SiV has left 490 comments

SiV comments on Fast salsa songs

Some of my other good fast salsa: Merecumbé (I forgot who sings this), but it's really fast and good Varios songs by la La 33 (Pantera Mambo, La 33, etc.) Varios songs by Orquesta La 8

SiV comments on French First Lady angers Colombia with cocaine lyric

Judging by the kids hanging out near my local estanco, it's Colombians, Simon.

SiV comments on Poverty in Colombia: Wikipedia

Sociologists generally define 2 types of poverty: 1) Relative Poverty: being below a relative poverty threshold. For example, households with an accumulated income less than 50% of the average income is often defined as a measure of relative poverty. Obviously, this depends: if you're comparing households in Beverly Hills, somebody with 3 cars, one maid and a semi-Olympic pool could be described as suffering from poverty. In Cuidad Bolivar, Bogota, a house where everyone has there one bed, and a fridge, but very little else could be described as above the relative poverty line. 2) Absolute Poverty: quantifies the number of people below a poverty threshold independent of time and place, i.e. the same in different countries, cultures, and technological levels. Indicators like the UN's 8 Basic Needs Index uses this concept:- Food: Body Mass Index above 16. Safe drinking water: Water must not come from only rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby (less than 15 minutes' walk each way). Sanitation facilities: Toilets in or near the home. Health: Treatment must be received for serious illnesses and pregnancy. Shelter: Homes must have fewer than four people living in each room. Floors must not be made of dirt, mud, or clay. Education: Everyone must attend school or otherwise learn to read. Information: Everyone must have access to newspapers, radios, televisions, computers, or telephones at home. Access to services: Eg. education, health, legal, social, and financial (credit) services. I don't know what indicators the DANE uses to define poverty and absolute poverty. Anyone else?

SiV comments on Chavez Ends Support of FARC Rebels; NO MAS!

Well, it's good he's (at least publicly) removed his support. I imagine most of you are right, and he's out to save his skin, but it's a step in the right direction.

SiV comments on Poverty in Colombia: Wikipedia

I read recently in Amnesty's 2007 report that official DANE statistics state that, "45% of Colombia's population lives below the poverty line, and 12% in extreme poverty. Displaced persons are the poorest of the poor." Uribe himself has quoted these figures in 2007's report to Santa Fe de Railito, sorry, Congress.

SiV comments on El Choco trip.

How much was the PADI course, by the way? Does the dive school have a website?

SiV comments on El Choco trip.

Satena fly Quibdo-Nuqui or Medellin-Nuqui: www.satena.com/

SiV comments on El Choco trip.

Careful going to Juanchito, it can be pretty lawless there. Go in a group, and preferably with some known Colombians.

SiV comments on PORQUE MEXICO TIENE QUE COPIAR TANTAS NOVELAS COLOMBIANAS?

Porque a ellos tambien les gusta basura barata!

SiV comments on Working on a tourist Visa

No idea. Really though, the best way to get information about this stuff is from the horse's mouth. Check on DAS' webpage.

SiV comments on TiroFijo's Last Minute Confession

Jeje. . .es bueno. El chiste, mejor dicho, no Tirofijo: él no era tan bueno.

SiV comments on Working on a tourist Visa

No, no, Papi, it does matter. You're not officially allowed to work on a tourist visa. Don't let 'em catch you. . .

SiV comments on Cheapest Flight to Bog Fr USA

Look on the flight finder: www.vuelosbaratos.com.co I just booked some flights using this search engine and they were dirt cheap. Easy to use with a great price comparing chart.

SiV comments on "'Tirofijo is dead' says Minister of Defense"

Yes, Pod, I'm sceptical about what the Colombian govt. says, especially los Santos (Juan Manual or Pacho). If the Farc have confirmed it, that's good enough for me, I guess. I'm certainly not going to mourn Marulanda's death, unless it means a worsening in the conflict, which it could well do if that monster Jojoy becomes the No.1.

SiV comments on "'Tirofijo is dead' says Minister of Defense"

Is there any evidence for this other than on Santos' say-so?

SiV comments on Tayrona still over run with Israelis?

Usually I'd be complaining about xenophobia, but as it's Israelis we're talking about . . . .

SiV comments on Baby Car Seats in Colombia

Here in Cali the other day, a family of 4- father, mother, child and an 8-month baby- were killed because all of them were travelling on a moped along the busiest street and were hit by a bus. Everyday, you can see loads of families with babies and toddlers speeding around in the city on motorbikes dodging in and out of speeding buses and taxis: that's the mentality here, so don't expect carseats.

SiV comments on The red dance

So what are the shades of grey about the UP? Did they maintain strong links with the Farc?

SiV comments on

CK, Spain is a great place to live. I lived there for 2 years- they still know how to enjoy themselves there, unlike dour Britain. Craig, I've been investigating going back to Europe (the UK then Spain) with my Colombian wife. Have look at the Spanish Embassy in Bogota's visa info: http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulados/Bogota/es/MenuPpal/Trmites de visados/Paginas/TrámitedeVisado.aspx To be honest, I'd say it's nigh on impossible. I know if you went and worked there, as an EU citizen with a work contract there, you could apply for her residency visa. But her alone? She could try looking for courses at the SENA with convenios with Spain.

SiV comments on Desperation in Colombia?

Well, he won't have to worry about his future now. He'll be assured of a roof and 3 meals per day. . .in jail.

SiV comments on Latin America: the attack on democracy, by John Pilger

Looks like an interesting piece. John Pilger is indeed a powerful journalist, by means of his reputation, which he got by being thorough, intelligent and insightful. Hopefully, he still is. Now, let's be clear here: I generally think Chavez is an idiot. However, nationalisation of national resources can often make business become more bureacratic and less efficient, but it stops profits being syphoned abroad by multinational companies. The concept of Foreign Direct Investment is that MN uses its expertise to exploit (in all senses of the word) a country's natural resource, in Venezuela's case oil. The MN also exports the lion's share of profits. After a while, the technical know-how can be transferred (learnt) by the host country, the equipment bought. In short, the country can take over its own production, without the profits of its own natural resource being exported abroad to a third, now largely irrelevant and unneccesary, nation. While bad news for the MN, it obviously makes sense for the host nation; whether it is Venezuela, the US, whatever.

SiV comments on Drug dealer in London killed by Cali Cartel

The Guardian article says the British gangster was from Liverpool, not London.

SiV comments on "Perro Como Perro" by Carlos Moreno

I saw it on a bus to Pasto a few weeks ago. Great acting by Alvaro Rodriguez, Oscar Borda and Marlon Moreno (unfortunately, I didn't think Blas Jaramillo's was up to his usual standard- shame, as it was his last film). Good production. Shame about the story. Still, definitely worth seeing.

SiV comments on "Perro Como Perro" by Carlos Moreno

I heard a story about Perro Come Perro and the Concejal of the Barrio Obrero, Cali, where much of the film is shot. Apparently, the Councillor was outraged about how his barrio was portrayed in the film, full of prostitution, sicarios, beggars, street vendors etc. and went to make legal complaint, and took a DVD of the film along as evidence. The problem was the judge couldn't accept the complaint as the DVD the councillor brought along was a pirate version he got in his own barrio. . .

SiV comments on Venezuela weapons worry US, Colombia

I wonder if the US is sufficiently worried to launch an, ahem, "preemptive" strike?

SiV comments on Hugo Chavez vrs Bush

Bush= complete meglomanic idiot, Chavez= complete meglomanic pendejo. Result: draw!

SiV comments on Colombia president: Interpol report is strong evidence of Venezuelan support for rebels

Thankyou for not accusing me of being a Farc-supporter, billyb, this is progress! As for the "Señor" across the border I'm sure the Farc has many contacts, funders, patrons in both Venezuela and Ecuador (and Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, etc., etc.), they could be one of millions of people: I don't see why they would necessarily be Chavez or Correa. Not that this possibility does not exist, but the evidence (at the moment, at least) is pretty flimsy. Though, hell, who knows? South American politics, eh?

SiV comments on Now Hiring Native English and French Teachers

Can they fix my car as well? Or knock me up a new wardrobe?

SiV comments on 13 cocaine labs destroyed in Colombia

These cocaine labs are basically tarpaulin sheds with 20 plastic drums and a few easily found chemicals in the middle of the rainforest. Another 50 were probabaly built while they were destroying those 13.

SiV comments on Now Hiring Native English and French Teachers

damn, you mean vicshere, with an "n".

SiV comments on Colombia president: Interpol report is strong evidence of Venezuelan support for rebels

The thing is Colombiano, they don't mention Chavez or Correa by names: the information is supposedly in code. The $300 million reportedly donated by Chavez is refered to as 300. It could be 300 anything in theory, million dollars, dollars, pesos, sheep, pints of beer, etc. It's all open to intepretation, you see, and has nothing to do with communism, neo-liberalism, anarchism, socialism, democracy, theocracy, biology or the French I took. . .

SiV comments on Colombia president: Interpol report is strong evidence of Venezuelan support for rebels

Let's stop this bickering, children, and keep to the topic. By the way, (I know very little about Insulza, so this is not about him exactly, but) what's wrong with easing tensions between Colombia and Venezuela? Surely that's a positive thing.

SiV comments on Colombia president: Interpol report is strong evidence of Venezuelan support for rebels

tom, the idea is to promote and enforce transparent usage of funds, to make sure they are not used in a dirty war: i.e. lean of the Colombian govt. to prosecute war criminals, corruption, human rights violations etc. perpetrated by state forces (army, police, etc.) To be fair, I think the rejection of the TLC was a move by US senators to promote this concept, and there was quite a lot of pressure by the US on Uribe to dismiss his first Attorney-General, Osorio, who closed numerous cases against the Colombian military for collaboration with paramilitaries, involvement in massacres, etc.

SiV comments on Colombia president: Interpol report is strong evidence of Venezuelan support for rebels

Tasco, your original and second posts were quite misleading: Interpol: did not verify as the title says, "Chavez Supports Terrorists", they simply verified that the contents of the laptops hadn't been tampered with after March 1. They have not analysed the content, or decodified the information of the computers. Two very different matters.

SiV comments on The Interpol Findings on Reyes' data....

So, now we know that the computers weren't tampered with, but what about the information relating to Chavez'/ Correa's alleged links to the Farc? Are these documents going to analysed or released to the public? It seems to me that there's still a large question mark hanging over this topic.

SiV comments on 60 Minutes - The Price of Bananas

You miss the point tomtom, this post is not about the US and Western Europe going round fixing and policing the world, its about them f***ing it up!

SiV comments on Bogota Police advises of a new scam targeted at gringos

I've heard of thugs doing the same thing . . . no hang, on they WERE real police.

SiV comments on Ross Kemp On Gangs-Colombia

What is a blowheart?

SiV comments on Shipping a box from Cali to the states!

Try tipping the contents of your box into the nearest rubbish tip: you'll have the same end-result as posting it, yet at a fraction of the price

SiV comments on Ross Kemp On Gangs-Colombia

Are we talking about Grant Mitchell from Eastenders Ross Kemp? What next? Hilda Ogden doing a documentary on the Aguilas Negras?

SiV comments on Blue Tooths in Colombia?

bluetooths or blueteeth?

SiV comments on

Desi, I really think that you and the other moderators should be stricter when members accuse others of belonging to illegal armed groups for no apparent reason other than they have a different viewpoint. People have died for much less in Colombia. Who knows who's reading these posts. . .

SiV comments on

huskie, eso no es la verdad, y es defamacion de carater. Ademas, aqui en Colombia si dices cosas asi en voz alta, puede ser una sentencia de la muerte. Menos mal es por internet, y las identidades son anonimas. Ojo con estas cosas, son mas serias que crees.

SiV comments on Is "dengue" "west nile virus"?

I've had it twice, the first time was absolutely horrible, the second was what the doctor called "un deguecito". Still, it was by no means nice.

SiV comments on

Todos conocemos y deploramos las muchas violaciones de DDHH por parte de las Farc. . . asesinatos, torturas, secuestros, minas antipersonales, niños soldados, violaciones y un gran etcetera. Sin embargo, esto no tiene nada que ver con este post, a pesar de que opines ciegamente que todo que ver con "los izquiedistas" es malo, y todo de "los derechistas" es bueno (o vice versa). A ver si podemos quedar al tema y ser coherentes, el post vale la pena.

SiV comments on Interpol has confirmed the authenticity of Raul Reyes's computer files

Still waiting till 15th May. . .

SiV comments on Letter from Bill Gates to Alvaro Uribe

My computer, along with about 90% of Colombia's (I imagine) has got the Windows Rip-Off squidge in the left-hand corner off the screen. Long live free enterprise, especially pirate ones!

SiV comments on “Colombia ha ganado respetabilidad ante la comunidad internacional�: Presidente Uribe

Claro que han sido unos avances en luchar contra violaciones de DDHH de las FFAA colombianas, pero despues de que el anterior Fiscal General, Osorio, (nombrado por Uribe) cerró casi todos los casos pendientes contra militares, esto no es ni dificil ni gran cosa. Yo me pregunto si la comunidad internacional percibe el hecho que el 20% del Congreso que enfrentan cargos relacionados con la parapolitica, uribistas casi todos, como una ganancia para la respetabilidad. Igual con la determinacion de Uribe de cambiar la Constitucion colombiana para que puede permancer el poder mas tiempo. Realmente, es obvio con el rechazo del TLC en los EEUU que el gobierno de Uribe carece de tal respetabilidad.

SiV comments on

My family (or me when I'm in the UK) only ring landlines in Colombia, so I've had not had your problem, and the price has always been what it said on the website. I'm pretty sure there's a customer service number you can ring with queries, though.

SiV comments on Hasta donde la libertad de expresión???

Easy there, tigers! Like, you guys need to, like, take a chill pill, or something! En serio, hay que dejar de meter tanto emocion en lo que es un debate intelectual o politico. Dejen tanta emocion, tantos insultos. Respiren, reflejen, expresense. . .pero sin la negatividad. Dudes, am I like some kind o' hippy, or what?