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Sr Tertius has written 50 posts

Por qué marchar el 6 de marzo

Rodrigo Uprimmy contraargumenta a los mamertos de derecha que se oponen a la marcha del 6. Le faltó un contraargumento. La marcha tiene a un convocante principal, que es Iván Cepeda, activista de derechos humanos con hoja de vida impecable. Cepeda es él mismo víctima del paramilitarismo: A su padre, Manuel Cepeda, secretario del partido comunista colombiano, lo asesinaron los paracos. Las FARC bautizaron uno de sus frentes con el nombre de Manuel Cepeda. Se concluye entonces, en la extra� ...

Another march

http://www.movimientodevictimas.org/node/549 EL 6 DE MARZO Homenaje nacional a las víctimas del paramilitarismo, la parapolítica y los crímenes de Estado POR LOS DESAPARECIDOS POR LOS DESPLAZADOS POR LOS MASACRADOS POR LOS EJECUTADOS En Colombia han sido desplazadas cerca de cuatro millonesde personas, en su mayoría por los grupos paramilitares. Estos grupos,solos o en conjunto con miembros de las fuerzas militares, handesaparecido al menos a 15.000 compatriotas y los han enter ...

Conversations around a letter

Although I'm limiting my participation in PBH because many other commitments are taking the bulk of my time, I thought of posting here an informative conversation about Colombia-Venezuela-FARC relations that is getting a lot of attention lately. The conversation starts with William Ospina's (a progessive/left winger/liberal/or whatever new word has been invented for it) open letter to Chavez, which I posted already here in its English translation (I pressume by Adam Isacson): http://video. ...

A gentle but firm rebuke of Chavez

A letter from William Ospina to Chavez, proof that sanity is still not lost. http://www.cipcol.org/?p=527#more-527 Here is a translation of a piece that several people have e-mailed to me over the past few days. It is an open letter to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez from William Ospina, a noted Colombian writer and poet. It ran in Sunday’s edition of the Colombian magazine Cromos. Ospina’s message is that Chávez has committed a grave error by seeking to confer political legitima ...

Carta de Ivan Cepeda a Alvaro Uribe

Señor Presidente, en menos de dos semanas los grupos paramilitares —ahora mimetizados en la vaga definición de bandas emergentes— han asesinado a 12 personas, han desaparecido a nueve y han desplazado a otras 120. El 31 de diciembre de 2007, en el corregimiento de El Palmar, Nariño, asesinaron a cuatro adultos y un menor. El ex gobernador de ese departamento, Eduardo Zúñiga, atribuyó la masacre a paramilitares. Ese mismo día en Medellín, fue desaparecido el abogado Víctor Hugo Galle ...

Chavez lost the referendum

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/12/03/venezuela.referendum/ I know, I know I'm just feeding this insane obsession that PBH has with Chavez, but hey, I was told that I would get a jelly donut if Chavez lost. Unless, of course, Rikito pulls one like GIB some time ago. Where do we collect? Anyway, it seems like Chavez is going to call the military and make a coup and crush the opposition and... oh, wait, that was some PBHers' imagination. Actually, Chavez conceded. No substantial a ...

Uribe not running for third term (or so he says)

http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=108003 http://www.eltiempo.com/politica/2007-11-28/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3835947.html He said--among other things--that "perpetuating oneself in power stales the democratic process," which also sends a message about his opinion on Chavez's referendum. I'm very glad to hear these words from Uribe; I couldn't agree more. I hope he sticks to them. The timing couldn't be any better. I hope his appointed candidate is not one of the parac ...

It's official: Colombia is run by morons

Now it's the High Peace Commissioner, Mr. Luis C. Restrepo, who is asking for explanations from Carlos Gaviria (head of PDA) regarding an article that was transcribed in Anncol. I guess it was his turn to play dumb. Who's next? http://www.rcn.com.co/noticia.php3?nt=22240 The article was published also by El Tiempo http://www.eltiempo.com/opinion/columnistas/otroscolumnistas/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3685359.html It simply points out that Gaviria supports the notion of political crim ...

Undermining separation of powers

I wonder if this will receive a fraction of the attention it would get had it happened in Venezuela. Executive summary: Following the Constitution, Uribe selected three names from which Congress will elect a new Constitutional Court judge: Two conservative women from academia, and his own secretary for judiciary affairs, Mauricio Gonzalez a.k.a. "Doctor Salsa," who has no background in Constitutional matters. Yesterday, both women dropped their candidacy, reportedly because everything is alre ...

Another poll on Uribe

Same people (Gallup). Same old methodology. Thus, same old problem. Yet, somewhat different results. http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=104994 Favorability went slightly down and disfavorability (?) went up, since the last poll (got to give credit where credit is due: The crappy methodology at least is consistent, which allows for somewhat meaningful comparisons). The change is pretty small, but it is significant that this is the highest negative perception of the president s ...

Colombia still # 1 !!

In internally displaced persons!

About 3 million according to the count by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

That's 3'000,000. That's a LOT of people. I'm very sure that most of them don't agree that things are going all that great under Uribe. I wonder how many even have a phone to answer Gallup polls.

[IMG]http://i15.tinypic.com/68885ki.jpg[/IMG]

Very sad. Uri ...

"Frivolous journalism" receives high award

Research conducted by Semana journalists on the infiltration of paramilitaries in local and regional politics--which was deemed by Uribe as "frivolous"--received the Prize for Best Investigative Journalism Report on Corruption 2006, from Transparency International.

"The first prize also went to a series by a group of eleven journalists from Semana about the pene ...

What a mess!

So, it appears that the paracos are still operating from jail in Itagui. Can anyone spell "Catedral"?

Mancuso is talking, and is implicating the Santos Brothers and generals. Some names are more surprising than others. Rito Alejo del Río was set ...

Did a thread just dissapeared?

Or maybe I'm going blind, but I created a new thread about Fernando Garavito (the distinguished expat, and Uribe's critic, currently living in Albuquerque) and it's not there anymore. Was that accidental, or someone posted something offensive and it got bleeped out? ...

Distinguished expat in Albuquerque

He used to be "Juan Mosca." If you don't hear any more about him in Colombia is because he was at the top of Uribe's shit list. Here's a profile from an award obtained last year.

If you go to the Feria del Libro, pick up his new book, "Banquete de Cronos." From what I read, it's a collection of writings and a memoir of his time in exile. ...

Para entender a ciertos personajes en PBH

sirve leer lo que dice Alejandro Gaviria:

http://agaviria.blogspot.com/2007/02/las-nuevas-repblicas-bananeras.html

"Muchos países, sin embargo, por razones diversas, incluida la falta de educación de sus ciudadanos, no pueden darse el lujo de apostarles simultáneamente a los servicios y a la tecnología. Y deben resignarse, entonces, a convertirse en refugios de ocasión para los jubilados dispuestos a abandonar su país en busca de precios módicos para sus capr ...

"Meritocracia" en acción

http://www.eltiempo.com/politica/2007-01-13/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3397321.html

Con este gobierno, para qué oposición...

J.M. Galán propone DISCUSION sobre legalización de drogas

Noticia completa aquí:

http://www.caracol.com.co/noticias/372892.asp?id=372892

En particular me llama la atención la actitud positiva de la Iglesia Católica.

Oigame, y que berraca maña la de los medios en inglés de alterar la noticia. Ya la Associated Press dijo que lo que está proponiendo Galán es la legalización. Hombre, no, lo que propone es la discusión.

In English (if you want the ACTUAL news, must read the version in Span ...

Comerciales 1987

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZq76Gbx3Zk&eurl=

Creo que me pipicié de la risa...

Interview to a Colombian kidnapped in Afghanistan

http://www.elespectador.com/elespectador/Secciones/Detalles.aspx?idNoticia=1023&idSeccion=23

There is another way for Colombians to go to Afghanistan and Iraq without being a war whore: Serving in a humanitarian mission. The main advantage, apparently, is that you don't get killed if kidnapped, and eventually you can make it back to your home country. Finally, there is one advantage for those of us carrying Colombian passports ;)

Interestingly, the closest encounter ...

Recordemos a Jaime Garzón

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4a-IGRVJKY&eurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQb6T9TrsSw&NR

Por cierto... si han visto al Colbert Report en TV gringa... no les parece una copia perrata del Dr. Godofredo Cínico Caspa? ...

poorbuthappy.com/chavez

As I post this, six out of the nine latest updates in the poorbuthappy "Politics and War" forum are about Chavez. Four of them, started by mccraig, simply to yell out that Chavez is an insignificant third world leader that can take his oil with him.

