These people, who have good jobs and drive a hybrid car or cycle to work because they care about the environment, may go to party and do some lines of coke and they are thinking it is no problem," Francisco Santos told The Associated Press Tuesday. "They are absolutely unaware of the ecological impact of their drug taking and we want to change that."

In the book, Fidel develops three central ideas: one, the characterization and development of the deceased FARC chief, the evolution of the guerrilla movement and his role in the complex Colombian political framework; secondly, the incidence of the oligarchic power, its instruments of exploitation and repression and its alliance with U.S. imperialism in the genesis of and constant exercise of violence; and thirdly, the real nature of Cuba's links with the Latin American revolutionary movements and its long and sustained contribution to the search for a just, realistic and humanitarian solution to the armed conflict that is bleeding Colombia.

An excerpt:

Mr. Bush has drawn his line at the automakers’ doors, having already been forced to shelve the free-market principles of his Republican Party to bail out the financial industry over the past two months. But Republicans say he would acquiesce in aid to automakers in return for Congress’s ratification of the Colombia pact and pending trade agreements with Panama and South Korea.

I still am inclined to believe that there's nothing good about free trade, especially when it can be used to justify the silencing of violence against workers--but I am open to continuing to think about it.

One point that we, and other blogfriends have been trying to make ever since the start of the very long road to the White House, was that the way race and racial politics are talked about and analyzed needs to change. There was a clear reason why being Black and Latino was viewed as two mutually exclusive realms of being. One Afro Colombiano writes about his own hopes, expectations and thoughts post the Obama win.

Aiden Salgado writes:

I believe that the triumph of this African American man needs to be looked at very carefully because there is a risk of falling into Obama-itis and into thinking that Obama is superman and that he can solve all of our problems overnight. Ladies and Gentlemen, if Obama has any urgent task, it is to sweep up the mess that Bush has left throughout the world. In order to do so, he can start with the war in Iraq, with supporting a peace process in the Middle East that doesn’t involve backing the aggressions of Israel against their neighbors, and he should pull the U.S. government’s unconditional support for policies of the Colombian government and President Álvaro Uribe Vélez which have been violating human rights.

Related is a series of posts up at The Unapologetic Mexican, featuring the words of African-Americans, specifically their perspectives on Obama. Today's featured post is from an Afro-Latino educator and blogger Jose Vilson. Jose writes:

My biggest reason for voting came in the form of 30 or so students in a classroom in Washington Heights of New York City. All of them are considered English language learners, all of Latin@ descent, and all from immigrant populations. Their engagement in this political race has surprised and inspired me. Their worst and best ideas about politics comes to the fore, and while some of the ideas are certainly prejudice (”White people vote for McCain” won’t stand the test of time), I also see a great opportunity to help develop better-informed citizens and participants in a still-exclusive fraternity.

You can Jose's entire post over at UMX.

You can read the entire letter from Aiden Salgado after the jump.

Well, now we have President Bush's response to their reality:

Bush said he would back demands for an auto industry bailout if Democrats support the stalled “free trade” deal with Colombia. Congressional Democrats have held up the deal over human rights concerns. Obama cited the repeated killings of Colombian union leaders during his final debate with John McCain last month. Democrats want to use some of the $700 billion in bailout money for major car companies like General Motors.

Basically, what this boils down to is if people in my community wants jobs, we must sign on to the murder of fellow workers down in Colombia. I vote an emphatic no on that choice. I hope that the unions in my area stick to their pre-election guns and recognize the blatant violent racism they will be participating in if they too, do not reject such a compromise.

via Democracy Now!

First, please accept our sincerest congratulations. We congratulate you for having won because of the noblest aspirations of your people. We believe your election expresses the deep desire for change felt by the majority of the American people: change in the economy and society, change in international relations, and from there, we hope, a change in the relation between the United States of America and the indigenous peoples of the world.

During your historic campaign, you publicly noted some of what Colombians currently face: you acknowledged the murders of trade unionists by the regime and stated your reservations about a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia, which our people have decided against through a democratic referendum, about which we have written before. We thank you for this, and now want you to know about the specific situation facing Colombia's indigenous peoples.

In the past six years we have lost 1,200 people to assassinations by armed groups, both legal and illegal: right-wing paramilitaries, guerrillas, police, and members of the Armed Forces. These murders have created insecurity, and this insecurity has been used to strip us of our rights with what we call the 'Laws of Disposession', legislation and other institutional norms that legalize the loss of our lands, our fundamental freedoms, and our rights. These 'Laws of Disposession' dispose of Colombia's mines, hydrocarbons, water resources, intellectual property, and national parks – all of these are brought under the ultimate rule of the Free Trade Agreement with the US. The FTA will mean that if Colombia tries to change the laws to allow its people to share in its resources, or take any independent action, then we will be obliged to compensate investors. We will have to submit our laws to international arbitration outside our own legal jurisdiction.

Read the entire letter after the jump. Hopefully Obama and his team will read it as well.

The duo, made up of composer, producer and vocalist Andres Martinez and keyboardist Camilo Sanabria, bring cumbia and dub beats together with an electroshock treatment to make you wanna shake your culo and everything else while you're at it.

Picotero is Monareta's debut physical album, having already released two digital releases under the same label.

Si quieres un sneak listen before you buy (and yes you will wanna buy this album) visit their page at Nacional's site

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is also at the UN General Assembly and yet she's only meeting one Latin American leader. Can you guess which one?

Addressing her kidnappers directly, she said: "After almost seven years, I can say I know you, I know your organisation, your ideas, your objectives." The world, she said, is inviting them to open their hearts "to something more than political and military calculations," and to "make room for peace in your minds."

And peace can come only "through the way of democracy, mutual respect and law," she said. She asked the Colombian government to recognise the political role of the FARC, "knowing that we are different, and have different ideas."

Via / IPS and Reader Patrick Mac Manus

While no one has claimed credit for the attacks, the Colombian government was quick to point the finger at the FARC and the mainstream U.S. media is quick to remind everyone that Cali has a reputation for drug related violence.

Via / Reuters

The government will initiate in September a program to grant formal refugee status to some 50,000 Colombians living in the border zone, nearly three times the number currently registered, announced Chancellor María Isabel Salvador on Wednesday.

The "Colombian refugees registered are currently 18,000 but we will extend refugee status to at least 50,000 more."

Via / El Universal

If it were true, so much the better. Why not?" she said. "I suffered terribly."

She described one of her captors, who she called Enrique, as being a man "of special cruelty".

Although the article doesn't specifically say, "she was raped," the fact that all the articles I read about Betancourt keep hinting at some dark repressive form of abuse (as if being held in the jungle against your will for six years isn't bad enough) is disturbing to me.

Shakira and Uribe are joined by Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Peruvian President Alan Garcia. Eleven of the hostages that were rescued together with Ingrid Betancourt were also present in Leticia.

The Colombian pop idol called on guerrillas, who still are involved in a war against the government to demobilize and work with the government towards peace.

Later she performed together with fellow Colombian singer Carlos Vives. Hundreds of thousands of people were visiting the border concert.

Via / Colombia Reports

Recently freed FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt -- the causa célebre's celebrity -- was on hand for the protest in Paris along with a bunch of other celebrities of the Latino farándula:

In Paris, Betancourt led chants of "No more hostages!" as she addressed a crowd of several thousand people who came to watch artists perform in a square across the river Seine from the Eiffel Tower.

Colombian star Juanes, Spain's Miguel Bose, and French artists Renan Luce and Michel Delpech were among the singers playing at the concert.

At Betancourt's side was the socialist Bertrand Delanoe, who told the crowd: "Our duty is to continue fighting for the liberation of all hostages in Colombia."