how the country is using books and film to woo tourists

A new leaf

Fancy going on holiday to Colombia? Claire Armitstead on how the country is using books and film to woo tourists

Thursday March 20, 2008
The Guardian

Can libraries save a country? Such a notion seems quaint in the UK - but it has a very different force in Colombia, where only the privileged can afford books, and battles with cocaine barons and guerrilla insurgents have left huge stretches of the country ungovernable.
Back in 1991, US journalist Ron Chepesiuk wrote an article in American Libraries magazine, looking at Colombia's troubles through the lens of its library system. He noticed a paradox: a country in which 13 million people lived below the poverty line could fill a football stadium for a poetry festival. "Colombians are lovers of culture," he wrote. The library system, Chepesiuk observed, was managing to survive when educationalists were being pushed out by paramilitaries. Between 1986 and 1988, some 88 teachers were assassinated - but no librarians were killed, despite operating in some of the most dangerous areas of the country. Even the most ruthless outlaws seemed to respect librarians. There was, though, a huge disparity in provision: good, mobile services in some areas, virtually none in others.

Ten years ago, the government decided to tackle this. Since the turn of the millennium, 691 new libraries have been built, each with a core 2,500 books. As well as giving a unifying taste of Latin American culture, the libraries have a local bias, reflecting communities that range from rainforest to high sierra. The 709 public libraries that now exist serve a population of 42 million people, who speak 64 languages and hundreds of dialects. Nearly a third of the territory is occupied by indigenous communities, in which the literacy rate is around 2%. What use would a library be to them?
Paula Marcela Moreno, the 29-year-old minister of culture, has no doubts. "I believe there are minimum standards for quality of life," she says, "and access to a library is one of them." But it is not about books alone. The libraries have computers and audiovisual equipment. "We want all Colombians to be able to understand images as well as words. We know that countries with good economic growth have a strong culture, and that the more access children have to cultural activities, the more sensitive they will be to life." Moreno, an LSE-educated academic and the first Colombian of African descent to become a government minister, talks eloquently about the political power of social inclusion. "Our diversity is our main source of wealth and self-esteem," she says.

In the troubled 1980s, many of Colombia's richest citizens left the country, taking their money with them. In the past few years, the money has been coming back, so there is a need for a vision that can both reassure the rich and empower the poor. A key element of the new prosperity is tourism. The tourist board, Proexport, aims to increase the number of visitors from 1.4 million to 4 million, and new developments are racing up along the Caribbean shoreline. In the beautiful coastal city of Cartagena, American cruise ships are stopping off for the first time in two decades, spilling hundreds of high-spending daytrippers into the emerald workshops that stud the narrow streets of the old walled city. But at night they all scuttle back to the safety of their boats, fearful after years of scare stories about kidnappings and murders. There is a propaganda war to be won here, in which literature can play a part.

Proexport is keen to promote Cartagena as the birthplace of Gabriel García Márquez. They are expecting a tourist boom this summer, as the film of his Love in the Time of Cholera is released, full of gorgeous Cartagena locations. But it's not just about the celebration of an already acknowledged literary heritage. Last year, the Bogotá 39 was conceived - a loose grouping of young writers judged to be at the forefront of a new golden age of Latin American literature.

Many of the 39 turned out in January for the four-day Cartagena Hay festival, an offshoot of its British namesake. Earnest discussions by day were followed by glittering soirees hosted by a lettered elite who treat planes like taxis (many inland roads are still hazardous). The diplomatic community was also out in force, though the first lady, Lina María Moreno de Uribe, pulled out at the last minute - a sign, perhaps, that trouble was brewing.

The festival is symptomatic of the government's attempts to mould a common cultural identity while trumpeting Colombia's credentials as an international player. The Bogotá 39 has writers from 17 countries, including Venezuela and Ecuador, two neighbours with which the country tottered on the brink of war earlier this month.

In Bogotá, declared World Book Capital by Unesco last year, books are everywhere, with a network of stunning new public libraries open to everyone for a minimal yearly subscription. More than 340 titles are available for free exchange at bibloestaciones, with a new book published each month. They range from classics of Latin American literature to Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. (His tales of how the elephant got its trunk or the leopard its spots gain a whole new resonance in the birthplace of magic realism.)

The books are published by the government in small paperbacks, with drawings to illustrate the stories for children. If any proof were needed of the respect Colombians have for literature, 18 months after the scheme was launched, 80% of the original books are still in circulation. As the slogan for the bibloestaciones proclaims, in Bogotá there are books in the wind.
Love in the Time of Cholera is out tomorrow.

By billyb on Mar 20, 2008, 06:45 in Friendly Talkzone.

tejasmarcos says on Mar 20, 2008, 07:53:

nice post.

god is in your head

CatGirl says on Mar 20, 2008, 09:04:

Thank you for the info BillyB....

ooops! ....Did I say that?

billyb says on Mar 20, 2008, 17:33:

jejeje, somehow i don't think many, if any, of the 'tourists' on PBH were wooed by the books.

CatGirl says on Mar 20, 2008, 20:42:

Yes, I understand .....some things are just not what they appear to be...:)) Thanks

ooops! ....Did I say that?

goin_south says on Mar 20, 2008, 23:50:

I was 'WOOOED' to return to Colombia,
by their acts of neglect for honoring sovereign territory... jajja!

why can't the freakin Chung King Chinese just LEAVE THE FREAKN DOLLY LLAMA and Tibet ... ALONE!

Juanes says on Mar 21, 2008, 05:15:

i think tourists could be wooed even more if the european and in particular UK govt decided to update their lists on which countries are advisable/non advisable to visit. at the moment until colombia is taken off the list which includes the ones below there wont be many mono's wooed from across the pond...journalists in the UK continue to write articles about how colombia is in the top ten of war torn tourism for the more radical tourist & including it with war torn places in africa/middle east will not help woo anyone, even more backpackers......despite all of this ABTA (association of british travel agents) has voted locombia one of its top 5 2008 long haul destinations so there is still a long way to go.

Don't Go To...

The 'don't go to' list of countries is broken down as follows: where we advise against all travel to the country; where we advise against all travel to parts of a country; where we advise against all but essential travel to a country and where we advise against all but essential travel to parts of a country.

Afghanistan
Albania
Azerbaijan
Burundi
Cameroon
Colombia
Comoros
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Ecuador
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Georgia
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs)
Ivory Coast
Kosovo
Lebanon
Mali
Niger
Nigeria
Pakistan
Philippines
Russian Federation
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Uganda

so for me plan colombia, opening hundreds of libraries, colombia es pasion advertising campaign are simply not enough to bring back the tourists........maybe FIFA decideds to bring the copa mundial there in 2014 this will definately improve things.

however, on one hand i am selfish and do not want more tourists en mi colombia cos that is why i think i enjoyed it more when i was the only gringo/mono in places like San Gil, San Cipriano, Santa fe de Antioquia

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

azunoman says on Mar 21, 2008, 13:58:

If I was Colombia I might want to log on to most US city libraries and search on Colombia. In Glendale, Arizona I typed in "History Colombia". I got "Kill Pablo". How sad...

IS IT ANY WONDER PEOPLE IN THE US THINK I AM CRAZY FOR HAVING VISITED MEDELLIN!!!!!!!!!!!

Colombia should be getting out fair information about their history and culture to the western world if they want to change the overwhelming perception of Colombia. Please start with my library.

Ready, Fire, Aim

Juanes says on Mar 22, 2008, 10:54:

i totally agree azunmanito, but the country does not get a fair press here in the uk unlike somewhere like spain who have been taking a more positive step to encourage tourism between the two countries....the travel industry have a large role to be play too in helping bring more people there and overcoming perceptions.

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/