El Jefe has left 17 comments

El Jefe comments on Colombian Beauty Pageant Inside Female Prison

Somebody Put This Thread Out of Its Misery It looks like we have moved far afield from prison beauty pageants, which was kind of a fun topic.

Instead of insulting one another, lets just call this thread a wrap, OK?

El Jefe comments on 'Developing' countries

Tinto My point exactly.

El Jefe comments on 'Developing' countries

Lucia I challenge you to find a post where I have personally talked trash about Colombia, or any nation, race or creed.

Many on this site have an amazing ability to generalize, and to generalize about things they know nothing about, and then pretend that because it is in black and white on their little computer screen, that it is somehow then transformed into "truth."

I'm not angry with Vladimiro and others that trash the US. Anyone can do that, I am simply pointing out that they do not know anything about Iran, or apparently, the United States, either.

El Jefe comments on 'Developing' countries

Vladimiro Apparently, you are not terribly familiar with who actually runs Iran, or the militantly religious nature of that nation's laws, or of the jackbooted thugs from the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance that go about in the street beating/arresting boys for holding a girls' hands, or wearing jeans, or for not being deferential enough to so-called Islamic values.

Iran is led by the Supreme Leader (a religious man), who is chosen by the Panel of Experts (all religious men). Neither the Supreme Leader nor the Panel of Experts are popularly elected. By the way, you also seem to be unaware of the rather fundamentalist President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who recently, among other things, announced that the State of Israel and all Jews should be destroyed.

You will be hard pressed to find any American politician urging that the destruction of a race should be state policy. Your suggestion that the US government is more fundamentalist than Iran has little basis. Yes, Americans have churches, but that's because most Americans believe in God. Simply believing in God does not a fundamentalist make.

PBH should just be renamed to "Anti-American clap-trap that has nothing to do with Colombia" Site.

El Jefe comments on A second dead Italian?

Ho-hum Colombiche Why do posts on this site always devolve into discussions of sex or people spouting petty nationalisms (hardly just an US trait)?

The vast majority of posters on this thread have not disparaged Colombia, quite to the contrary, they are fascinated by it. Colombiche, you do us a great disservice by generalizing about all Americans, or gringos, for that matter.

You are behaving in exactly the same way that you claim "these patriotic Americans" act - first you insult a group of people, then you say how great your country is, then you leave. That's not discourse, that's kindergarten. You are just contributing to the behavior you say disgusts you.

I encourage you to stay, converse with cool people, and ignore the ones who insult you and your country. Their opinions don't matter, anyway - this is supposed to be the "Friendly Talkzone" after all.

El Jefe comments on A second dead Italian?

Don't Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water I agree with GIB and UC that hoards of dumbass, obnoxious, sun-burned tourists and pedophile/creepy/scumbag sex tourists is something Colombia could do without. This is very close to what happened to the Czech Republic when I lived there early after the Velvet Revolution. Now, Czechs earn on average four times more than they did when I lived there, and they can afford to buy homes. Unfortunately, now the country, especially Prague, has been drowned beneath Louie Vuitton, MTV, mega-malls and other vapid expressions of Western commercial culture (although the Czechs so far have been able to preserve their culture amidst this).

However, I think you're throwing the baby out with the bath water here.

All I ever hear on PBH is how ignorant, stupid, greedy "gringos" who just ruin everything. I've heard much the same said of the "evil foreigner" in Russia, where I live now. It's the same kind of close-mindedness and suspicion that really gets on my nerves sometime.

Well, I ask you, how is your average gringo supposed to obtain some cross-cultural understanding if he/she stays in the home country and never travels? You can't on the one hand say how arrogant and ignorant "the gringo" is, and then on the other, tell them they can't visit Colombia when they wish to extinguish that ignorance. This argument makes no sense. To me, it is just a question of character - some tourists are dumbasses, and some aren't.

I'm moving to Bogota for a year with my colombiana in August. I'm going to learn the culture and the language better and immerse myself as much as possible so I can understand her and her people as best as possible. I don't see anything wrong with that. And with respect to safety - safety is pretty much common sense and listening to people who have more experience than you. It's not about fear, necessarily, it's about being humble and realizing that you really don't know that much.

And for God's sake, who the hell goes to the shady part of town and brags about how rich they are in front of a bunch of prostitutes? It saddens me that a life was lost, but come on - That just looks like Darwinism in action.

El Jefe comments on Christmas in Pereira

Pereira Zulmita -

My colombiana is from Pereira (although most of her family lives in Bogota now). She misses it, too. It's great to hear about your Christmas traditions!

Calipro and ElPadrino are not trying to be rude (at least I hope not) - on another post, a Colombian woman was saying that there is a plaza in Pereira where women sell their young daughters to disgusting men, and everyone, including the police, know about it. They want to know if that is true or not.

El Jefe comments on before and after surgery pic posted in my image gallery

I'd like to make a motion I motion that Zuan take us on his next Colombian model road trip. Any seconds?

El Jefe comments on PLATANO TAKES A VACATION

Dude, go out and get some fresh air! Platano -

I think you are taking this website a little too seriously. Believe it or not, there is not a vast X-Files-like conspiracy to prevent you from disseminating "the truth". I am fairly new to this site, but even I can see that you are hardly being censored, as is evidenced by the massive amount of "platano" posts on PBH.

You should take a vacation, not because you are being persecuted, but because you are obviously being angered. Go hit the gym, get some fresh air, spend time with your girlfriend/wife/significant other, and read a book (preferably one that isn't about Colombia's problems or how estadounidenses have been belched out of the bowels of Hell with the specific purpose of ruining every single human's life on the planet most especially innocent Colombian peasants).

Have a good rest! Look forward to debating you again soon.

El Jefe comments on Uribe Detractors

umm "I know, also the gringos think violence is the solution for everything, but it is not."

Gringos hardly have a monopoly on the use of violence, umm Or are you saying that FARC/ELN are gringos now, because last time I checked, they were pretty violent people.

Personally, I am not interested in finger-pointing as to who is "at fault" for all of Colombia's problems. Anyone familiar with the drug trade and Colombia's history knows that gringos, and the Americans in particular, share part of the blame for many of the problems. However, if I wanted to hear about how South Americans are innocent victims of the evil "gringos" who eat South American children, I would just go to Chavez's or Castro's websites.

The reason I initiated this thread was to hear from those who hate Uribe, to tell me what specific person they think would do better and why. Only platano has suggested someone (Ingrid Betancourt), who has been held hostage for 3 years in the jungle. As I stated before, it's not enough to blame your problems on the evil foreigner and call your president a lackey, but have no alternative leader, proposal or program.

El Jefe comments on Uribe Detractors

platano - that's not an argument platano -

I simply noted that it is illogical to cut defense spending when one is engaged in a civil war. I didn't say violence was the answer, but what do you propose the government do? Are you saying it should not respond to FARC terror? That special forces should not attempt to rescue those who have been kidnapped? Do you honestly believe that attempting to construct public works in areas controlled by FARC during a civil war is well-reasoned?

If only one side is willing to negotiate, negotiations will fail. FARC is not serious about negotiating a peaceful end to the conflict, that is precisely why it continues to kidnap people like Betancourt, despite the fact that she is sympathetic to their cause, if they truly believe in any cause other than their wallets. She trusted them, and she made a mistake. Now she's in the jungle for three years, deprived of her liberty. And she has gained nothing.

I agree with adrimm and Hunter on this one.

El Jefe comments on Miss Colombia photos from Cartagena

Zuan You lucky dog!

El Jefe comments on Uribe Detractors

Correction Sorry, that last comment was for platano.

El Jefe comments on Uribe Detractors

Non-violence I agree with your sentiment, umm, but I don't think it's a good idea to cut defense spending when you are engaged in a civil war.

You can't build infrastructure and reduce poverty if FARC keeps blowing the infrastructure up and kidnapping and killing the people sent to remote regions to help. Then there are the paramilitaries and drug dealers that complicate the mix. Without security, Colombia won't be able to help the people that FARC claims to represent.

It looks Colombia will have to settle the FARC-situation through force or negotiation or a combination of both. It's difficult to see how public works programs in rural areas can be undertaken without FARC laying its weapons down.

El Jefe comments on Best Books on Colombian History & Culture

Thanks Desi Thanks for the recommendation!

I'm living in Russia right now, but when I finish here in April I'm planning to move to Colombia for a year with my girlfriend (colombiana). I don't know as much about Colombia as I'd like to, so I'm going to try to do a lot of reading in the next few months to learn more about it.

Thanks again!

Jefe

El Jefe comments on Colombia and the Spanish connection.

Sports Miguel, the Afghan game is called buzkashi.

Kat1, please provide attribution to that comic genius John Cleese for your post making fun of American football.

Any sport with a dose of violence is good for the soul, that includes hockey, football and rugby. I'm not so sure about Afghan goat-grabbing, but to each his own.

Jefe

El Jefe comments on Colombian restaurants in DC?

Colombian Restaurant in DC There's a Colombian restaurant called Aguardiente on the edge of Georgetown on 24th Street, a little bit north of M St., NW. You can drive, or metro to DuPont Circle (walk down New Hampshire Ave to N St, to 24th St.). The menu is a mix of South America, but my Colombian girlfriend likes to go there when she's homesick (closest thing to Colombian in DC, that we know about).

Hope this helps!

jefe