Everything's Coming Up Roses for Colombia's Flower Industry

Not cocaine. Roses.

Like Colombian coca, the plant that produces 90% of the cocaine on U.S. streets, Colombian roses have come to dominate the U.S. market.

An estimated one of every two roses sold for Valentine's Day this year originated in Colombia, symbols of love from one of the world's most violent countries.

"Colombians are hard workers," Martinez said this week, surveying the dozens of women in bright red smocks snipping roses in the greenhouses he runs outside of Bogota, the capital. "They can work hard for the good, but they can also work hard for the bad."

In less than 30 years, the Colombian flower industry has grown to become the second biggest exporter in the world. It reaches its frenzied peak in the days before Feb. 14, when as many as 35 planes a day leave for the U.S. This year, that amounted to 124 million roses from Colombia, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures.

From the U.S., Colombian roses and other flowers such as carnations and chrysanthemums travel all over the world. The cut-flower industry has almost surpassed coffee as Colombia's most valuable legal agricultural export, bringing in $610 million in 2001.

Colombia's flower business is more than just a globalization success story. It's also testament to the remarkable perseverance of Colombians.

Even though a guerrilla war, the world's biggest illegal drug business and everyday criminal violence claim 35,000 lives a year, Colombians have not only managed to endure but also thrive.

The major cities here, especially the capital, are pleasant places that include bike paths, public transit and verdant parks.

Colombian artists ranging from Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez to painter Fernando Botero to singer Shakira have seized world attention.

And Colombia's economy, with a nearly unbroken record of growth, has long been the envy of its Latin American neighbors.

The story of the rose business helps to explain the secret of this country's success in matters both criminal and corporate.

"Our difficulties have hampered us. Colombia would have advanced even more without them," said Augusto Solano, president of the Assn. of Colombian Flower Exporters, or Asocolflores for its Spanish name. "But our difficulties have also made us learn to work harder and be in a hurry about it."