That's a lot of talk about someone so insignificant, particularly in a forum that is not about Chavez, Venezuela, or oil. I'm aware that Venezuela is a significant topic in Colombian politics, but (a) in those threads there are only a ...

Otro Guaitarilla?

http://semana.terra.com.co/wf_InfoArticuloNormal.aspx?IdArt=94751

El presidente, en un momento tan triste para los agentes y el civil que fallecieron y sus familias, mantiene no obstante el buen humor. Dijo: "Muy grave, muy grave. Le acabo de decir al Ministro que esa comisión proceda rápidamente, que no vamos a tener un segundo Guaitarilla."

¿Por qué mejor no terminamos de resolver el primer Guaitarilla antes de prometer resolver el segundo tan rapidito?
...

Que conste que es de su propia campaña...

El Tiempo reporta (http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/poli/2006-04-29/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_INTERIOR-2865654.html) que la campaña de Uribe ha pasado una cuña con un testimonial que dice:

"Señor Presidente: Yo pertenecía a la UP, me parecía un buen movimiento, pero nos fuimos torciendo, matar por matar hacer daño a los demás, matar civiles, eso esta mal hecho. Está bien que usted los esté combatiendo, por eso hoy día lo apoyamos a usted con toda la que tenemos."

El ...

Guerra sucia de Uribe contra Carlos Gaviria

La verdad es que ya ni sorprende, pero vale la pena hacer saber de este comunicado. Se corrije una mentira de la campaña de Uribe contra Gaviria, que el mismo noticiero que la pasó (CM&) ya la admitió como tal.

"El lunes once de abril, en la emisión del noticiero CM&, en la sección 1, 2, 3 presentada por Claudia Hoyos, se afirmo : "La pensión más alta que el seguro social paga en Colombia, es la de Carlos Gaviria, de 23 millones de pesos".

El martes 12 de abr ...

Peor que el 8000

Si la gente se escandalizó por la financiación de la campaña de Samper por los narcos, deberíamos estarnos rasgándonos las vestiduras por poner el servicio de seguridad e inteligencia del Estado en manos de paras y narcos. Bajo cualquier luz que se le mire, es mucho peor. Ya sé, todavía no es un caso juzgado, pero en el caso de Samper el trámite judicial tampoco fue necesario para iniciarle el (precluido) juicio político. Las réplica de Uribe, además, ha sido muy informativa.
< ...

El pez muere por la boca

De El Tiempo (12 Abril 2006):

Uribe ataca, Santos responde

La defensa de Uribe se convirtió en una ataque a Semana. Su director, Alejandro Santos, respondió después del programa.

�?lvaro Uribe

“Esto no puede quedar en el aire. Aquí no estamos en un juego de muñecas. Estamos en una cosa muy seria, que la debería entender el doctor Alejandro Santos, en lugar de continuar con publicaciones graciosas y frívolas, haciendo daño a la ...

Ve... y que se hizo Uribe?

http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/proy_2005/elecciones2006/elecc_presidencia/noticias/ARTICULO-WEB-INTERNA_SECCION_PROY_2005-2830574.html

Y por qué no se apareció Uribe? Ha dicho algo la campaña? Como si faltara mayor prueba de la falta de piso moral que tiene un voto por Uribe. Ni siquiera se toma la molestia de debatir sus propuestas. Ni creo que vaya a explicar la montaña de escándalos y contradicciones de su presidencia. Estará buscando a quien echarle la culpa. ...

Gabo backing Pardo?

http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/poli/2006-02-27/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_INTERIOR-2765220.html

A close friend of Fidel backing a right-wing liberal? ONLY IN COLOMBIAN POLITICS!

I hope the Liberal party picks Pardo. I really haven't paid much attention to what any Liberal pre-candidate has proposed, but Pardo is tough, intelligent, and quite progressive for a liberal right-winger. He'd make a formidable opponent to Uribe, and would probably make me reconsider my vote. ...

Buenos blogs políticos

Ahora que empieza la temporada electoral, la actitud responsable es la de informarse para votar bien. Los blogs parecen ser buenas fuentes de información (obvio: no son ni debe ser las únicas fuentes).

Me he cruzado con dos que me gustaron:

1. Desde la izquierda, Daniel García-Peña, ex-académico (me tocó clase con el hombre por allá en el 93: es un berraco), y bien montado en el Polo y en el proceso de paz con el ELN. Se acaba de lanzar a la cámara por Bogot ...

Uribe's popularity: Enthusiasm or resignation?

A recent poll (Nov 05) conducted by INDEPAZ and Universidad de los Andes (home interviews, included small towns) sheds some light on the mystery of Uribe's popularity:

http://www.conexion-colombia.com/conexioncolombia/content/page.jsp?ID=6970

While replicating prior results of high popularity (59% would re-elect him), when asked about specific areas (poverty, corruption, human rights, etc.), Uribe's administration is harshly evaluated with 2.57-3.22 scores on a 1-5 ...

Another attack on Colombia's secularity

According to El Tiempo, the Ministry of Education will pass a decree (decreto) forcing every school, public or private, to make religion part of its curriculum.

http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/educ/notieducacion/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_INTERIOR-2703599.html

I'm almost sure that this won't pass a Constitutional demand, but we've seen plenty of surprises lately. However, this says a lot about the kind of nation Uribe wants to lead. I'm sure he'll try to coach it as respectful ...

Se acabó Diciembre, hora de despertar

Me esperé a que pasara el Año Nuevo para no amargar la fiesta. Pero resulta que esto es lo que nos pasó en Diciembre:

La "seguridad" democrática
Por Felipe Zuleta
Tomado de El Espectador, 1 de Enero, 2006.

He escudriñado algunos de los hechos de violencia que se han sucedido en el país en los últimos 30 días. Resulta insólito que este rosario de crímenes cometidos por la subversión no saquen a la opinión pública de su estado cataléptico e ...

Forestry Law approved: Uribe 1, Environment 0

Info on the "Ley Forestal" (Forestry Law) here:

http://www.wrm.org.uy/bulletin/99/Colombia.html

In Spanish, here:

http://semana.terra.com.co/opencms/opencms/Semana/articulo.html?id=91919

And a column by Alfredo Molano ("Aserrín, aserrán") in El Espectador:

-----
Sesión por sesión, curul por curul, minuto a minuto, el Gobierno presionó a los congresistas para que aprobaran la llamada Ley Forestal. Y lo logró, ...

Días perros

Me crucé con estas fotos de pura chepa. Me parecieron bacanísimas.

http://www.alecsoth.com/bogota_web/pages/01.html

Suerte.

Security and Corruption under Uribe: Facts and Fiction

Forget about his alleged past ties to narcos, his promotion of Convivir or his betrayal of the Liberal party. Forget about the wastefulness of a referendum that had mostly no effect, the ineptitude of his defense ministers, his poor judgement in promoting the "Ley de Justicia y Paz", his abusive attacks to legitimate institutions and organizations, or his absolute neglect of environmental issues. As bad as these things are, they are rarely mentioned by those who argue that Uribe should be re-ele ...

Retaliating against terrorists

As soon as 9/11 took place, Uribe immediately changed his rhetorics on the insurgency in Colombia, calling them now "terrorists" instead of the old "bandoleros." Despite the calculated political convenience of such shift, and the equally calculated vagueness of the term, his followers bought the new label and discarded the old. Bravado came first, reason... fifth, at best.

But, even if we accept the label, and even if we apply it to the Colombian insurgency, there seems to be no e ...

Colombia, land of the popular politicians

Every respectable Uribe-fan boasts left and right the 70%+ approval of their beloved leader, as shown in public opinion polls. Now it turns out that the most important figure in the opposition, Bogota mayor Lucho Garzón, has also a 70% of approval among Bogotanos, according to a recent poll.

http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/hist_imp/HISTORICO_IMPRESO/bogo_hist/2005-08-07/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR_HIST-2174418.html

So, amidst all its problems, Colombia is not only one ...

Germania 140

http://www.populardelujo.com/libro_01/textos/textos_bogota/germania.htm

Por siete años, vi al Germania 140 partir todos los días del centro, al lado de los Andes. Pero yo no iba a Cedritos, o a la séptima, yo iba a Suba. Pero aún sin tomarlo, el Germania 140 me acuerda de cuando uno era estudiante. ...

