Colombian Double-Takes

The Peñol de Guatape in Cordoba Dept., by Henry Price, in 1852.

Between 1850 and 1859 the Comision Geografica, led by the Italian-born Agustín Codazzi, criss-crossed Colombia studying its people, geography and natural resources. The goal was to catalog and unlock the nation's natural resources, making Colombia a rich country. The wealth did not materialize, but the expedition gathered valuable information about the young nation's far-flung regions. The paintings, most by British-born Henry Price, immortalize a formalized, somewhat romanticized view of Colombia.

Recently, Santiago Harker traveled thru many of the same areas, capturing modern versions of the people and places. His photography also captures the contrasts of Colombian society: rich and poor, urban and rural, humble and glamorous.

Harker's work, on exhibit thru tomorrow in Bogotá's Museum of Modern Art, invites reflection on how things have changed and whether they're better or worse today. Certainly, people appear less formal and pretentious - altho that probably also a result of the old-timers' artistic style. Things move faster today, with less physical toil, but are they actually better?

In the case of the Peñol de Guatape, pictured here, the giant graffiti, the houses at its base and the strange building on top don't much improve the natural landmark.

The final day for the exhibit in the Museo de Arte Moderno, is tomorrow, Nov. 9.

 A nicer view? The Peñol de Guatape today.

The 1850s expedition on the left and Harker's travels on the right.

Couples then and now. 

Gold mining then...

Artesanal, mostly illegal gold mines, haven't become much more sophisticated, but they have become much more destructive for the environment and the miners, who expose themselves to toxic mercury.

...and gold mining now.

Nuns haven't changed, but girls' dress has.

Affection is much more open and intimate.

Zipaquira, location of the Salt Cathedral, back in the 1850s...

...and Zipaquira today.

Diversions are no more sophisticated.

Blue jeans and an old bicycle will make you glamorous.

Rural workers today.

Fishing has changed little.

Kids amongst soldiers. 

Pack right when you travel.

Prostitutes await customers in Antioquia.

I want to be glamorous, too.

Well-dressed youths.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The FARC's Latest Lie

Worth murdering for? The polemical banner, featuring Alfonso Cano.
(Photo: Defensoria del Pueblo via Semana Magazine)

Just days after FARC negotiators in La Habana asserted that the guerrillas have "never perpetrated attacks against the civil population," the terrorist group exposed their own lie.

Recently, FARC guerrillas hung huge banners on indigenous territory commemorating the anniversary of the killing by military bombing of FARC leader Alfonso Cano. Unable to tolerate such disrespect, the FARC killed two indigenous men and attacked a third.

Fortunately, the NASA's indigenous guard was able to capture eight guerrillas, whom they will put on trial and then hand over to Colombian authorities for imprisonment.

Which makes one ask whether the government should even be speaking with murdering, lying, hypocrites like these. But, unfortunately, there's nobody else to speak to to end Colombia's conflict.

Update: The NASA 'court' (a public assembly of hundreds of people) sentenced two of the guerrillas to 40- and 60-year prison terms. Two of the guerrillas captured by the NASA were minors, and were sentenced to being whipped. The FARC issued a statement in which they seemed to blame the NASA for the murders for pursuing the guerrillas.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Colombia's Oil Crisis

Just a few weeks ago, when Bogotá announced the astronomical cost of its planned subway, experts said the city couldn't pay for it without cutting back on other major projects or lots of money from the national government.

Since then, the nation's financial prospects have gone south.

While Colombia is not often thot of as an oil exporter, it is. In October, in fact, Colombian petroleum production averaged 1 million barrels per day - almost one-third the production of neighbor Venezuela and more than double the production of Ecuador, both OPEC members.

As a result, the global drop in oil and gasoline prices which has drivers celebrating is bad news for the environment, urban liveability - and for Bogotá's prospects for building a subway.

To be clear, Bogotá's subway plan is exactly the worst possible way to build mass transit. Burying its train system undergound will mean slower construction and higher cost. Bogotá would get much more transit for its money by building either a surface level or an elevated train track, while meanwhile expanding the TransMilenio system and creating more bus-only lanes.

But city leaders appear fixated on the most expensive, underground alternative - which makes one wonder whether some hidden agenda's at work.

However, swooning world oil prices could make the subway, which would require central government financing, an impossibility.

Colombia is not a major world oil producer, but it nevertheless gets between 40% and 50% of its export revenue comes from oil (and more from gas and coal), far more than Colombia's iconic export, coffee. Ecopetrol, the state oil company, has long been a national cash cow.

The global oil price decline, which is likely to last for reasons detailed below, means a several-point drop in Colombia's GDP, For reasons detailed below, oil prices are likely to stay low for a good while, forcing Colombia to either find new sources of income, or cut its budget.

Less revenue will mean less money for schools, police, parks, health care and big infrastructure projects such as Bogotá's planned metro. And there's little Colombia can do about it. If Colombia attempts to export more oil, as other petroleum producers are doing, it will only push world prices down further.

What Colombia could do is diversify its economy, and replace raw materials with manufactured goods, which put lots more money into workers' hands and are less subject to price fluctuations. I am perpetually amazed that Colombia, with its cheap labor and resources, still imports things like clothing from China.

Unlike previous oil price drops, this one shows no sign of reversing anytime soon. China's economic growth is slowing and Europe seems stuck in recession. Meanwhile, Iraq and Libya are returning to oil production, and the planet's swing producer, Saudi Arabia, gives no sign of closing the tap. The Saudis are probably using oil as a weapon, since their arch-enemy Iran's oil is more expensive to pump out of the ground and refine. Lower world prices will also make marginal wells in places like Canada unprofitable, reducing production in the long run. (And Venezuela will get hit even harder.)

Venezuelan Pres. Nicolas Maduro rants against "savage" fracking techniques, because they threaten his nation's insane, populist spending, including giving away free gasoline. I wonder whether he means 'savage' in contrast to gentle, civilized traditional oil production methods involving deforesting rainforest, setting off explosives underground, drilling holes deep into the earth and then burning that petroleum in the atmosphere?

At the same time that Middle Eastern countries are racing to pump their oil, the U.S. is moving whole hog into fracking, creating an production boom there. The fracking boom looks only likely to expand to places like England and Colombia, and inevitably China and Russia. That may mean 'Game Over' for Planet Earth's climate, but before that happens it'll devastate lots of oil producers' budgets, and put lots of infrastructure projects on hold

To escape this trap, Colombia needs to diversify its economy from raw materials.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Great Tire Fire

'Alert in four neighborhoods for odor from burnt rubber.' (Photo: El Tiempo)

Smoke rises from the tire dump fire in Fontibon.
(Photo: Twitter via Noticias Caracol)

A tire dump has in Fontibon has burnt for the last several days, sending thick smoke into the air and prompting health alerts from authorities.

Which was fair enough. But what about every single other day, when authorities don't issue air health alerts? Does that mean Bogotá's air is breathable?

'What effects do burnt tires have on health?' (Photo: El Tiempo)

Bogotá media, such as El Tiempo, gave the tire fire big coverage.

A sardonic commentary. Photo: Facebook

Smoky haze hides the hills in La Candelaria.

Compared the tire conflagration, Bogotá's 'normal' air pollution is almost healthy...

Smoke rises from a routine fire (burning tires?) behind the La Sabana train station today.

Homeless people hang out behind the Estación de la Sabana on Calle 13, where they burn collected trash to separate out the metals in order to sell them.

On Calle 13 near San Victorino Plaza today TransMilenio buses belch smoke.

The TransMilenio system is the pride of Bogotá - but many of the buses are 'rolling chimneys.'

A masked man walks across Plaza San Victorino.

In the wake of this disaster, authorities will talk about imposing strict regulations on dumps, and then do nothing.

But there's a deeper, more systematic problem here, which Bogotá authorities will be sure to ignore. The city is being inundated by trash, including used tires, which nobody seems to know what to do with. Grind them up to make asphalt? Hang them from trees as playground equipment? After that, you'll still have 99% of them left, accumulating on streets, parks and in dumps, where homeless people ignite them for warmth and they collect water and breed mosquitoes. 

Either society in general can spend a small fortune collecting and burying these tires, thus socializing yet another cost of the auto industry. Or, Colombia could do what many other nations do and tax tire manufacturers and importers and use the tax revenue to dispose of their products.

Update: Several days after the fire, the tires continue smoldering. According to city air measurements, pollution levels hit five times the maximum acceptable levels - and none of the measuring stations were near the fire.

Headed for burning? Discarded tires wait on a sidewalk for someone to collect them.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Euthenasia a la Colombiana

Brittany Maynard. (Photo: CNN)

Colombia's progressive 1991 Constitution differentiated between simple homicide and something called 'homicide out of pity': killing intended to end another person's intense suffering.

In the late '90s, someone filed a lawsuit to end that distinction, arguing that murder is murder, even if motivated by compassion for another's suffering. But in its 1997 decision, the plaintiff lost. The court not only reaffirmed the 1991 Constitution, but went further: it depenalized killing out of compassion as long as the 'victim' was suffering intensely from a "grave, incurable illness."

The court also instructed the legislature to regulate the practice of euthanasia. However, because of opposition from the Catholic Church and other conservative groups which want euthanasia completely banned, the court has never legislated about the subject.

As a result, euthanasia is legal in Colombia, but has few rules: No minimum life expectancy; no requirement for opinions from multiple doctors: no consent degree requirements from the patient and relatives.

All of which sounds like a recipe for disaster: Legal battles between relatives for inheritances; murder charges against doctors; accusations from the church.

Dr. Gustavo Quintana, Colombia's Dr. Kevorkian, in 2011.

Yet, for the past 18 years, the practice of euthenasia in Colombia seems to have gone about as 'smoothly' as could be hoped. At least, in my nine years living here, I haven't heard of any problems.

The case of Brittany Maynard, who killed herself in Oregon, U.S.A. this weekend to escape a painful death from an incurable brain tumor, brought worldwide attention to euthanasia (even tho what she did was actually assisted suicide).

In part because of the lack of regulation, no good numbers exist about euthanasia in Colombia. One Bogotá doctor, Gustavo Quintana, talks publicly about the fact that he's carried out more than 150 euthanasias. When I spoke with him several years ago, he told me that he'd experienced no direct attacks from the Catholic Church. Undoubtedly, many other doctors perform euthanasia but don't talk about it.

While some religious critics would call each case of euthanasia a murder and a tragedy, to me each case represents the prevention of suffering for the patient and his or her family, (as well as family savings preserved, to be better invested in education or health care which can do more than just prolong suffering).

The Catholic Church and others hold that only God can take away life. But humans give and take life all the time. And, if God had really made human life priceless, then why does He (or She) take it away so arbitrarily - as in the case of the dozen coal miners trapped in a flooded coal mine this weekend. And, for that matter, why did God afflict Brittany Maynard with a deadly brain tumor in the first place?

Colombia is one of only three nations in the world, along with Belgium and Holland, which allow euthanasia. It's a tragedy that more nations do not respect this basic right and allow the sick and suffering and their families to find a dignified end.

In the wake of Maynard's assisted suicide, Colombian legislators are talking once again about regulating the practice of euthanasia here. Maybe that would make the practice safer, but perhaps it would only complicate the lives of doctors and patients.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Prince's Polemical Plaque

British ships attack Cartagenas in 1741. (Image from Wikipedia.com) 

In early March 1741, a massive British colonial fleet of 186 ships and 23,600 men, including 12,000 infantry, attacked the port city of Cartagena, defended by only 6 ships and 6,000 men, as well as its famous forts and shore batteries.

Cartagena Mayor Dionisio Vélez, on left, and Prince Charles,
on right, unveil the polemical plaque.
(Photo from the prince's website.)

Spanish Admiral Blas de Lezo, who
commanded the defense.
(Image from Wikipedia.com)

Spanish Admiral Blas de Lezo chose to make a fighting retreat. During the next two months, the British troops, commanded by Admiral Edward Vernon, took one Spanish defensive fortification after another. But they were losing men at a horrific rate, to both Spanish guns and to tropical diseases.

In May, the humiliated British withdrew, having lost 18,000 men killed or injured, as well as their goal of wresting the fabulously valuable Caribbean colonies away from Spain. Spain's South American empire would survive another 70 years.

Meanwhile, back in London, the government believing that its forces had won, and had already issued coins celebrating the 'victory.' When news of the disaster arrived, King George ordered the coins removed from circulation and prohibited anyone from talking or writing about the defeat.

British Admiral Edward Vernon.
(Image from Wikipedia.com)

Today, the British are no longer mum about one of their greatest naval defeats. During Prince Charles' visit last week, he and the mayor of Cartagena unveiled a plaque 'In memory of the valor and suffering of all those who died in combat attempting to take the city and the fort of San Felipe, under the command of the Admiral Edward Vernon in Cartagenas de Indias in 1741. Presented by the Corporación Centro Histórico de Cartagena de Indias'.

During the ceremony, the Cartageneros were blinded by the prince's star power. But by the next day, they were complaining. After all, why had the city spent public funds to pay tribute to foreigners who attacked it? How about commemorating the Cartageneros who died courageously defending their city (and the Spanish empire)?

Coins minted to commemorate the
great British 'victory' in Cartagena.
(Photo: Wikipedia)

They have a point, but could profit by looking at the ironies of history. After all, the Cartageneros were fighting so heroically to preserve the Spanish empire, which less than a century later they would be fighting against for Colombia's independence. During that 1810 - 1820 war of independence the British would return - this time fighting on the Colombians' side against the Spanish. There's another plaque on Plaza Bolivar commemorating the help of the British Legion, which fought alongside of Simon Bolivar.

In neither case, of course, were the British being altruistic. In both wars, the Brits wanted to weaken

Spanish control on the Americas and open the New World to British trade.

Another irony: Amongst the British imperial soldiers were many men from its north American colonies, including Lawrence Washington, half-brother of George Washington, later to become of the United States' revolution against Britain. Lawrence Washington so admired Adm. Vernon that he named the family estate Mt. Vernon in his honor. A generation later, many of these same men, or their sons, would change uniforms and fight against Britain.

The Cartageneros' complaint is valid. But they also might stop a moment and reflect that the British invaders didn't want to control Cartagena as much as to free it from Spain in order to be able to trade with South America.

So, if the British invasion had succeeded, Colombia's independence might have come a half-century sooner.

Update: Cartagena officials are discussing redoing or replacing the plaque. But, meanwhile, someone attacked it with a hammer.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours