and knowledge of pure homeopaths, which will define the
practice of homeopathy in Colombia both for Medical Doctors
and pure homeopaths. This process has occurred with the
participation of some Medical Doctors. But when it comes to
talking about homeopathy, during the different sessions, the
Medical Doctors must be silent and hear what the pure
homeopaths have to say. In the year 2008, a homeopathic
dispensary was established in the city of Bogotá under the
support of the Red Cross and the guidance of Felipe Cárdenas,
who acted as scientific director of the project. The project
consisted in treating street inhabitants. Every weekend, over a
period of two months, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m, the
indigent population of Bogotá had access to homeopathic
treatment. Using only some of the 80 major homeopathic
remedies, the dispensary became a clinic with excellent results.
The treatment was completely free of any cost. The doctors
that participated in that project were the pure homeopath
Jaime Pinilla and the medical doctor Sandra Fandiño, under the
scientific guidance of Felipe Cárdenas D.I.Hom. With this
dispensary, it was proven that team work is possible between
pure homeopaths and medical doctors. Sandra Fandiño was
studying homeopathy at Fundación Instituto Homeopático de
Colombia Luis G. Paez; she is a witness to the deep knowledge
that pure homeopaths may gain.
The Homeopathic Dispensary in Bogotá, and homeopathic practice by pure
homeopaths (2007).
Since around ten years ago, some private companies providing
health care Colombia, are offering the possibility for their
clients to choose Medical Doctors with alternative medicines; as
one of the main choices, many patients are looking into
homeopathy as the principal alternative medicine. The problem
is that these medical doctors have to operate under the same
temporal scales of the allopathic model that constrains the
consultation period to a maximum of 30 minutes per patient.
One of these health care providers once started to offer in its
drugstore homeopathic remedies. The dilemma was that after a
couple of months nobody was demanding biochemical drugs;
as a result of the poor sales, the distributing companies
intervened, forcing the health provider to stop selling
homeopathic remedies. For practitioners subsistence is not
easy. Most laws in the last 40 years are not very favorable for
what I call pure homeopaths. In the last years, the practice of
homeopathy has become very eclectic among doctors. One out
of ten MDs, is a pure homeopath. Many Medical Doctors are
migrating to informational medicine, synergetic medicine…
Many MDs combine everything with homeopathy. There is a
small community of medical doctors who practice homeopathy
according to orthodox rules. I think that in recent years, most
doctors are going to the terrains of biomedicine, which has
attractive technological paraphernalia that gives them the idea
of control and wisdom. Practitioners work illegally and are not
recognized by the State. Some estimates say that we have
about 5,000 to 10,000 practitioners10. Nobody really knows
the exact number. It’s dangerous for practitioners to say that
they practice homeopathy. Recently (2005), one of them was
expelled from a Jesuit University (Universidad Javeriana),
because his environmentalists “friends” considered him a
dangerous person, for arguing from a vitalistic perspective
against the deterministic and materialistic models that
dominate some of the discussions and debates in the field of
environmental studies. Father Gerardo Remolina S.J, the
Rector, preferred to condemn the homeopath rather than
accept the truths of homeopathy, which never were argued on
an academic basis. In his dismissal letter they wrote: “You
were told not to publish or write about homeopathy”. The letter
was signed by a Jesuit priest with a doctorate in theology and
philosophy on June of 200511. I know a couple of practitioners
who earn their living and subsistence mainly working with
homeopathy. It is not easy for them. The State is looking,
under a recent law, to identify and regulate the practice of all
alternative medicines. But the spirit of the LAW is to give the
monopoly of alternative medicines to the allopathic community.
Four years ago I was the Vice presidential candidate of the
Greens of Colombia (2006). We where censured by the press,
but I used the few spaces given by the media, to promote and
defend homeopathy. I think, hoping I am wrong, that the
future of homeopathy will be stormy. This is especially due to
two main issues: i) eclecticism in the medical practices of
homeopathy and ii) a worldwide tendency by the allopathic
community to monopolize all alternative medicines, which in
turn is directing their attention to informational medicine.
Therefore, for many of these alternative MDs, homeopathy is a
just a precious prehistoric legend in the field of alternative
medicine; they called themselves homeopaths, only because
they use homeopathic remedies, without applying their efforts
in the search of the simillimum of the patient. It is easier
today, to connect patients to one of those “wonderful”
machines in the fields of radionics, biofeedback, or
informational medicine, which proclaim that in seconds they
reach heaven and are able to apply the remedies of all the
known stars, hell and constellations in the search of healing.
The search for the simillimum in homeopathy has no short
cuts; work is hard, especially on chronic cases, but
homeopaths know, and their patients too, that real cures and
healings are part of an endless story of divine landscapes,
where the earthly binds with dynamic energy, transforming
maladies into symphonies.
Pure Homeopaths from the Colombian Association of Homeopaths
Final remarks
I have been emphasizing the importance of practitioners in
homeopathy. The problem and virtue of homeopathy is that its
epistemology is an open code system, which means that
anyone who is willing to work hard and study a lot can become
a great homeopath. And this existential process can occur
within a medical faculty, outside of any school, through the
teachings of a friend, or from your own autodidact study.