Start your engines!

It's official: Navarro Wolff is PDI's presidential candidate.

http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia210.htm

(Note: I don't endorse EVERYTHING in the linked article, but I think it makes a rather accurate point) ...

"Third World"

Since the term is so bluntly misused in this forum, I thought of posting a link that may clarify its use.

I wouldn't worry if it wasn't for the occasional misuse that borders into insult.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

And yes, Colombia is a THIRD WORLD country (or "in the periphery" as the dependency theorists used to say), and proudly so.

Tertius X Defensor del Tercer Mundo (oh, wait, no, that's the role of the US, I forgot, ...

AI: Justice and Peace Law will guarantee impunity for human rights abusers

Press release available at: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR230122005

If combatants are being "recycled" back into the conflict, and their attacks against civilians continue... what kind of demobilization is this? The power of doublespeak is certainly amazing. ...

Galeria virtual Botero

Dado que en el otro foro la discusión sobre la obra de Botero ("Abu Ghraib") se la apropió el fanatismo rabioso, aquí, muy calladito, les paso la dirección web donde pueden ver las pinturas y dibujos. Vale la pena leer el artículo de Santamaría.

http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/cult/galerias_virtuales/fernandobotero ...

Irritated! (a Colombian reply)

Like most Colombians here, I took in very a positive way the comments about things Colombian that irritate the rest of the world. In fact, I agree with most of them! I sure would've appreciated to have a list like that when I moved to the US. So, I thought, well, maybe non-Colombians would appreciate knowing the things that irritate us, particularly if moving/visiting Colombia, right? Of course, this is a very subjective matter, and the behavior of Americans is very different from the behavior o ...

15 years of Bernardo Jaramillo's assassination

It was my first semester of college, and I knew something was terribly wrong with a country whose leaders where decimated, and government officials were more concerned (as they are today) to prove that it wasn't their fault than to provide any justice. Not long before, it was Galán; not long after, it was Pizarro. But the list was much, much longer. After Jaramillo's assassination, I became very interested in the UP, learned its short history and got the list of their deads. Such learning defin ...

Dangerous Enthusiasm

The article is in Spanish (couldn't find a translation) and a bit old (December 02), but it is still quite relevant. Few can articulate the most fervorous opposition to the current regime in Colombia as Caballero (and note that I'm not a member of his fan club). Not only this is far from the silly rhetorics of "I hate Uribe no matter what" that his supporters so often attribute to his critics, but it delivers a strong message with a cautionary tone that is difficult to undercut. Compare it to th ...

Opción Colombia

Andar por ahí desfilando mucho orgullo por Colombia, pero sin realizar acciones o sacrificios por el país, es como querer mucho a la mamá, pero dejándola morir de hambre. Para los que quieran contribuir con el desarrollo del país, pueden vincularse a Opción Colombia (http://www.opcioncolombia.org.co/).

Yo trabajé en Opción Colombia durante el segundo semestre del 94, en Cabrera, Cundinamarca. Lo que descubrí fue una Colombia paralela (rara vez había salido de las ciudade ...

Hernando Gómez Buendía (HGB) fired from Semana

This is worrisome.

In his last column, HGB makes it clear that he is not quitting: he was fired from Semana. And he accuses an anonymous "them" of silencing him. Is he referring to the Uribe administration? He was recently involved in an accusation of a rather obscure case of plagiarism, a lot of feathers were ruffled and, apparently, Semana decided to fire him.

HGB is (was?) one of the most critical voices against Uribe, and one of the most balanced. On top of that ...

What's wrong with the intellectual beacons of the right?

Ok, maybe "intellectual beacons" is an overstatement. But Fernando Londoño, former Minister of Interior and Justice, and Carlos Alberto Montaner, one of the most important editorialists in Latin America and Miami, recently wrote the most crude and demented opinion columns I have ever seen. The sort of thing so deranged that it gets people banned even from right-wing weblogs.

The first jewel: http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/opinion/colopi_new/fernandolondoohoyos/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_IN ...

Bogota Kitsch

For those interested in the visual kitsch of Bogota, and for those of us who miss it so much, the people from populardelujo have a great website (www.populardelujo.com).

If you're not a part of this travelicious experiment just yet, just sign up here. It's free & easy.

Visit the Hungersite daily.