Remembering Victims of State Crimes - And a few others, too.

The National Movement of Victims of State Crimes held this demonstration/exhibition on Plaza Santander today. Colombia certainly has had many victims of state crimes - most infamously the thousands of young men murdered by the military in the False Positives scandal.

But, to paraphrase someone else's observation, one person's victim can be another's terrorist. One of those memorialized was Luis Alejandro Concha, a young leftist killed when a bomb destroyed an apartment building in Bogotá's Santa Fe neighborhood in 2006. A crime by the state? That's what his family charges.

But the government had a different version of events. According to the government and police, Concha and others were working with a guerrilla group building bombs in the building when one detonated accidentally, killing Concha, other building residents and a woman walking past in the street. To me, the official version always seemed much more believable than the idea that the government would bomb a building in the middle of Bogotá and kill bystanders in order to assassinate some young leftists.

But, when your son has been killed, it's not easy for a parent to believe that he was a terrorist.

A man contemplates a poster memorializing Luis Alejandro Concha, who was killed by a bomb which he apparently was building.

'Freedom for political prisoners.' But a one man0s political prisoner is another man's common criminal.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Year Without Hugo Chávez

A year without Hugo Chavez, who died a year ago yesterday...has brought Venezuela closer to social and economic breakdown. That's bad for Venezuela, and also for Colombia, especially if Venezuela's chaos spills across the border.

A year without Hugo Chavez...has brought further decline in Venezuela's economy. Inflation is over 50%, basic products like toilet paper are hard to find and the budget deficit keeps growing.

A year without Hugo Chavez...has seen increased government repression and further restrictions on the media - a predictable result of an uncharismatic president struggling to hold on to power amidst a disintegrating economy.

Yesterday, a young Venezuelan guy did the bike tour. He's in Colombia on his way back to his homeland - if they'll let him in. His family fled Venezuela more than six years ago because his father, an opposition politician, feared persecution if he stayed. They now live in another Latin American nation, which I won't name just in case the family could be identified. The young man wants to visit Venezuela because a grandmother recently died. But he fears what the government might do to him because some of his relatives were and are active opponents of the government: They might not let him in; they might let him in and seize his passport; they might let him enter and not let him leave again. It all sounds a bit like the old Soviet Union or even North Korea, where children are punished for their parents' 'sins.'

That's the story of just more victim of Chavez's revolution.

While Chavez lived and ruled, Venezuela was, at least, pretty stable. Under Nicolas Maduro, who lacks Chavez's charisma and political acumen, the country appears to be unraveling.

Venezuela, it seems, could go one of several ways: It might continue with its ongoing instability, with the government exercising periodic repression to maintain control. Or, Venezuela's economy and government might really collapse if the government fails to pay its debts and the military and poor neighborhoods align with the opposition. That scenario could bring anything from genuinely democratic elections, a military government or a full-on dictatorship. More likely, however, is that Maduro or a successor will manage to hold on to power by becoming more and more authoritarian.

The most positive outcome, for both Colombia and Venezuelans, also happens to be the least likely: That Maduro will recognize that his policies have driven the economy into the ground and repressed normal civil society and agree to step aside and allow free elections.


By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Ingas' Carnaval of Pardon

Ingas wave the Colombian flag in front of Congress this afternoon.

Inga indigenous people from Putumayo Department paraded across Plaza Bolivar today as part of their annual Carnaval del Perdón, which they celebrate together with the neighboring Catmëntsa people. Despite its name, the carnaval seems to be more of a celebration of the peoples' traditions, cultures and languages. Perhaps the pardon refers to peace between the peoples, who may have once made war on each other.

The Inga were once part of the Inca Empire. Today, they live by farming, hunting and gathering and trade, both in Putumayo and Colombia's cities. But the Putumayo region has suffered from Colombia's drug-financed internal conflict, and indigenous people in particular have been driven off of their land, seen their children recruited by armed groups and lost their culture and traditions.

An Inga man plays the flute.

Little Inga drummer girl.

Mixing the traditional and virtual: Inga people with a smartphone.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Colombia, Caracas and Ukraine

Pro-Russian forces illegally occupying Ukraine's Crimea.
A reason for Colombia to worry? 

Believe it or not, the growing crisis in Ukraine has implications for Colombia - and not positive ones.

Russia's occupation of Ukranian territory has, of course, troubling impacts for the whole world, not least because of the episode's multiple parallels to Hitler's first aggressions: Hitler also started off by occupying ethnically friendly parts of Czechoslovakia, as well as Austria, a German-speaking neighbor. Also like Nazi Germany, Russia is fresh from hosting an Olympics. And impossible to ignore are Russia's discriminatory laws against gays, one of the groups persecuted and murdered by the Nazis.

Putin doesn't appear to be another Hitler. But he does have big territorial ambitions, as Hitler did, and those may grow if the West doesn't stop him here. (It's hard not to ask whether Putin might have thot twice before invading Ukraine if the West had taken firm action against the Syrian dictatorship, a Russian ally, after it used poison gas to massacre its own people.)

Russian military jets' route over Colombian territory.
 (Image: Webinfomil)

Last October and November, Russian military jets flying between Nicaragua and Venezuela - two Russian allies with increasingly authoritarian governments - passed thru Colombian airspace, triggering protests from the Colombian government. Russia's goal was apparently to support Nicaragua´s claims to parts of the Caribbean controlled by Colombia.

More troubling, at the end of last month, Russia's defense minister said that Russia planned to establish military bases across Asia and Latin America, including in Venezuela and Nicaragua. To its credit, an official in Venezuela, whose Constitution declares it to be a 'territory of peace' and bans all foreign military bases, said that no Russian base would be allowed. Yet, considering Venezuela's economic crisis and its government's need for allies, I could certainly see it allowing in the Russian military and just not calling their facilities a 'base'. Venezuela, after all, is full of Cuban 'advisers,' whose presence would in a normal country be called a violation of sovereignty. Venezuela and Colombia have old border disputes in the Guajira region.

If Putin gets his way and the Russian bear is permitted to seize neighbors' territory, Colombia should worry that the Russian bullies will help their allies across the globe grab disputed territory from their own neighbors.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Will Vargas Lleras Pull Santos Left or Right?

German Vargas Lleras:
 Colombia's next VP?

It's easy to see why Pres. Santos selected Germán Vargas Lleras, currently minister of housing, as his running mate for his reelection campaign. The harshest criticisms of Santos have not come from the left, as one might once have predicted, but from Santos' predecessor, the very conservative ex-Pres. Alvaro Uribe, on the right. Vargas Lleras comes from the ranks of Uribismo, and so can shield Santos from some of those attacks.

Vargas Lleras marks a dramatic change from the Santos' current VP, the genial Angelino Garzon, once a union activist and still a leftist. Garzon, who has suffered a series of health problems during the last four years, provided a useful defense for Santos' left during the last campaign, when most expected Santos to follow Uribe's aggressive militaristic policies against the leftist guerrillas. Santos, after all, was Uribe's minister of defense. But Santos began peace negotiations with the FARC guerrillas - a decision which has earned him constant criticism from Uribe and his supporters, who say that the talks amount to giving in to the FARC, who are classified as terrorists by many governments.

Vice Pres. Angelino
Garzon.

Garzon participated in the last negotiations with the FARC, during the Pastrana administration. Those talks failed and have come to represent government weakness. That connection makes Garzon a handicap for Uribe.

As vice president, Garzon helped in negotiations with protesting farmers and others, as well as advocating for human rights. Garzon has also shown refreshing independence, even criticizing Santos administration policies on issues including poverty and the peace negotiations.

Vargas Lleras, in contrast, criticized the last peace negotiations with the guerrillas. He has also been the target of two bomb attacks, at least one of them apparently perpetrated by guerrillas, in which he lost several fingers from one hand. As Santos' minister of the interior from 2010 to 2012, Vargas Lleras authored the controversial Ley Lleras, which critics charged would censor the Internet.

Will Vargas Lleras push Santos to the right? Could his presence hinder the peace negotiations with the guerrillas? Perhaps Vargas Lleras' presence will give Santos room to move left.

A poster on Plaza Bolivar portrays Pres. Santos as wanting
to oust Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro in order to use
 the capital's budget for his own reelection.
 I haven't seen any evidence of this charge.

In practice, the vice president doesn't do much. So little, in fact, that Garzon had been nominated to be Colombia's ambassador in Brazil while still holding down the vice president job. Garzon unexpectedly rejected the ambassadorship.

Santos is almost sure to be reelected - barring an economic disaster or a collapse of the peace talks, which appears less likely with the addition this week of a representative of the FARC's powerful and drug-rich Southern Block to the negotiating table.

In polls, Santos is far ahead of other presidential candidates. However, he's way behind the 'blank' or 'empty vote', which scored more than 40% intention of vote in a recent poll. That's a bizarre situation considering that Santos has been pretty successful by most objective standards: the economy is strong and stable, Colombia's at peace with its neighbors, the peace negotiations are progressing and Santos has not had any major scandals, unlike two of his three predecessors. Political analysts seem to believe that the 'blank vote' is playing the role of 'undecideds' and that these people will choose candidates as the campaign progresses.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Springtime in Bogotá?

I took these pictures today not out in the countryside, but near the center of urban Bogotá - mostly on the grassy patches by Calle 26 and Carrera Septima, near Parque de la Independencia. Apparently, the recent rains have encouraged plants to flower. Just hope that the lawnmowers stay away awhile and allow passers-by to notice the flowers.

A mushroom peaks thru the grass in Parque de la Independencia.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Lady and Her Rooster

I often meet this woman in the Parque de la Independencia, where I walk my dog and she walks her rooster. The rooster is 3 years old and is named Gillo. She lives in an apartment, which is not the most comfortable home for a rooster, so the park is his opportunity to stretch his legs.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours