The Helvetic Expedition and the Swiss in Colombia

Otto Fuhrmann and Eugene Mayor on expedition. 

In 1910, two Swiss scientists set off into what must to them have seemed one of the wildest and remote corners of the globe: the hinterland of Colombia.

From the expedition, sketches of a
Colombian fungus. 

The expedition lasted only five months, and the organisms the men studied - primarily fungus and other parasites - weren't particularly glamorous. But the expedition helped map out Colombia's tremendous biological diversity and created links between two very distand and different nations.

The Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango (BLAA) has an exhibition about the expedition as well as the Swiss presence in Colombia until the end of January.

'Voyage of Scientific Exploration in Colombia' by Fuhrmann and Mayor, published in 1914. Their trip also produced more than 30 scientific papers.

The two scientists, Otto Fuhrmann and Eugene Mayor, who hailed from the same university in the city of Neuchâtel, might have aborted their expedition before
they started when they discovered the ship they had boarded from Europe also carried 900 boxes of dynamite for Colombian gold mines. Fortunately, it was too late to abandon the ship, and the pair continued on to Colombia, where they landed at Barranquilla and proceeded up the Magdalen River and then proceeded on horse and mule back and by foot. Their work identified 1,279 species of plants and 647 animal species, more than 300 of which were new to science.

Scientist and expeditionist Eugene Mayor at work. 

Other prominent Swiss-Colombians include Ernst Röthlisberger, a history and philosophy professor who worked for the National University from 1881 to 1885 and would later write letters of recommendation for the expeditioners. If I understand correctly, Röthlisberger was the first person to climb one of the peaks of the Cocuy range.

But the first recorded Swiss citizen in what's now Colombia was the priest Jean Magnia, who came here in the 1720s on an evangelical mission.

The Colegio Helvetia, designed by
Swiss-Colombian architect
Viktor Schmid.

Probably the most famous Swiss-born person to play a role in Colombian history was the Swiss born architect Le Corbusier, altho he is more associated with France, where he lived and worked most of his life. Le Corbusier visited Bogotá in 1947 and drew up grand plans which would have meant flattening much of central Bogotá and replacing it with districts for residences, industry, recreation and others, but which fortunately were never carried out. Le Corbusier's ideas were incorporated into Ave. Caracas, which he envisioned as a shady, tree-lined avenue for families to stroll along. It hasn't turned out that way, altho the trees are still there. Rogelio Salmona, who emigrated from France to Colombia, where he became Colombia's most famous architect, studied with Le Corbusier after World War II.

Ernst Röthlisberger in old age. 

Another Swiss-Colombian architect was Viktor Schmid, who emigrated to Colombia in 1939 and settled in Bogotá, where he designed more than 100 buildings, including the Colegio Helvetia. Schmid is apparently the same Victor Smith, described in this El Tiempo article, who studied in Germany and fled the Nazis. Today, his son Urs is trying to preserve his father's works, many of which are falling into ruin.

Today, the 'Swiss community' in Colombia consists of more than 2,400 people, most of whom live in Bogotá. The Colegio Helvetia, which teaches in Spanish, French and German, is the world's largest Swiss high school outside of Switzerland, according to the BLAA's exhibition.

The La Candelaria building on Calle 11 in the
neighborhood of the same name, designed by Viktor Schmid.

"How small and montonous our own forests appear in relation to these immense, virgin jungles which cover the whole Magdalena Valley and which die at the river's edge!" Mayor and Fuhrman.

The Expedition might be almost forgotten today, but for the work of Alberto Gómez Gutiérrez, a graduate of the Colegio Helvetia, and Michel Schlup, a one-time teacher there, who located the Swiss expeditionaries' Memoires in a library in Neuchâtel and translated and published the work.

Inauguration of the clock in the Parque Nacional
donated by Bogotá's Swiss community in 1938.

The Swiss-donated clock in the Parque Nacional today.
Despite a restoration and repair in 1908, it doesn't work. 

In 1922, the Swiss helped Colombia and Venezuela resolve a border dispute. 

Ave. Caracas's design was inspired by Le Corbusier. But is isn't the pedestrian way which the Swiss-French architect envisioned.

The Swiss-Colombia Friendship Treaty, signed in 1908. In 2011, the two nations signed a free trade agreement. 

'The Golden On.' On the right, a long-ago view of the Plaza del Chorro de Quevedo.

Preserved fern leaves. 

A Swiss engineer designed both the funicular and
the cable car to Monserrate. 

A cable car climbs up toward Monserrate church.

Joseph Eberhard (which one is he?), who visited Colombia's indigenous people and collected plant samples and indigenous remedies for study back home. 

The route of Otto Fuhrmann and Eugene Mayor thru Colombia. 

On the road between Medellin and Igaguí.

In Antioquia. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

What Did(n't) Petro Do?

No fans of Mayor Petro. Bullfighters train in Bogotá's Santamaria Plaza.

Mayor Gustavo Petro didn't allow bullfights in the Plaza Santamaria. Unfortunately, however, the handsome, historic stadium has not been used for cultural or other events recently.

Pro-Petro, anti-bullfighting posters.

SITP buses wait for passengers in the Los Martires district.

Petro introduced the Integrated Public Transport System, or SITP, meant to replace the old, chaotic, polluting private buses.

A SITP bus with one passenger inside.

But the SITP buses carry few passengers, and often pollute.

And traffic jams and traffic chaos continues.

Petro talked about creating a congestion charge, which is the only realistic solution to Bogotá's traffic mess. But the city has paid for one study after another, while only readjusting the failed Pico y Placa.

A trash pile in the Parque Nacional in Bogotá.

Petro got himself ousted from office by a mishandled effort to transfer trash collection from private companies to public ones. But the city's trash situation hasn't improved. And recycling is still mostly fantasy.

While under Petro the city promoted recycling, which was unfortunately unrealistic and hasn't happened, Petro's administration didn't impose proven, common sense solid waste policies such as a bottle deposit or taxing plastic bags.

A cyclist rides on the Ave. Septima bike lane.

Petro shut down Ave. Septima during the daytime, and added a bike lane. He won the gratitude of cyclists, but shop owners complain.

Cyclists and bike advocacy posters.

Under Petro, the city also carried out campaigns promoting bicycling.

Bicyclists and cars on Ave. Caracas.

But cyclists still have to battle cars on chaotic, congested avenues.

A horsecart clops along Ave. Decima.

Petro banned horsecarts from Bogotá's streets - a victory for animal rights activists, but a defeat for the low-income families which depended on the carts.

A truck belches smoke on Ave. Septima, in front of the Ministry of the Environment.

Air pollution continues uncontrolled. Apparently, clean air isn't part of Bogotá Humana, the mayor's slogan.

Can you see the city? Morning smog over Bogotá.

Pro-Petro campers on Plaza Bolivar.

ARe you sure? Petro is Change,' says a demonstrator on Plaza Bolivar. 

Bogotá government poster promoting disarmament.

Petro has prohibited the possession of weapons. Homicides have declined, altho it's not certain that's the reason why.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Mining's Curse

An anti-mining mural by Toxicomano on 26th Street in Bogotá. The text says 'Water is worth more than gold.' 

The misbehavior of Drummond Coal company has made headlines in recent weeks. The United States-based coal miner and exporter was fined recently for spilling coal into Santa Marta Bay, and now has been forced to stop exports because of its failure to replace its barges with a direct loading system, despite having been ordered to do so years ago.

Colombian coal production has boomed in
recent years as security has improved.
Nearly all of Colombia's coal is exported. 

Today's El Tiempo reports more government allegations against Drummond, including that it extended a pier without a permit and used higher-capacity barges than it had reported. If those and other charges are confirmed, Drummond could be subject to more big fines.

Drummond has helped make Colombia the world's fourth-largest coal exporter, but left a trail of controversy. The company has also been sued for allegedly collaborating with right-wing paramilitary groups to repress and even murder union leaders. Drummond denies the accusations. Pres. Juan Manuel Santos calls mining one of the 'locomotives' of Colombia's economy, and mining pours huge sums into the economy - but at a great social and environmental cost.

An exhibition in the Claustro de San Agustin paints a dire picture of mining's impacts on

El Cerrejon coal mine. 

Colombia's environment and indigenous people. Controls on the industry are weak, according to the exhibition, and much of Colombia's mining is carried out in highly biodiverse regions and even in 'protected' areas. Unlike many other mining nations, Colombia does not require environmental impact studies for mineral exploration, but only for actual exploitation. And the country has only 15 government inspectors to oversee 6,000 mines.

Ironically, the requirement that mining companies replace their barge loading systems with direct loading systems such as conveyor belts will produce different environmental impacts if the transport ships must approach the shore, requiring dredging of the seafloor.

Black stain in Santa Marta Bay, apparently
from coal exporting. (Image: Alejandro Arias)

Today, the Contraloria released its second report about mining, titled 'Mining in Colombia: Institutionality and Territory,' which found that in many cases mining licenses are granted without sufficient requirements to restore the area, and that licenses are often granted without considering the environmental and social impacts of the projects. The government also does not consider the often violent conflicts generated by mining projects, which are usually located in regions with weak government presence. And those areas with the most mining are usually the poorest with the lowest quality of life, according to the Contraloria's report. That is in part due to mining's negative health impacts and to the low salaries of mining jobs.

This week, neighbors spotted a black stain in the waters near Santa Marta, apparently caused by coal. Drummond said that it didn't cause the pollution, which may come from another company washing off its coal loading equipment.

Coincidentally, a United Nations report released today also found that coal mining in Cesar Department has actually increased poverty in the region, as well as drug addiction and prostitution by young women.

(Images below are from the exhibition in the Claustro de San Agustin)

Foreign mining companies working in Colombia. With five major mines, Canadian companies dominate Colombian mining. There are also two South African-owned mines and one owned by the United States-based Drummond Coal.

Colombia has only 15 inspectors for its 6,000 mines. And Colombia does not require environmental licenses for exploratory work for minerals. 

In several Colombian departments, illegal mines far outnumber legal ones. 

Pres. Alvaro Uribe gave mining companies huge tax benefits and removed restrictions on their expansion. 

More than 200 mining licenses are partly or completely within indigenous territories. 

Many 'protected areas' have mines or proposed mines within their borders.

'Many foreign companies use mining methods which are banned in their home countrties.'

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Leftism Done Right

Uruguay's José Mujica, a real leader.

During recent years, leftists have come to power across much of Latin America. They include the centrist, pragmatic rulers of Chile, Peru and Brazil. And also the populists, including the leaders of Ecuador, Venezuela, Argentina and Nicaragua, who seem more interested in concentrating power, suppressing opposition and perpetuating themselves in power than making real policy changes.

And then there's  of Uruguay's Pres. Jose Mujica.

While Hugo Chavez and other populists boasted about 'revolution', but did little more than grabbing more power, Mujica has actually accomplished things. He's legalized abortion, created the hemisphere's most progressive marijuana policy and approved same-sex marriage. In contrast, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega - an ex-guerrilla leader like Mujica - actually banned abortion in all cases in order to buy the support of the Catholic Church.

It all makes one ask whether the power-hungry populists of Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua are really leftists at all - or only what they appear to be - power-hungy populists.

Mujica, in contrast, is a breath of fresh air. Agree with him or not, give him credit for accomplishing

Hugo Chavez: leftist, or just a bully?

things. While some other 'leftists' buy themselves private jets and live like kings, Mujica drives an old car and lives on his small farm outside of Montevideo. Mujica also rejects the idea of reelection (altho, at age 78, that's a limited option for him, in any case), while other self-proclaimed 'leftist' leaders perpetuate themselves in power. Mujica, incidently, also has lots of character. During Uruguay's dictatorship, Mujica was shot by police and imprisoned for 14 years, including two years at the bottom of a well, where he talked to insects to maintain his sanity. Yet, like Nelson Mandela, Mujica has not given in to bitterness.

I can't leave out Bogotá's own Mayor Gustavo Petro, who it seems to me has accomplished little relative to what he might have, while generating so much controversy that he's getting himself kicked out of office. Petro obviously lacks Mujica's political acumen.

For a person like myself, who considers himself a leftist, the behavior of many 'leftist' leaders has been a great embarrasment.

So, Mujica, with his humility, sincerity and willingness to to take real actions, is a huge relief.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Goodbye to Petro

'Petro is change, we are all Petro,' says a pro-Petro demonstrator on Plaza Bolivar this afternoon. 

Today, to nobody's surprise, Procurador Ordoñez rejected Mayor Petro's third and final appeal against Ordoñez's own order ousting Petro for mismanaging the reorganization of the city's garbage collection service last year. 

Petro's avenue of appeal against Ordoñez's ruling - which many consider overly severe - was straight back to Ordoñez's office. While Petro, an ex-leader of the M-19 guerrillas, is a leftist, it just so happens that Ordoñez is extremely conservative, making many of us suspicious of Ordoñez's motives. Still, of the approximately 1,000 officials whom Ordoñez has investigated and unseated, many have been conservative. 

Now, Petro has only two, very frail, hopes. One is that Pres. Santos will delay signing the procurador's order. This is uncharted legal territory, but the attorney general recently opined that the president is not obligated to sign the order. And Santos does have a motive for wanting Petro to remain in office, since his ouster would deal a blow to the ongoing government-FARC peace talks going on in Havana, Cuba. 

'Petro stays,'

Petro's other, even slighter hope, is in the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, to which the mayor appealed for support. But even if the commission rules that Petro's rights were violated, Colombia is not obligated to obey the order, altho it usually has in the past. 

But if nothing unexpected happens, Petro will stay in office until the end of January, when Santos is supposed to appoint a temporary mayor. A special election for a new mayor is to be held in a few months.

A steel barrier and riot police protected the Procurador's building this afternoon.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours