In
September 2000, the author was in southern Colombia, in a demilitarized zone at the time agreed with President Andres Pastrana, to make a series of reviews and reports for the peripódico Tal Cual. Here publish the first of these columns, as published at the time. ______________
- The series of reports that opens today is the result of a visit to the demilitarized zone and relaxation, just as the war tends to flare and is in fact the implementation of Plan Colombia . Today, the analysis will focus on the people of San Vicente, capital the municipality located in the department of Caquetá has served as a stage of peace talks, to give a respite to the guerrilla territory and to get close to what is, in fact, though not in law, "a municipality governed by the FARC . In successive deliveries discuss life in a guerrilla camp, will feature interviews with some commanders and will register a visit to a crop and a coca lab ___________
In San Vicente, all that it is easier to run into a guerrilla front is running into a guerrilla front. Then there are the pubs, places full of music all the time, and businesses. In that order. That decor leaves a feeling that can be likened to that of prosperity, because the spectacle of so many citizens delivered to recreation and shopping leaves no room for the smell of misery. Only that there is some boundary where happiness is confused with simple euphoria, and that is where they begin to perceive the first mismatch: a town whose bars and taverns are open (and filled) on Sunday at six thirty in the morning must be a people too happy or too eager to surrender to escape and oblivion.
For those who heard her say in Bogota, the day before that San Vicente is the safest city in Colombia, it might seem natural to that seizures in the night spots (and boy there are places in that town at night) are undertaken only by a handful of civilian police "armed" with individual wooden rollers. A closer look at things clear: even the drunk or the most libertarian of the customers allows the police and ask ¬ requisition documents pleasure only because out there, a few meters (and sometimes even inside the building) remains a squad of FARC fighters, and this and the picture changes slightly: the respect that a wooden roller sad fails to instill in the minds of anyone, infused with its mere presence of an assault rifle AK-47 Soviet-made .
But más allá del fetichismo maquiaveliano de las armas, está el hecho de que las FARC hacen las veces de gobierno en muchos aspectos de la vida que en el papel le corresponderían a las autoridades municipales. La guerrilla tiene en las afueras una oficina de Quejas y Reclamos adonde los ciudadanos llevan toda clase de denuncias: allí se escuchan casos como el del padre que no le da la pensión correspondiente a su hijo, el del empleado de la zapatería a quien botaron justa o injustamente, el del vecino que derribó una cerca y no hay querido pagarla, el del pichón de delincuente que robó o causó algún estrago. Según el caso, la guerrilla le impone al infractor una sanción que puede ser una multa o unos días de work in the field or road construction. When it comes to a gangster, a drug consumer or dealer, you are required to leave the town. The accused will have no choice, but it smells too much of blood and gunpowder. High bidder
Wednesday night August 30 at the bar El Mexicano, the most explosive prestige of the area, a small sign was a billboard: "Today, 11 pm, much streep tease, two beautiful girls including the raffle of one of them, plus a garbage can of liquor. Chip Value: 2,500 dollars. " Sudden attack of morality. Had to do something to stop this act of delivery of women-bottle, so we in the matter: buy four numbers. The night promised.
Almost 1,000 kilometers to the north in the city of Cartagena, another great raffle put on the wheel of history the fate of many Colombians, Bill Clinton gave some critical remarks as he toured the streets and pressed his hands and cheeks everywhere. Plan Colombia was, now in full swing. President Pastrana he had no smile on his face, the ball began to spin the wheel and he had in his coffers the bulk of the bet. The visit of Clinton's popularity rose from 24 to 45 percent, while the FARC should be lowered from 3 to 1.5 percent in the latest attacks. The outlook is the most interesting.
The ball leaves to turn and stops at a number. A cry ethyl ago looks back to the winner, a drunk who probably will not enjoy at all of the girl and no liquor bottle, the girl was saved the embarrassment of an interview and we have lost 10 thousand dollars. In Cartagena a plane has just taken off, its main passenger has left a bid of U.S. $ 7 billion on the table. The ball is stopped for a while and the scene is frozen, like the smile of Pastrana: everyone knows what the winning number but no one has shown the winning tile. Colombian Peace is an elusive girl with a bottle of brandy in his hand.
For those who heard her say in Bogota, the day before that San Vicente is the safest city in Colombia, it might seem natural to that seizures in the night spots (and boy there are places in that town at night) are undertaken only by a handful of civilian police "armed" with individual wooden rollers. A closer look at things clear: even the drunk or the most libertarian of the customers allows the police and ask ¬ requisition documents pleasure only because out there, a few meters (and sometimes even inside the building) remains a squad of FARC fighters, and this and the picture changes slightly: the respect that a wooden roller sad fails to instill in the minds of anyone, infused with its mere presence of an assault rifle AK-47 Soviet-made .
But más allá del fetichismo maquiaveliano de las armas, está el hecho de que las FARC hacen las veces de gobierno en muchos aspectos de la vida que en el papel le corresponderían a las autoridades municipales. La guerrilla tiene en las afueras una oficina de Quejas y Reclamos adonde los ciudadanos llevan toda clase de denuncias: allí se escuchan casos como el del padre que no le da la pensión correspondiente a su hijo, el del empleado de la zapatería a quien botaron justa o injustamente, el del vecino que derribó una cerca y no hay querido pagarla, el del pichón de delincuente que robó o causó algún estrago. Según el caso, la guerrilla le impone al infractor una sanción que puede ser una multa o unos días de work in the field or road construction. When it comes to a gangster, a drug consumer or dealer, you are required to leave the town. The accused will have no choice, but it smells too much of blood and gunpowder. High bidder
Wednesday night August 30 at the bar El Mexicano, the most explosive prestige of the area, a small sign was a billboard: "Today, 11 pm, much streep tease, two beautiful girls including the raffle of one of them, plus a garbage can of liquor. Chip Value: 2,500 dollars. " Sudden attack of morality. Had to do something to stop this act of delivery of women-bottle, so we in the matter: buy four numbers. The night promised.
Almost 1,000 kilometers to the north in the city of Cartagena, another great raffle put on the wheel of history the fate of many Colombians, Bill Clinton gave some critical remarks as he toured the streets and pressed his hands and cheeks everywhere. Plan Colombia was, now in full swing. President Pastrana he had no smile on his face, the ball began to spin the wheel and he had in his coffers the bulk of the bet. The visit of Clinton's popularity rose from 24 to 45 percent, while the FARC should be lowered from 3 to 1.5 percent in the latest attacks. The outlook is the most interesting.
The ball leaves to turn and stops at a number. A cry ethyl ago looks back to the winner, a drunk who probably will not enjoy at all of the girl and no liquor bottle, the girl was saved the embarrassment of an interview and we have lost 10 thousand dollars. In Cartagena a plane has just taken off, its main passenger has left a bid of U.S. $ 7 billion on the table. The ball is stopped for a while and the scene is frozen, like the smile of Pastrana: everyone knows what the winning number but no one has shown the winning tile. Colombian Peace is an elusive girl with a bottle of brandy in his hand.
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