vladimiro has written 79 posts
Narcotics Surge Aids Afghan, Colombia Militants
"Narcotics supplies have increased sharply in parts of Afghanistan and Colombia where insurgents are in control, helping them fund their activities, the United Nations said on Thursday." http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSN26478111 Unlike Colombia, though, the US marines are actually protecting drug crops in Afghanistan see below: "The Marines of Bravo Company's 1st Platoon sleep beside a grove of poppies. Troops in the 2nd Platoon playfully swat at the heavy opium bulbs ...
TiroFijo's Last Minute Confession
"La llegada de Tirofijo nos tomó a todos por sorpresa. No estaba en nuestros planes abrirle las puertas del reino, pero al parecer el muy astuto se confesó minutos antes de perecer y las reglas son las reglas" manifestó San Pedro, vocero y portero de El Cielo. El inusitado evento ha causado descontento en algunos sectores de la población celestial que no están de acuerdo con la llegada del polémico guerrillero. “¿En qué estaba pensando Dios cuando escribió las reglas para entrar? ...
FARC Kidnaps A Top American Terrorist
"Photos of three Americans held by Colombian guerrillas are displayed prominently in the lobby of the U.S. Embassy in Bogota — and there might soon be an addition to that wall. " It looks like the FARC has just kidnapped one of the leaders of the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF) - a US-based terrorist organization - while he was visiting Panama: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/DOJ/Story?id=4750855&page=1 It will be interesting to see if this guy is freed on ransom, held along with ...
28 in prison 58 under investigation
So far 20% of the Colombian congress is under investigation for paramilitary activities(not including those already convicted). http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=110747 Semana also has a photo-essay on the paramilitary dominated politics in Antioquia including information about the companies behind the paras like the Colanta milk company which provides most of the milk for Medellin. http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoGaleria.aspx?IdGal=258 El Norte de Antioquia ha sido tradi ...
The names behind the numbers
Here is a list of the trade unionists assasinated in Colombia in 2006. The number killed in 2007 increased and the list hasn't been compiled yet. http://survey07.ituc-csi.org/getcountry.php?IDCountry=COL&IDLang=ES Just imagine if this kind of politically motivated slaughter were taking place in Venezuela - do you think the US media would just ignore this? I think the self-serving American hypocrites would be all over this if it were happening in Venezuela. ...
Lucky for him he does not live in Colombia
Below article decries how the Venezuelan leader of anti-government protests got punched in the face. But what would have happened to him if he were to have led anti-government protests in Colombia? Looking at what's happening to the organizers of anti-government protests in Colombia, I think he should consider himself lucky he's living in Venezuela. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120571191315240267.html?mod=todays_columnists ...
Organizers of the March 6 Protest Killed by Paras
"The U.N. on Friday called for an investigation into the deaths of six organizers of a march protesting the Colombian government and paramilitary death squads." Already? That was fast! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080315/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/colombia_paramilitary_killings;_ylt=Ak91b0gE0kqOqCM8BPgAvY.3IxIF ...
Ecuador Attack Linked To Reelection Bid
Correa has boosted his popularity in Ecuador with his tough stance against Colombia. "Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has boosted his standing at home and abroad with his firm response to a Colombian military raid in his country" "Ecuadoreans will unite to support Correa's firm leadership against a foreign threat ... this will put a rubber stamp on his re-election," said Paulina Recalde, a pollster with Perfiles de Opinion (Opinion Profile) in Quito. For those that have been followin ...
US making FARC grow stronger
The report below describes how crop spraying in Afghanistan is fueling growth of the Taliban, and since the same US-backed strategy is being used in Colombia the US may be strengthening the FARC as well. "eradicating opium production disproportionately harms impoverished farmers, who lack legal livelihoods. Depriving these rural communities of their livelihoods before secure alternatives are available drives them to align with the Taliban. The eradication policy also fails to target trafficke ...
Why there is no Chavez, Correa, Kirchner, or Lula in Colombia.
Well, I think at least part of the reason why can be seen in the documentary "Extermination in Colombia" that is available on youtube: Interestingly in this video we see one person describing how they, the members of the Patriotic Union, argued with other leftists who asserted that in Colombia the conditions didn't allow for a legal and open social movement and who therefore joined the insurgency. Tragically, not only were the Patriotic Union people proven wrong, but they paid for their mista ...
Video of Para Trials
Are the on going trials of the paramilitaries being televised? http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/juicio_paras/home/index.html
Graffic Video of Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza
See below how the US and Israel are punishing the people of Gaza for voting for Hamas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01hqVzViFTw
Apple I-Rack Product Video
It’s funny, and somewhat sad at the same time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2nkoGLhrE
How do you say Chicken Hawk in Colombia?
