Colombia

Chavez or no Chavez, they're crossing the border

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:01:34 +0100

Worsening relations between Colombia and Venezuela led to a decision on November 3 by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to close the border between the two countries. Instead of giving in to the obstacle however, residents from either side are finding every way round it.

On November 9 President Chavez told Venezuelans to prepare for war with Colombia, after it emerged the US army had been granted access to seven of the country's military bases. Chavez had already closed the border with Colombia a week earlier, following the murder of two border guards. Caracas suspected the Colombian paramilitary of carrying out the attack. This was followed by the killing of nine Venezuelans from the border town of Tachira. And to top things off, Chavez believed that the government in Bogota was planning to assassinate him.

Chavez deployed 15,000 Bolivian National Guards (GNB) along a 2,000-metre stretch of the frontier. The border towns of Mara, Páez and Almirante Padilla soon found themselves home to tanks and armoured vehicles.

Despite the tensions, however, residents from both sides of the border remain on good terms, and even manage, in various ways, to reach their neighbour's side.

Images from state run media Globovision.

War drawn by those who wage it

Julien — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:56:39 +0100

At first sight they seem to be children's drawings of jungles, mountains and rivers. But on closer inspection the details come into focus: people pleading for mercy before being executed, women being raped, hostages tied up, giant cemeteries...

Former Colombian combatants have painted some 90 canvasses as part of an exhibition called "The war we have not seen", currently on display in Bogota's Modern Art Museum. The large-format paintings were made by former members of the guerrilla, the paramilitary and the national army. The 35 men and women - who have deserted, demobilized or been wounded in combat - took up artist Juan Manuel Echavarría's invitation to capture their wartime experiences with paint and brushes.

Photo: Ernesto Monsalve Pino / Bogota Museum of Modern Art

Is snorting coke an art form?

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:06:07 +0100

Renowned Cuban artist Tania Bruguera surprised a Bogota audience in September when she lined up three people directly involved in the Colombian conflict for a chat. The real performance however, started when a waitress emerged with a tray of neatly organised lines of cocaine, and began offering them to members of the audience.

The guests on stage are a former guerrilla, a former paramilitary, and a victim of displacement.

Extract of a video posted on YouTube by "jepenuala".

Video: Colombian rock star Juanes's outburst against Cuban concert censorship

Team Observers — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:17:18 +0200

The Colombian rock star Juanes gave a much anticipated concert for peace in Havana, the Cuban capital, along with 14 other Hispanic artists on September 20. But the concert was nearly cancelled when the singer realised his every move was being spied on by Cuban authorities. A cell-phone video captured Juanes exploding before the Cuban concert producers hours before the show.

In an intensely emotional breakout in the lobby of the hotel where the artists were staying, Juanes and the Spanish singer Miguel Bosé denounced the behaviour of Cuban authorities after discovering several "preventive" measures taken to avoid any controversial incident during the concert (see Observer Ernesto Hernandez Busto's detailed explanation below).

After they repeatedly threatened to cancel the show, the Puerto Rican singer Olga Tañón, and a member of Cuban rap group Los Orisha, intervened to calm them down and convince them to perform.

The video was leaked by an exiled Cuban radio journalist, Leticia del Monte, who filmed the outburst on her iPhone. She later gave her interpretation of events in a TV interview. "Juanes paid a high emotional price for singing in Havana. For the first time, the reality of the oppression and fear that 11 million Cubans experience every year hit him in the face," she said.

No library near you? Luis’s donkeys will bring one

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:33:33 +0200

Photo : Diana Arias. Posted on the blog elbiblioburro.

Luis Soriano, an unemployed Colombian schoolteacher, spreads knowledge and literature to places where no librarian has ever set foot. He brings his books by donkeys to Colombia’s poorest and most isolated provinces.

After loading his donkeys back with books, Luis Soriano criss-crosses the desolate Nabusimake Valley in Colombia’s Magdalena province. To achieve his goal of giving peasant families and their children something to read, he invented “Biblioburros” (Library-donkeys), mobile libraries carried on the steep and narrow paths in the region on sturdy donkeys. Luis’s territory is also that of armed rebel groups but, according to him, the media coverage his initiative has received has meant that he is relatively safe from attacks.

The idea occurred to Luis in 1998 when he lost his job as a school teacher in the city of La Gloria. Although he came from a poor family, he owned one of the largest private collections of books in the country. He decided to share his ‘wealth’ with those who had never had access to a book in their life. After buying his first donkey, Alpha, he set off on his country’s least-travelled paths.

With the help of several NGOs and private businesses, Luis expanded his travelling library to 22 “Biblioburros”, led by a team of volunteers. His initiative reaches well beyond his home province. His sudden fame notwithstanding, Luis continues to cover eight country schools near his hometown himself.

FARC rebels release proof-of-life videos of 10 hostages

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:53:25 +0200

Colombian television aired videos of 10 soliders and policemen that have been held by FARC rebels in a jungle camp for as long as 11 years. The men, chained by the neck as they face the camera, send messages of love to their families and thank those working to liberate them.

The tapes were recovered over the weekend from a FARC operative before he was arrested by authorities. The proof-of-life videos were filmed by the guerrillas to increase pressure on the Colombian government.

The black president Colombia forgot

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:31:40 +0100

Left, a photo of Jose Nieto Gil. Right, his "whitened" portrait.

At the end of the 19th century, Jose Nieto Gil was president of Colombia. And yet, you won't find him in a single history book. Why? Presumably because he was black.

While Americans are proud to let the world know they've elected their first black president, the Colombians kept theirs hidden for over a century.

Colombian historian Orlando Fals Borda discovered a portrait of Jose Nieto Gil when digging in a palace loft in Cartagena more than 30 years ago. Fals Borda then spent his entire life trying to do justice to the forgotten politician. But it wasn't until the death of the historian last August that the Colombian media discovered the first African American to reach such an exceptional post.

Obama, lottery star in Colombia

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:55:04 +0100

Sebastien Longhurst, one of our Observers in Bogota, sent us this photo of a lottery ticket with Barack Obama's face on it. His comment:

Last Thursday, the company that runs the lottery in the central Meta region of Colombia decided to do something new. For a change from the usual pictures of animals or iconic figures from the region, they chose to print thousands of tickets illustrated with a smiling portrait of Obama. 'We wanted to pay homage to African-Americans, explained lottery director Magdalena Gonzàlez in an interview with the international press. According to Gonzàlez, slightly more tickets were sold when they had Obama's face printed on them. The initiative is particularly symbolic in a country where around 10% of the population is Afro-Colombian. It's a poor community which lives along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and finds itself absent in political debate."

Ingrid Betancourt's release, filmed by the Farc

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:46:57 +0200

A Colombian TV channel has broadcast a video of Ingrid Betancourt's rescue from the other side of the operation. When the helicopter takes off, the Farc cameraman, unaware of the trick that's just been played on him, is pleased to find that the fake humanitarian workers have left... a box of beer.

The video was obtained exclusively by the Colombian channel Noticias Uno. The guerrillas, who talk about the hostages' departure in good humour, have no idea that they've just taken part in one of the Farc's biggest ever setbacks.

The footage, filmed on a digital camera by a guerrilla, covers the whole rescue operation. As the first helicopter arrives, members of the Colombian Special Forces, disguised as the Red Cross, disembark. A second helicopter hovers above at the point where the hostages are exchanged. It was presented as a spare transporter for the hostages in case of emergency, when in reality it was full of Colombian soldiers ready to intervene (0.43'). The two sides then meet, and the guerrillas agree to be interviewed by fake Telesur journalists (2.37'). And finally, Betancourt's helicopter flies away.

At the end of the video, the guerrilla says "the comrades have gone man". Another Farc responds: "you know what he said to me, the guy from the Red Cross? He said 'take this as a little present' [the pack of beers left by the fake aid workers]. Goodbye comrades!"

See the version of the release that's we've seen until now.

Unedited images of Ingrid Betancourt's rescue

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:01:41 +0200

This unseen footage of Ingrid Betancourt's rescue has just been released by a Colombian television channel, a month after she was released. The document, now available on YouTube, contains over an hour of footage.

The footage has been divided into four parts. The first is an overview of the operation.

The second part shows the preparation and rehearsals that went into "Operation Jaque" (checkmate in Spanish).

The third part was shot in the rescue helicopter just minutes before the disguised rescuers were to attempt to capture the prisoners.

The fourth part shows her release. After tricking the Colombian militants, the rescuers tell the hostages that they're free. Here's their reaction.