Good Riddance to 'La Mata que Mata!'

The plant that kills?

La mata que mata was an annoying and distorting radio and TV spot made by the National Directorate on Narcotics  in which a child's pathetic voice implores the audience not to plant 'la mata que mata' (drug crops), which turned rivers into rivers of blood and caused untold other evils. (The message plays on Colombian Spanish, in which the word mata (to kill) is also slang for a 'plant'.)

Thankfully, the Supreme Court just ruled in favor of a lawsuit against the commercial's airing, filed by the head of Coca Nasa, an indigenous company which produces tea, cookies, wine, soft drinks and even medicines out of coca leaves.

Good riddance to La Mata que Mata. In the future, let's hope that those anti-drug campaigns campaign against drugs, not plants.

And I won't have to twist around that radio dial so often.

Let's celebrate with a coca tea.

A coca leaf cookie package ridicules the ad, by celebrating 'The plant that kills...hunger, ignorance and misery.' 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Will they, or won't they? And they've gotta do something!

Seventh Ave. today: chaotic, polluted and usually congested. 

Seventh is Bogotá's most emblematic avenue - it passes by the seat of government, the bullfighting plaza, National Museum, National and Independence parks and the La Candelaria, Teusaquillo, Chapinero and Usaquen neighborhoods. It's also the city's traditional shopping street.

Sadly, this important corridor of the city is often chaotic, congested, polluted and dangerous. For years, Bogotá governments have planned public transit systems for Seventh Ave. Should it be light rail? A subway? Or another Transmilenio line?

The previous city government had planned a full-blown Transmilenio line for Seventh, with a price tag of about  $800 billion pesos. Mayor Samuel Moreno scaled the plans back to a 'Transmilenio light,' lacking overpasses and public space improvements along the avenue, at a cost of only about $80 billion pesos. The Moreno administration argued that a planned subway line running parallel to Seventh would carry much of the passenger load.

No turning back? Seventh Ave.'s already half dug up. 

The project has been contracted out, and work was scheduled to begin at full steam on Dec. 27 (the west half of several blocks has already been dug up). But just a few days ago, in mid-December, the mayor postponed the start in the face of questions about whether the plans were ready and whether the scaled-back Transmilenio would have sufficient capacity. Yet another issue has been the fate of La Ciclovia's most important corridor, although city officials have promised that it will be preserved. The tremendous delays and cost overruns on the TM projects on 10th Ave. and 26th St. certainly also made people wary of yet another big dig.


Let's hope that they finally get things right on Seventh Ave. But, above all, that they finally move ahead with work on this crucial Bogotá corridor. 


By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Aid Flows in for Flood Victims

About two million Colombians have been driven from their homes by tremendous floods, primarily along the Caribbean coast. Among those who've brought help are Spain, the United States, Israel, the Red Cross, the United Nations, the sometimes-hostile Ecuadorean Pres. Rafael Correa and private charities including Shelter Box, which has been distributing tents, stoves, cooking equipment, tools, blanket, water filtration kits and other supplies.

Shelter Box and the Red Cross accept donations through their websites.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Venezuela's Worrisome Weapons

Chavez and toy. Who'll play with it next?

The news that Venezuela has purchased at least 1,800 shoulder-fired missiles from Russia has got to be frightening for Colombia - and the rest of the world.

Colombia and Venezuela aren't likely to get in a war, and if they did then it's a good bet that the battle-hardened, U.S.-equipped Colombians would defeat Venezuela's socialist 'socialist revolutionary forces'. After all, the last time that Venezuela ordered forces to the Colombian border, many of its military vehicles couldn't move.

Much more worrying is the fact that many of those Russian SA-24 missiles are likely to leak out of Venezuelan hands - whether due to government policy of supporting Colombia's outlaw leftist guerrillas or just plain corruption. There have already been several instances of Venezuelan weapons showing up in possession of Colombia's FARC guerrillas.

Take aim.

Like the leftover guns from Central America's civil wars, these small, mobile missiles will be floating around the Americas for decades, and will inevitably fall into the hands of guerrillas, terrorists, drug cartels and anybody else with enough cash to buy one. A terrorist or joker who posted a photo of himself with one of these missiles could easily paralyze an airport. After all, suddenly the threats are realistic.

Whatever Chavez's paranoid fantasies, the U.S. - already mired down in Iraq and Afghanistan - is not going to invade one of its primary oil sources. Why has Chavez bought these missiles and billions of dollars more in weapons? To make himself feel important, to snub the nose of Uncle Sam, to feed his own paranoias, to buy the support of his military...lots of reasons, and none of them good. The best we can hope for is that all of this armament rusts in peace on Venezuelan military bases. But even then, every bolivar or ruble spent on weapons is one stolen from hungry Venezuelan children, from the people in need of housing and education, from Venezuela's parks and hospitals. It's a real unconscionable tragedy.

More tragic still, Venezuela's weapons purchases place pressure on neighbors like Colombia to stock up on their own armament, stealing from the mouths of Colombian babes, as well. And Colombian ex-President Alvaro Uribe was worried enough about Chavez's war-mongering to push for the deal giving U.S. troops use of Colombian military bases for anti-drug flights. All this on a continent with no prospects of war or sources of ethnic, religious or territorial strife.

Unfortunately, like Chavez's 100,000 AK-47s, his tanks, boats and other toys, these missile launchers are not going to be returned to sender. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Drips and Dribbles From Wikileaks

Reportedly, more of the messages in Wikileaks' 'Cablegate' cache came from Bogotá than any of the U.S.'s South other American embassies. That's not too surprising, since historically Colombia has received more U.S. aid than any other nation in the hemisphere, and until the Iraq war the U.S.'s Bogotá embassy was its largest in the world.

Whatever one might think about an alleged rapist releasing confidential diplomatic messages, many of the messages are interesting, altho not terribly surprising.

For example, according to one cable, while serving as Pres. Alvaro Uribe's defense minister, current Colombian Pres. Juan Manuel Santos wanted to push harder in investigating the false positives scandal, in which Colombian military units killed innocent youths and then presented them as guerrilla fighters in order to receive bonuses. Good for Santos, who perhaps was unfairly tarred by the scandal.

Cables also portray the U.S. government as concerned about the extrajudicial killings (which have created an obstacle against U.S. aid and a pending free trade agreement.)

Juan Manuel Santos wanted to crack down on these killings.

Other cables could generate tensions between Colombia and the US, which has sent Bogotá billions of dollars in mostly-military aid to battle guerrillas and drug crops. One cable revealed that the U.S. considered setting up a crack military team intended to try to rescue three Americans kidnapped by the FARC guerrillas. Colombia is the U.S.'s closest ally in Latin America, and its military has been closely trained by U.S. advisors. Does the U.S. lack confidence in Colombia's armed forces? Apparently, even Pres. Uribe was prepared to accept a U.S. rescue attempt. In the end, the Colombian military tricked the FARC guerrillas into releasing the three Americans and other prominent hostages.

So confident were Colombian officials in the U.S. that then-Vice President Francisco Santos even asked for the U.S.'s help in investigating internal Colombian government scandals. The U.S. ambassador declined.

Hugging a Hitler?

Another cable reported that Pres. Uribe compared Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez to Adolf Hitler. In this blogger's opinion, Chavez is destructive, but no Hitler. Uribe, in fact, wanted pushed for the deal giving the U.S. use of Colombian military bases to dissuade a possible Venezuelan invasion. Even if Chavez were as evil as Hitler, the Venezuelan leader and his country are too bumbling and disorganized to do too great damage. Uribe's opinion does confirm his image as a hard liner, with maybe even a big dose of paranoia.

Not surprisingly, then, Colombian officials were angry about the U.S.'s silence on Venezuelan issues. But when the U.S. government needs to decide between allies and oil, the outcome's not difficult to predict.

My comment: Uribe's sometimes extremism is a bit scary. So it's perhaps impressive and surprising that he stayed generally within the Constitution's framework and even stepped down when the high court nixed a second reelection. Chavez, in contrast, is turning into a dictator. 

In contrast, during his final months in office, Uribe wanted to pursue a dialogue with the FARC guerrillas. Perhaps Uribe dreamed of changing his legacy from warrior to peacemaker.

None of the cables revealed so far are earth-shaking - or even particularly scandalous. And the U.S. doesn't come out too badly off. Yes, the U.S. government wanted to weaken Hugo Chavez - but no cable published so far has revealed the Americans trying to do so by underhanded or murderous means, as Chavez himself has so often charged. And the U.S. seems generally to have pushed for human rights here.

So far, about 20 Colombia cables have been released and, reportedly, thousands more are on their way.

Adrian Lamo. Colombia's most
famous hacker - who's not
quite Colombian.

There is also a second Colombian connection to the Wikicables.


Adrian Lamo, the noted computer hacker who turned in Bradley Manning, the soldier who allegedly leaked the cables to Wikileaks, has a Colombian father and briefly lived here as a child.

Perhaps Colombian officials should hire him to hack Hugo Chavez.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours.

Can This be a Ciclovía?

Look like a Ciclovía?

Bogotá's traditional Nocturnal 'Ciclovía' took place Dec. 8. Many thousands of people packed Bogotá's central avenues and parks and had a rousing good time admiring the Christmas lights. But, with the streets so packed that you could barely even walk, it was no Ciclovía!

Any room to cycle here?

Bogotá BikeTours managed to do a bike tour, (with a bit of walking). Why is it that the night when it's impossible to bicycle La Septima is our biggest night of the year?

The National Park was full of lights.

And the Independence Park was full of fish!

 By Mike Ceaser of Bogotá Bike Tours

Women and Colombia's Armed Conflict

Every year about this time a women's organization posts signs like these around Bogotá - a reminder that Colombia's armed conflict continues, and that it disproportionately impacts women and girls. Girls and women comprise a disproportionate number of the millions of displaced Colombians, and rape has been used as a weapon by various armed groups.

From reading and talks with women who have been victims and members of armed groups, I've heard many horror stories: rape, slavery, forced abortions and displacement by armed groups, both legal and illegal ones. Young girls sometimes fall in love with a guerrilla or paramilitary leader and join an illegal armed group, and are then trapped for life. I met one woman who described how her husband and sons were murdered and kidnapped by guerrillas, and she forced off of their land with the rest of her family. There are many similar stories.

According to a recent El Tiempo story, between 2001 and 2009, 94,500 women suffered sexual abuse related to Colombia's armed conflict, and 26,300 became pregnant as a result.

"We women have been trampled in our territories and everywhere else by legal and illegal armed groups, which kidnap, kill, rape and humiliate us...."

"There is no justification.
Nothing justifies violence against women."

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours