"In Columbia, newfound wealth masks poverty; Slum conditions called among world's worst" by Juan Forero, Washington Post | February 1, 2009
A boy played in Cartagena, Colombia. The heart of the city is prosperous but the slums are rife with drug trafficking, malnourished children, and preventable diseases. (Juan Forero/ Washington Post)
CARTAGENA, Colombia - Inside Spanish ramparts built to repel pirate attacks lies a colonial gem - the historic heart of this city on Colombia's northwestern coast, complete with $500-a-night hotel rooms, stylish restaurants, and newly renovated apartments at Manhattan-like prices.
To the government of President Alvaro Uribe, Cartagena symbolizes a new Colombia, vibrant and prosperous. But outside the 400-year-old walls, away from the cobblestones and charm of the old city, is a swath of slums so miserable that public health officials compare conditions there to life in sub-Saharan Africa.
And you want to see something really shocking?
"With an estimated 3 million people having been displaced, Colombia is second only to Sudan in the number of its internal refugees"
This is our greatest ally and friend in the region? No wonder others are electing leftists!
Also see: U.S. Reactivates Colombian Death Squads
Unlike those who live in and visit Cartagena's affluent heart, most of the residents of the ramshackle barrios are black. Drug trafficking is rife, children are malnourished, and preventable diseases are common. United Nations data show that Colombia remains one of the world's most unequal societies - a root cause of the country's 45-year-old conflict.
Yeah, about that conflict: Colombia's Body Counts
And WHO BENEFITS from the "conflict" continuing?
"The poverty is immense," said Adil Melendez, a human rights lawyer and activist who works in Cartagena's poor neighborhoods. "And then there is a small pocket of very rich people who maintain a life of extreme opulence."
That's AmeriKan-style "democracy!"
Yodiris Parra, 32, one of 55,000 people who arrived in Cartagena during the past decade after being displaced by war, says her life has changed very little in recent years. Her home is a wood-plank shack in the teeming Villa Hermosa slum. There is no running water, and raw sewage flows in the streets outside.
NO ONE should have to live in conditions such as these -- especially with so much wealth right next door.
Though Parra's husband works in construction, ostensibly benefiting from a building boom, she said the typical meal she serves her three children is soup filled out with a bone.
"Meat is too expensive," she said. "Sometimes we can get ground beef, maybe chicken, but not usually." '
Although senior Colombian officials acknowledge the great gulf between classes here, they also cite government statistics showing that poverty and inequality have dipped in Colombia as the country, like most others in Latin America in recent years, has prospered....
Governments love to cook the numbers, don't they?
The economy has grown by an average of 6 percent a year in the past seven years, and $40 billion in foreign investment has flowed in, making Colombia among the most important destinations for investment dollars in Latin America.
And yet NONE of that is making it to the people, huh?
Here, inside Cartagena's ramparts and along an adjacent stretch of luxury seaside high-rises, it is easy to see signs of investment and feel the optimism that has come with it. Churches and houses that were falling apart have been renovated.
Boutique hotels have replaced backpacker dives. The number of cruise ship passengers arriving in Cartagena has grown fivefold since 2003. And six times as many hotel rooms will be added this year as were added in 2008. But to Jesus Mercado, who takes tourists on romantic carriage rides, the city that tourists see is far from being the real Cartagena.
"They show the tourists and the foreigners the good face of Cartagena," he said. "But the dark side, the southeast side, they do not show that. They hide it."
So does AmeriKa when tourists come to visit.
Indeed, in this city of 1 million people, 600,000 are poor, and tens of thousands are destitute. The percentage of residents lacking basic necessities - a yardstick used by demographers to measure poverty in Colombia - is 26 percent, nearly three times the rate in Bogota, the capital.
"For a long time, we built two cities - one the city we show off, the city that seduces the world, and the other a city closed off by lack of opportunities and poverty," said Judith Pinedo, Cartagena's mayor. "The city is not viable if it continues to be a city with so many people who cannot live up to their potential."
Societies are the same way.
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Meanwhile, in keeping up the Colombian lie:
"Rebels in Colombia free four hostages:" by Frank Bajak, Associated Press | February 2, 2009
BOGOTA - Colombia's battered FARC rebels delivered three police officers and a soldier to the International Red Cross yesterday in a mission marred by accusations of military interference.
A Brazilian military helicopter, emblazoned with the Red Cross insignia, retrieved the four hostages from a guerrilla stronghold in Colombia's southern jungles and flew them to a provincial airport, where they were met by relatives and peace activists with hugs and white daisies.
Another STAGED EVENT?
A reporter accompanying the release, Jorge Enrique Botero, said it was hounded and delayed by two hours of military overflights that he called "notorious, abundant, and repetitive."
"They were flying in circles. There were several types of airplanes conducting the flights and this of course caused enormous nervousness, not just among us but also among the people of the FARC," Botero said at the Villavicencio airport in Colombia's eastern plains. He said that he would provide audio and video evidence.
The government's peace commissioner, Luis Carlos Restrepo, called the allegations baseless. He said authorities honored an agreement with the Red Cross for no military flights lower than 20,000 feet during the liberation....
This article has been edited and rewritten in very many subtle ways. My paper calls it a release, not a liberation. I'm beginning to wonder if you can believe ANYTHING in the papers anymore!
If they OBFUSCATE, CENSOR and LIE about SMALL THINGS like ONE WORD....
Analysts consider the releases - the guerrillas' first in nearly a year - a goodwill gesture. However, chances for a peace dialogue with Colombia's government remain remote. Yesterday's alleged military interference could complicate matters....
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"Colombians in Boston seek temporary protected status" by Jenny Manrique, Globe Correspondent | February 2, 2009
Why would they need that? Colombia is a FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT!
He drives a taxi most nights now, but he used to fly helicopters in the Colombian air force. He dodged threats - and offers - from drug traffickers before fleeing to the United States in 1994.
"I have my family and a peaceful life here, but sometimes I felt I wasted 15 years of my life, 15 years in which I could not hug my parents," said the East Boston man, 39, who asked to be identified only as Wilson A. for fear of deportation.
The father of two sons wants the US government to give temporary protected status to him and other Colombians who are here illegally.
Here we go again! I say BACK YOU GO, guy!!
Wilson followed his girlfriend - who entered as a tourist and worked through the process to gain US citizenship - and became one of the nearly 9,000 Colombians in Boston by the end of 2007, according to the city's Office of New Bostonians. It is not clear how many of them are seeking protected status.
They have an uphill battle. In 2003, the United States considered extending protected status to Colombians, but the Bush administration concluded that the nation's problems had eased and there was no need for special status to people fleeing political turmoil.
No, in that case we would need to be taking in the almost annihilated FARC, right?
I mean, it is OUR FRIENDS running the government, so what can they possibly be afraid of?
US Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican and ranking GOP member on the House Judiciary Committee, said "the administration rightly recognized the progress that had been made by President [Álvaro] Uribe's government and determined that there was no need for special protections for Colombian nationals. Since then, the situation in Colombia has continued to improve."
Advocates for immigrants contend that Colombia's 60-year-old conflict continues, affecting a broad swath of the population. Carlos Soler, of the nonprofit organization Todos por Colombia (All for Colombia), recognizes the high hurdle Wilson faces. An unconnected Colombian nowadays has little hope of getting into the United States, he said.
But a CONNECTED ONE does? Yup, it is ALL WHO YOU KNOW, isn't it?
"The standards are higher [for Colombians], and we don't see any other kind of protection," Soler said. Wilson, who previously worked in a restaurant and has searched for a business that would sponsor him for a green card, said he has little option but to wait. He does not want to turn his back on his children here.
"I am like a bird in a cage," Wilson said. "I can move here inside the US, but I cannot go where I want."'Where's that? Back home I hope, because you can't stay here.
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