Posts Tagged ‘Colombia’
FARC Releases 4 Hostages in “Goodwill Gesture”
7:04 am By Maegan La Mala · Colombia|Latin America|society · Comments Off
2 Feb 2009Colombian guerilla group FARC released 4 hostages, three police offers and a civilian, into the jungle last night in what is being called a “goodwill gesture”. The hostages were picked up by a Brazilian Red Cross helicopter, and taken to a small airtport in Eastern Colombia to be reunited with their families. Colombia’s CaracolTV shows the emotional reunion in the above video.
AP reports that while the release is great news, it is being “marred by accusations that Colombia’s military interfered. A reporter who was accompanied the mission, Jorge Enrique Botero, said the military hounded and delayed the mission by more than two hours with numerous flyovers.”
Via / YouTube
Saturday Morning Links y Cafe
7:46 am By Maegan La Mala · Colombia|Palestine|Politics|Quicklinks · Comments Off
17 Jan 2009It’s still pretty cold here in the big mango, so grab something warm and read a little of what I’m reading this morning.
Labor Secretary nominee Representative Hilda Solis Sails Through Senate Confirmation Hearing.
10 FARC Hostages were Rescued in Colombia.
Is there a ceasefire in the works for Gaza?
In December, I wrote about Colombian president Alvaro Uribe clearly rejecting any outside intervention in the latest offered release of FARC hostages. The problem is that FARC won’t release any hostages unless there are outside witnesses involved.
The Colombian leftist rebel group, FARC, said it is willing to hand over six hostages but it will only do so in the presence of an international representative.
In a statement made public Wednesday, the FARC said it wants someone from either a “brother country” or the international community to be present when it frees the hostages.
Both the FARC and the Colombian government say they will let someone from the International Committee of the Red Cross be on hand for the hostage release. But Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has said he does not want any other international participation
Colombian Solidarity Demonstrations for Gaza Make the Colonialism Connection
8:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|Colombia|Gaza|Palestine · Comments Off
8 Jan 2009While I know some readers don’t appreciate the connection I made between U.S. colonialism in Latin America and what is happening in Gaza, in Latin American protests against the continuing massacre of people in Gaza, the connections are being made.
The Colombian blog Equinoxio has some images and audio from a march on Tuesday in the capital city of Bogotá.
Afro-Colombians being evicted and displaced in Colombia
1:27 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Colombia · Comments Off
23 Dec 2008
The BBC has a devastating story of how Afro-Colombian’s are treated in Colombia–namely massive evictions and displacements to make room for palm oil plantations:
Take Yajaira, a slender 18-year-old, one of four children whose family was displaced from a settlement in the Cacarica river basin just south of Colombia’s border with Panama.
She misses her place of origin deeply.
“My home was surrounded by banana and mango trees, and coconut palms,” she recalls, fingering a bracelet she wears made of seeds and feathers gathered in tropical forests.
“We used to bathe and fish in a nearby stream.”
According to the BBC, many (of not most or all) of the displaced peoples wind up in shanty towns–which of course–are not surrounded by trees and streams that are clean enough to fish and bathe in. Does race have anything to do with the evictions? According to one of the displaced people, “We are displaced, we are black and we are poor.”
So, in other words, when there’s money to be made through a lucrative business–who cares about a few poor black people who have to move into shanty towns, right?
Christmas in Latin America via Commercials
10:57 am By Maegan La Mala · Colombia|Latin America|Marketing|TV · Comments Off
23 Dec 2008In such a consumer-oriented time of year, Christmas, what better way to get in touch with Latin American pop culture than through the ads run on television back in the motherland. VL’s been scouring the web to find a few of the best, and I present to you this first installment from Colombia, a Pepsi Christmas commercial with the theme of diversity and acceptance during the holiday season.
Via / YouTube
Ingrid Betancourt on FARC, Running for President, and Obama
10:47 am By Maegan La Mala · Colombia|Politics|Venezuela · Comments Off
21 Dec 2008
On Al Punto with Jorge Ramos this morning on Univision, there was an interview with former FARC hostage and one time Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. Five months after her release, Betancourt said the FARC was struggling to survive in Colombia and that there have been orders to recapture her, which is why she lives in Paris, France, where she is also a citizen.
With Colombia being heralded as the model of the Latin American war against drugs (with a “little help” from the United States), some human rights organizations within the South American country are questioning Colombia’s numbers when it comes to just how well they are killing off opposition.
Codhes, a respected Colombian NGO, analysed the statistics of recent successes claimed by the armed forces in the 44-year civil conflict.
About 114,000 members of the warring factions were said to have been dealt with by the army in the last six years.
However, other estimates say there are only 30,000 in the warring factions.
Even allowing for recruiting to replenish depleted ranks, the government figures suggest that eight members of the warring factions are killed every single day in Colombia, something not substantiated by any other sources.
Colombia Attempting to Appeal to Green Guilt Side of Anglo Coke Users
9:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Colombia|Drugs|Environment · Comments Off
20 Nov 2008
Since being green is in, the Colombian government is trying to appeal to the environmentalist side of the British cocaine users by telling them how bad the stuff is for the environment.
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.”
Afro- Latinos : Reflections on Obama Win and Expectations
1:03 pm By Maegan La Mala · Blogs|Colombia|Politics|race|US Presidential Race 2008 · 1 Comment
12 Nov 2008
Earlier this week, VivirLatino published a letter from an Indigenous community in Colombia to President Elect Obama.
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.
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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