Update on Colombian politics

I had limited internet access during the time Colombia was making the international news. I did write something about it, but now it’s out of date cos since then everyone has hugged and made up.

The only comment I really want to make, is what great tele it made on Friday, when the Rio Summit was being broadcast live. Uribe was going over the supposed links Ecuador had with FARC. He stopped. Ecuadorian President Correa had just left the room, and Uribe said he didn’t want to carry on until he came back. The bottom of the screen flashes up “Correa walks out during Uribe’s speech”. Someone from Correa’s team explains he just popped to the toilet. The Chairman suggests a break. Cut to the newsroom. They explain the news “Uribe is waiting for Correa to get back from the bathroom.” Brilliant.

Remember the anti-FARC march on February 4th? Well as a response, a march against paramilitary violence happened on March 6th. A student activist had told me he didn’t agree with the plan because it could never be as big as the Feb 4th march with all the government and media support it got. Well, I’ve been amazed by how much press attention it did get. Sure President Uribe has said it’s pro-FARC and should be avoided. But the press has generally been positive and it’s lead to an unprecedented opening up of a topic which is normally so rarely reported.

As I was travelling to Regidor, I met a couple of victims on their 24 hour journey to Bogotá (One had a brother killed, the other’s father was shot in front of him and his other six brothers and sisters when he was 10). Their journey was funded, but it would be unaffordable to most. In paramilitary areas, I imagine people would not feel completely safe demonstrating, but plenty did. It wasn’t quite as big as February 4th, or in as many places here or around the world. But there were demos in a few capital cities, and although it had to compete with the Venezuela/Ecuador conflict in the news, it still had a pretty long feature.

Facebook's impact on Colombian politics

I've been here in Bogotá for over a week now. Not writing because there's not been much to report. I still don't have a long-term plan for what I'll be doing here. But short term plans involve going on a walking holiday involving 12 hours of walking uphill, stopping at some thermal baths along the way, and then a visit to Arauca where people have recently been forced off the land that's within 5km of a new oil well. Unusually this was done by the FARC rather than the paramilitaries, so my role will be more offering support and solidarity than protection.

When I first arrived, I was under the impression I understood Colombian spanish pretty well, having understood almost 100% of what our taxi driver/ guide in Cartegena said. Then on the bus ride up to Bogota, I found myself understanding pretty much 0% of what the woman next to me was saying. At one point she kept stroking her arm saying something like "caress" while I stared at her blankly. Then she motioned to my arm, repeating "caress". I was confused that she might want me to stroke her, or that it was so important to her that I stroked myself. Until eventually (slow on the uptake as usual) I realised the arm stroking referred to the watch under my sleeve. "Caress" = "¿Qué hora es?" (What's the time) if you are in the habit of not pronouncing 50% of syllables. I'm been very relieved, having got to Bogotá, that here they're not so slack.

I've moved into the team house, where everyone is quite wound up about the anti-FARC march happening on Feb 4th. It started on Facebook (and is sometimes referred to as 'The Facebook March' in the media), and has massively taken off. Obviously being against killing people, kidnapping people, and holding them in very rubbish conditions is something we'd like to get behind. But any mention that the paramilitaries here have killed far more people is not so welcome in the debate, which is of the right-wing "so you're not against terrorism then?" variety. Chávez' recent suggestion that FARC should be given political status is a big part of what has fuelled this march,

Anyway, there's a very nice cat here and I'm massively loving all this
no-air-miles tropical fruit.