Is there an equivalent term in Colombia for those middle and upper class Colombians who sitting cosily in Canada, Miami, or north Bogota are the most adamant supporters of war ? What's the term for those that would never sacrifice their own lives, but want to force some other humilde Colombian that couldn't buy his way out of military service to sacrifice his life hiking through the mountain jungles and muddy villages of Colombia ? ...
Nobel Economist Offers Drug Strategy
In the context of Afghanistan, but is applicable to Colombia, too. The article points out that "both the US and the European Union assist their farmers through loan and price support programmes and other incentives." so why don't they do so for Colombian and Afghan famers instead of giving the aid to military contractors/mercenaries? "Lack of productive alternatives has driven farmers to turn to growing poppies. Drug-traffickers support farmers by advancing credit and sharing some of the r ...
Letter to President Alvaro Uribe
...in the case of Jorge Noguera, whose US visa has been revoked due to the severity of the allegations against him, we remain concerned about your response to the case. After initially defending Mr. Noguera and accusing the media of being malicious and harming democracy, you have recently stated that you will respect the investigation into these allegations. However, we know that Mr. Noguera’s attorney has visited the Presidential Palace (the Casa de Nariño) on nine occasions in the last few ...
Scarcity of Colombian Political Blogs
Its useful to refer to a country's political blogs when reading international news to get a non-US centric, and I think, more informative perspective. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be many blogs covering Colombian politics. "Colombia Hoy" at http://blog.colombiahoy.org/ looks interesting but is no longer being updated. As an example of what I'm referring to, I was interested in the recent instability in Pakistan and read in the US media articles about how the US government was pressur ...
Bloodthirsty American kills 2 Colombians
This red neck was salivating at the chance to shoot a couple of unarmed Colombians in the back. "Well, here it goes, buddy," Horn tells the dispatcher. "You hear the shotgun clicking and I'm going." The dispatcher replies: "Don't go outside." http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5362232.html "Va a hacer que le disparen si sale de la casa con esa arma, no me importa lo que usted piense", le replica, ya inquieto, el operador, a lo que contesta: "¿Quiere apostar?" http://www.sem ...
Coca Farmers Elude Black Hawks
On his coca farm in the remote mountains of southeastern Colombia, Jose Lopez stoops over the 3-foot-tall plants and picks the shiny green leaves with pointed tips that are used to make cocaine. The farmer's calloused fingers, wrapped with cloth to protect them from cuts, move swiftly up the stem of each bushy plant and place his June harvest in a woven bag. ``You can see the quality,'' Lopez says. ``The darker the leaf, the more merchandise it carries.'' The 53 percent surge in the peso ...
National Guards and Narcotics Traffickers
There were so many Arizona National Guardsmen eager to run cocaine from the border of Arizona and Mexico to Tucson and Phoenix, that the FBI had to shut down its sting, Operation Lively Green. http://www.fox11az.com/news/topstories/stories/KMSB_20071115_ab_armysentenced.882500c.html Some of the drug smuggling soldiers also worked as recruiters at local schools: "Tucson military recruiters ran cocaine" http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/160717 ...
Any Colombian Food Websites ?
Can anybody recommend Colombian food websites that ship within the US and sell frozen chorizo,morcilla, arepa, pulpo de maracuya, etc ? Thanks!
Free FSI Languages Courses
Foreign Service Institute Language Courses are now available for free. Originally developed by the State Department the courses have the most vocabulary (3K or so words) and fastest dialog of any courses I've seen. http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/default.aspx ...
Documentary "War On Democracy" on Google Video.
Covers Guatemala, Chile, Venezuela, El Salvador, Nicaragua, etc. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3739500579629840148&q=war+on+democracy&total=2205&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1
4th Gen War On Arizona Border
Violence surges near Arizona Border
"The invasion of Cananea – a town that helped spark the 1910 Mexican Revolution when U.S. forces crossed the border to help put down a miners' strike – showed the brashness and power of Mexico's ruthless organized crime gangs.
An armed command first abducted a police patrol, then went out on the streets of Cananea ... abducting policemen," Garcia Luna told reporters. " ...
TLC Held Up By Democrats
Concern over union member assasinations in Colombia, and exploitation of workers holds up the free trade aggreement.
" Los congresistas demócratas pusieron el dedo en la llaga sobre el tema sindical. No sólo preocupan los muertos, sino las malas condiciones en que trabajan muchos colombianos."
http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=103362 ...
US beats down immigration protesters
An interview with two journalists who give accounts of police beatings and rubber bullet barages in Tuesday's immigration protests in Los Angeles.
The US government responed to last years march with a crackdown on the latin community, but hundreds of thousands marched again this year despite the consequences they may face.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/51454/ ...
Legal Resources Online
Does anyone know of good resources for Colombian law that are available on the internet? Thanks.
OXFAM: The US Is Exploiting Colombia
The US is using bilateral trade agreements to bypass WTO obligations and extract concessions from weak developing countries according to Oxfam. Oxfam notes that the US is in the process of signing an Intellectual Property Agreement (IPA) with Colombia that it says will have the effect of increasing healthcare costs in the Latin American nation by $919m (£469m) by 2020....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6472125.stm ...
Afghanistan Rejects Colombia-style Program
Rebuffing months of U.S. pressure, Afghan President Hamid Karzai decided against a Colombia-style program to spray this country's heroin-producing poppies after the Cabinet worried herbicide would hurt legitimate crops, animals and humans, officials said Thursday.
Afghanistan: Karzai just says no to glyphosate ...
Ortega comeback sparks anxiety in Washington
Former Marxist rebel Daniel Ortega returns to power in Nicaragua today.
Ortega gave up power peacefully to Violeta Chamorro in 1990 despite the fact that Chamorro's campaign recieved millions of dollars from the US government's "National Endownment for Democracy".
Ortega Comeback Sparks Anxiety in Washingotn ...
Colombian Ahead of US in Gender Gap Index
The World Ecnomic Forum report measures the size of the gender gap in four critical areas of inequality between men and women. Colombia is 21 and the US is number 22 amongst the countries studied. It looks like the US is far behind Colombia in terms of womens education and political empowerment.
The United States performs particularly well on economic participation and opportunity (3) and on health (1), sharing the number one spot in this category with 33 other countries, but lags ...
The Colombian Military
On Sept. 15, a Colombian army major was arrested in the murder of six innocent people in a fake rescue operation. That closely followed disclosure that Army officers participated in a fatal car bombing on the eve of President Alvaro Uribe's second-term inauguration, an attack originally blamed on leftist guerrillas. Meanwhile, senior officers are reportedly still obstructing the trial of the Army's massacre May 22 of U.S.-trained drug enforcement police.
The strategy at the US Sta ...
Video of Chavez in Iran
In Spanish and Persian with English subtitles.
http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1213wmv&ak=null
Study finds that Colombia is a failed state
Uneven development is high in almost all the states in the index, suggesting that inequality within states—and not merely poverty—increases instability. Criminalization or delegitimization of the state, which occurs when state institutions are regarded as corrupt, illegal, or ineffective, also figured prominently. Facing this condition, people often shift their allegiances to other leaders—opposition parties, warlords, ethnic nationalists, clergy, or rebel forces. Demographic factors, espe ...
American kidnapped in Medellin Tourist Zone
Concern has been raised over a FARC incursion into a popular turist zone outside Medellin. Three men and a women from the FARC arrived at a finca outside Santa Fe de Antioquia at 2 in the afternoon and carried off an American and a Colombian. The military pursued and was able to recover the injured American but the Colombian captive died.
http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/coar/ACC_MILITARES/accionesarmadas/ARTICULO-WEB-_NOTA_INTERIOR-2975772.html ...
Colombians in Venezuela Thank Chavez
Good Article from Washington post about the 3 million Colombians in Venezuela. They are being provided Venezuelan citizenship through the Mission Identity program which also provides id cards (cedulas) to the large number of poor Venezuelans that could not previously vote, open a bank account, or recieve government assistance. A nice example of humane treatment towards immigrants.
Santiago Baron walks past a free government-run cafeteria on his way to work. Looking up at a hillsid ...
US to follow Chavez' Example
"The US oil industry charged the government with behaving like a third world despot after the House of Representatives voted to punish companies if they refused to change contracts to give the government a bigger share of rising oil profits."
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/8751137c-e779-11da-9046-0000779e2340.html ...
Judges admit Uribe election fraude
Los paramilitares de derecha obligaron a los jueces electorales a aportar votos para el conservador Uribe y descartar los votos para su rival del partido Liberal, Horacio Serpa, tres de los jurados dijeron al Miami Herald.
Los comentarios de los jurados apoyan las recientes acusaciones de Rafael GarcÃa, un ex funcionario de los servicios de seguridad- DAS-, similar al FBI. La oficina del fiscal general abrió una investigación sobre los cargos de fraude la semana pasada.
...
I-29F
Do you need to send a certified copy of the marriage certificate when filing the I-29F? Looks like all the supporting documents I sent for I-130 have to be sent for I-29F, too.
Mexico Poised to Legalize Some Drugs
As if there was not enough incentive for Americans to go to Mexico now cocain, marijuana and even heroine are to be legalized for personal use:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/12/world/main1491595.shtml ...
