Scenes from the Coffee Farmers' Protest

Coffee farmers in front of the Ministry of Agriculture today.

 Today, hundreds of coffee farmers gathered in front of the Ministry of Agriculture to demand government subsidies, cheaper supplies such as fertilizers and an end to free trade agreements, which they blame for flooding Colombia with cheap imported coffee and other agricultural products.

The protesters perhaps did not reflect that those trade agreements also bring their fertilizers and other supplies in more cheaply, or that the same agreements which bring in competing agricultural goods also open the doors to selling Colombian coffee overseas.

Colombia has produced big harvests in recent years - which have not helped boost low international prices. The huge influx of Venezuelan refugees, some of whom have gone to work picking coffee, has helped the industry a little. In some traditional coffee-growing regions, farmers are switching to the new darling of Colombian arquitecture - avocadoes, which Colombia only recently began exporting to the United States.

A poster depicts Juan Valdez, the iconic Colombian offee farmer, as half naked from the waist down.

A protesters' placard portrays a struggling coffee farmer as half-nude from the waist down.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Rebellion of the Rice Farmers

'The farmer's crimes: Protecting food security; Creating honest and dignified employment.'

Central Bogotá was shut down today by multiple protests, all of which intersected in the Plaza Bolivar. Among them were college students, schoolteachers, phone company unionists, and rice farmers. The farmers, who rallied in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, complain about low prices, high transportation costs, and rice imports, some of them illegal contraband.

'Colombia plants or Colombia goes bankrupt.'

Sacks of rice and spilled rice symbolize the harvest's low value.

Student marchers demand peace and funding for education.

Meanwhile, while parts of Bogotá had huge traffic jams, normally congested streets and avenues in the center were wonderfully empty of traffic, noise and pollution.

Carrera 10, for once empty of cars.

Calle 13, vacant as well.

Meanwhile, a clear view of the Eastern Hills thru unusually clean air.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Farmers Plant Themselves on Plaza Bolivar

A protesting farmer, symbolically
chained, carries a flag beside
Simon Bolivar's statue
on Plaza Bolivar. 

Farmers camped out today around Simon Bolivar's statue on Plaza Bolivar, demanding that the government fulfill promises made after past agricultural strikes. The farmers say the government owes them subsidies on both the selling prices of their crops and on supplies like fertilizer and pesticides.

They also want a brake on the issuance of licenses for mines and other projects which pollute rivers and land.

Farmers are protesting and blocking roads in north-central Colombia, as you can see on this map.

One of the men I talked to at the protest farms coffee, which is bringing very high prices this year. But the farmer told me that at this time of year coffee growers have no harvest to sell, and they fear that by the time the harvest arrives prices will have dropped.

Fredy, who farms tubers, told me that the farmers will stay "as long as it takes" for the government to fulfill their demands.

'Onion growers dignity present!'

Fredy, who grows tubers, vows the farmers will stay in their camp until the government meets their demands.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Farmers are Back on the March.

Hundreds of farmers crowded Ave. Septima today.

Campesino farmers staged another march today pleading for more government assistance. The farmers accuse the government of not fulfilling promises it made after the farmers' huge marches of a few months ago.

With all of this pleading and begging, it's a bit ironic that the farmers call their movement 'Dignidad.'

For all of their deservingness, subsidizing farmers is not a sustainable solution, since subsidies only generate more subsidies and are therefore sooner or late unsustainable.

'Agriculture shafted by Santos.'

'President Santos no more lies.'

This guy was giving away small, tasty apricots.

'Land for Colombians, not for foreigners.' This may refer to cases in which foreign multinataionls bought up huge stretches of agricultural land using a very dubious legal maneuver. The government has taken no action on the cases.

The ruana has come to symbolize the difficulties of humble, hard-working Colombians.

'No to free trade agreements.' The marchers blame imported agricultural products for forcing down prices. However, according to what I've read only a tiny proportion of Colombia's fruits and vegetables are imported. However, under current trade agreements that number will grow - inevitably impacting farmers in the future.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours