Chávez and Uribe, much alike

Winds of war, as they say in Spanish, between Venezuela and Colombia and we don’t know where this is going to end. Never has the situation been so delicate. One spark of fire accross the border and it’s bingo. To me as an outsider from Holland the thing keeps being unreal, this fight between two Latin caudillos who are both so attached to power.

What’s up mr. Uribe and mr. Pearl?! (or Piedad 20)

Despairing, the state of affairs of the expected liberation of two FARC hostages, Pablo Emilio Moncayo and Josué Calvo. It seems that Colombia’s government cannot make up its mind about what to do, and meantime these guys keep on suffering.

Colombia es pasión (3), for big trouble

Bad news for Colombia and bad news for president Uribe, who is still in crossroads of soul if he is going to try to be reelected or not. The amount of coca and cocaine produced in Colombia hardly has been reduced, writes the National Council for Planning. The Council warns against a ‘gangsterisation’ of the country.

Contraception before abortion

A lot of discussion about a sentence of Colombia’s Constitutional Court, that says that Colombia’s abortion law should be explained at school. Those who are against the law obviously are against the sentence as well.

FARC among protesting university students?

Higher education students in Colombia have been protesting against the low budgets for public universities these days. Their way of protesting has been quite violent sometimes. In Bogotá Moises Wasserman, rector of the Universidad Nacional, was trapped like 5 hours in his car on the university campus. Media say there were about 300 students surrounding his car. Must have been quite a scary experience for the rector.

The treasure of Freedom of speech

Never have I been so conscious of how important liberty of speech is as these days. Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez is releasing an avalanche of tweets about her frustration of not being able to enter the internet when she wants and not being able to read the news.

Yoani Sánchez can’t leave Cuba

Cuba’s most famous blogger, Yoani Sánchez, is going to celebrate her Maria Moors Cabot Prize at her home in Havana. The Castro government doesn’t allow her to leave the country to receive the prize. Neither can she travel to Brazil where she was going to present her book, Cuba Libre, and speak in Congress.

Karl Lagerfeld: not thin = fat

Chanel’s famous fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld struggled with his weight until 2001, The Huffington Post writes in the beginning of this year. You see him in a still fatter edition with one of his thin models. And you also see the face of the thin Lagerfeld, who is holding a coin or a medal and who is pouting his mouth like an old rich and lonely lady. I think the fatter Lagerfeld looks better, but that is a matter of taste.

Che Guevara loved to read

Since it is 42 years ago legendary comandante Che Guevara died, media in several countries (Cuba, Argentina and Bolivia, where he was killed, for example) have dedicated articles on him. Like Bolivia’s La Razón, that had a special on him.

Love and hate for Piedad Córdoba or Piedad 19

A group in Facebook that accuses her of supporting the FARC and wants to demonstrate in front of the Norwegian ambassy in Bogotá and the Colectivo de Abogados (Lawyer’s Association) that urges for action to defend her against the campaigns of hatred. That’s  Colombia.