Anyway, the fact is that the presence of pure homeopaths is
denied by the majority of the medical community; most of their
historical documents tend to ignore that crucial fact in the
history of modern medicine. On most documents, they forget
that many MD´s gained their knowledge of homeopathy and
were introduced into its principles by practitioners. Medical
doctors distort the history of homeopathy in Colombia, ignoring
the presence of practitioners from the very beginning of
homeopathy in Colombia. Homeopathy has been part of the
history of the world, together with medical doctors. Thousands
of homeopathic practitioners, with a degree or not, have
practiced the homeopathic profession, performing an invaluable
service to society. Finally, I want to share a political and
symbolic act that we have been carrying out as pure
homeopaths in Colombia. It refers to a universal declaration
which states and declares that homeopathy is a legacy of
humanity. The declaration states: “The homeopaths of the
world desire to have the support of society and the general
public, seeking partnerships that will enable us to make visible
homeopathy as a heritage and legacy of all mankind. The
history of homeopathy has known numerous cases of
individuals who were homeopaths, having embraced first
training in other fields of knowledge: agriculture, the military,
anthropology, law, priesthood, biology, bishops, and nuns.
Homeopathic remedies are effective and inexpensive in the
treatment of acute and chronic illnesses. The state of the art of
the health-illness studies have clearly demonstrated that the
opposition of the pharmaceutical industry and certain sectors of
the medical profession can be understand more from their
interest in money than a real interest in the health of mankind.
This has led many times, with the complicity of states and
governments, to the persecution or death of many
homeopaths. It reveals a time of deception and potential
excesses of the pharmaceutical biochemical model which is
dominant and is aimed almost exclusively at personal
gain.” “The imposition of a single medical model and the
intention to appropriate approaches such as Homeopathy,
Ayurvedic medicine, Chinese medicine and Herbology, can be
understood only as part of a fundamentalist culture that is said
to be predominantly scientific, allegedly neutral and
“universal”. Supported by the pharmaceutical multinationals,
the pronouncements of certain sectors of society (Council of
State, Secretary of Health, Government) do not reflect an
interest in promoting or protecting the health of peoples or
nations, but rather the interests of a mono-cultural scheme of
thought. Petition: “Therefore, we request that homeopathy
should be recognized as a heritage and legacy of humankind,
and the best exercise of this science is represented by
homeopaths, who fortunately are abundant in the world. We
invite you to join this petition, which requests that homeopathy
should be declared a heritage and legacy of humanity and of all
peoples and nations of the world. It appeals to the judges of
the nations following the rule of law: Cuilibet in arte sua perito
est credendum [Credence should be given to one skilled in his
particular art]. It is sought to be heard as a homeopath and
hoping to be understood, based on a logical reasoning, that
justifies the exercise of homeopathy in the world by anyone
who is willing to study its doctrine, materia medica, techniques,
methods and principles of this particular science”. We invite
everyone to support and sign this petition. You can access the
petition at:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/28003.html
Footnotes:?1 He is a practitioner from the British Institute of
Homeopathy and Instituto Homeopático de Colombia. Advisor
of the Social Medicine and Homeopathy Department of Centir
foundation, a major homeopathic center in Colombia. He is the
actual director of the Political Science and Human Rights
Department at Universidad de la Sabana.
fundacioncentir@telmex.net.co 2http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirt
ual/revistas/revanuario/ancolh22/articul/art3/art3a.pdf 3
Based on: Instituto Homeopático de Colombia,
“Reglamentación de la Medicina Homeopática en Colombia”, La
Homeopatía, no. 143, Year 132, January of 1998. 4 María del
Pilar Guzmán Urrea. “La alopatía y la homeopatía en el siglo
XIX: conflicto entre dos prácticas médicas”. Anuario
Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura. 1995. (22): 59-
73. 5 Gutiérrez, Apuntamientos para la historia de Agua de
Dios. pp.14-24, 126. citado por Diana Obregón Torres, Batallas
contra la lepra : estado, medicina y ciencia en Colombia,
Medellín: Banco de la República, Fondo Editorial Universitario
EAFIT,
2002. 6Obregón,Ibid.?http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/sociol
ogia/bat/bat3c.htm 7 Ignacio Pereira, Elefantiasis de los
griegos: Carta dirigida al señor Ricardo de la Parra (Bogotá:
Imprenta de Foción Mantilla, 1866), ver especialmente pp.1-
5. 8 http://horea.info/gonzales/formation.php?9 Felipe
Cárdenas. The Homeopathic materia medica: the family of the
solanaceas.?http://www.homeoint.org/articles/cardenas/solana
ceas.htm 10 Videos about Pure homeopaths in
Colombia:?Doctor Gonzalo Moncada:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDfw9d8ZqyI?Doctor
Vicente Alvares:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWVO65EAHCs?Doctor
Felipe Cárdenas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10DO8BQXdkA 11 For the
complete process against this homeopath the archives are
found at: http://centir.itgo.com/box_widget.html?Folder:
homeopatía?Subfolder: historia de un linchamiento ( history of
a lynching)
Dr. Professor Felipe Cárdenas Ph.D has been working for the last 20 years in
environmental anthropology, dealing with development projects in the Andean region
of Colombia. He is the present director of the Political Science and Human Rights
Department at Universidad de La Sabana-Colombia. He has diplomas from the
British Institute of homeopathy and the Instituto Homeopático de Colombia and is an
honorary member of the Sociedad Homeopática de Colombia.