On Pablo Emilo Moncayo, a landmine and child soldiers (6)

Look how war can affect a family in Colombia. If Pablo Emilio Moncayo is not going to be liberated soon, he will celebrate his 12th anniversary as a hostage of the FARC within a few weeks. In the meantime his cousin David – also a militar – stepped on a mine which was probably also laid by the FARC. And shortly after a big conference on child soldiers in Bogotá Colombia’s daily El Tiempo published an article on ‘strange recruiting of youngsters’ by the Colombian army.

Colombia is not as exceptional as it thinks (child soldiers 5)

These days I was at a very interesting congress on child soldiers in Colombia’s capital Bogotá. One of the nice things was that some of the speakers were from other countries that are at war and that live(d) atrocities very much like those that the Colombian people had/have to suffer as well.

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.

False positives: Life isn’t worth a thing

I don’t know what I should write about: the false positives or the illegal wire taps, both in Colombia. Both are hot news and both keep me between shock and awe. I will choose the false positives and perhaps come back to you with the wire taps.

FARC founder Tirofijo was never found

Tirofijo or Manuel Marulanda, founder and big boss of the FARC in Colombia, died about a year ago. His body has never been found.  I have to correct a post that I wrote a while ago about his burial. The man on the picture in my post is another guy. I think that the man who is sitting in this picture is Tirofijo, although the man with the hat and the poncho on his left also looks like him.

How to save Plan Colombia

Colombia’s vice-President’s Francisco Santos’ words to pull out of Plan Colombia should not be taken as literally as he said them. The man is not as childish as he seems. Santos is after the opposite: saving Plan Colombia.

---

With love from Denmark for the FARC

Are they naive or stupid? The Danish clothing company Fighters and Lovers make T-shirts to raise funds for the communist guerrilla group FARC in Colombia. The FARC are no sweet Robin Hoods. They kill, kidnap, recruit child soldiers and extort money, not only from the rich, also from the poor. Don’t those Danish boys and girls know that? Have they ever met a landmine victim? Have they ever been in Colombia?

Guerrilla girl puts to sleep her boss and escapes

The nicest news in Colombia yesterday: a guerrilla girl of the smaller guerrilla group ELN puts to sleep her commander with a herb called ‘tunda’ and escapes with 14 other fighters.

False positives and Carnival

‘Colombia es pasión’ is the slogan they use to promote the country. When I am in a cynical mood, I add ‘para matar’. In short, Colombia is passion to kill. In this country people are killed because thy don’t want to hand over their cell phone to a thief. They are killed because they (supposedly) cooperate with the guerrilla, the army or the paramilitaries (Look at my post about the Awá). Or they are killed because they are poor.

Arts Carnival in Barranquilla or Colombia es pasión (3)

Writer and columnist Óscar Collazos in Colombia wrote it in his column in daily El Tiempo today. The Arts Carnival in Barranquilla is marvellous. It is a declaration of peace and cheerful madness in this country full of war. It is an ode to the slogan Colombia es pasión, which was created to promote this violent country.