Colombian Government Found Guilty in Massacre
The 43 villagers were killed in reprisal for 43 cows that had been stolen from a local land owner. It was determined that the military let 60 paramilitaries pass through thier checkpoints outside the village where the massacre occurred. Significant for future cases against the Colombian Government, the court cited that the Government was responsible because it created the paramilitary organizations in the first place.
�ngel Emiro Jiménez
Hijo de �ngel Benito Jiménez, de ...
Brother of FARC Leader to lead effort to free hostages
Interesting interview with the brother of Alfonso Cano the political ideologue of the FARC. A former member of the UP he was selected by the Mayor of Bogota to lead an effort to free hostages held by the FARC.
Roberto Sáenz es el menor de los siete hermanos de Guillermo León Sáenz, conocido en el movimiento subversivo como 'Alfonso Cano'. Mientras este último destruye pueblos enteros con actos terroristas, secuestra, y viola los derechos humanos, su hermano, quien siempre ha s ...
The PetroState
Background info on Venezuela from VenEconomy editor.
The Petrostate that was and the Petrostate that is:
I: The Accion Democratica Model
II: Our botched attempt at reform
III: From institutional clientelism to the Chavista cult of personality
The scene went down in the middle of one of his infamous, never-ending televised speeches in 2004. President Chavez had barely hit his stride when something caught his eye. His tone changed. Concerned, he ...
Arab Airline to have 7 flights to Colombia per week.
Looks like Emirates Airlines will be sending 7 plane loads of Middle-Easterners to Colombia every week. I assume for business and tourism.
Con la firma de un memorando de entendimiento entre la Aeronáutica Civil colombiana y su similar de Emiratos Ã?rabes Unidos, quedó todo listo para que llegue al paÃs de una de las más importantes aerolÃneas de oriente medio.
http://semana.terra.com.co/opencms/opencms/Semana/articulo.html?id=92685 ...
Colombia Bombs Ecuador
Ecuador complained about Colombian military incursions on its territory. Ecuadoran television showed video of Colombian helicopters bombing Ecuador in middle of machine gun fire, and scenes of people fleeing in panic. The FARC launched a major attack on Colombia from Ecuador last year, and large arms caches coming from the Ecuadoran military have been seized in Colombia in recent years. This comes after Ecuador recently rejected Colombian requests for joint Ecuadoran-Colombian military cooperatr ...
Venezuela's "Miracle Missions" Offer Free Medical Care to Colombians
Los pacientes del Norte de Santander serán atendidos en diversos hospitales de San Cristóbal (capital del Estado Táchira) en la llamada Operación Milagro, programa social aplicado tanto en Venezuela como en Cuba.
Ambos gobiernos llegaron a ese acuerdo en una reunión el pasado jueves entre el embajador Enrique Vargas RamÃrez y su homólogo venezolano, Carlos Rodolfo Sanitiado, efectuada en la ciudad colombiana de Cúcuta, señala un comunicado emitido por la embajada
< ...
Influence of Venezuela-Colombia pipeline on ELN negotiations.
The reecent agreement between Uribe and Chavez to build a small pipeline between the two countries will encourage Venezuela to pressure the ELN in their negotiations with the Colombian government according Colombia's Ideas Para La Paz organization. They say Venezuela has significant influence over the ELN becuase of important ELN camps located in Venezuela.
Uribe also agreed to allow Venezuela to build a pipeline accross Colombia to the Pacific Ocean which would facilitate acce ...
Colombian Programmer wins "Social Entrepreneur of the Year" Award
One of ten siblings, Orlando Rincon Bonilla grew up in an impoverished neighborhood in Cali, Colombia. His left-wing activism as an adolescent cost him a place at the public university, but it opened other opportunities, a scholarship to study systems engineering at EAFIT University in MedellÃn.
“Once I found my way I wanted to generate a shortcut for many intelligent, educated, poor young people so that they could generate companies of their own and create new leadership for ...
CODHES: 1 million displaced/internal refugees during Uribe
“The cumulative total over the first nine months of 2005 is estimated to be 252,801 displaced persons, which represents an increase of 23 percent relative to the same period in 2004.�
http://www.thedailyjournalonline.com/article.asp?CategoryId=12393&ArticleId=201949
Por lo menos 950.000 personas han sido desplazadas durante el gobierno del presidente Alvaro Uribe Vélez por motivos asociados al conflicto armado interno, reveló la ConsultorÃa para los Derechos ...
Colombian Blog Makes Reporters w/o Borders Top 8 List
The German radio station Deutsche Welle has published the list of nominees for its weblog contest, including those chosen by Reporters Without Borders for the “freedom of expression� category.
Article: http://www.payvand.com/news/05/oct/1212.html
BLOG: REALIDIADES COLOMBIANAS
http://lacoctelera.com/realidades ...
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