Wednesday, September 02, 2009

The displaced in Colombia

It is nice to see Time magazine examining the issue of the displaced in Colombia, which gets far too little attention in the mainstream media. The title of the article is perfect: "If Colombia is Winning Its War, Why the Fleeing?"


Last year, 380,000 Colombians were forced off their land amid fighting between rebels, paramilitaries and the army, a 24% increase from 2007's figure, according to the Bogotá-based human-rights group Codhes (the Spanish acronym for the Human Rights and Displacement Office). Colombian officials, in turn, put the number of displaced at 294,000 for just the first six months of last year. "It's the million-dollar question," Marie-Helene Verney, spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Colombia, says of the perplexing trend. "Something is going on."

The article did not mention another factor, namely the tens of thousands of Colombians fleeing into Ecuador. Overall, it is a humanitarian disaster.

Perhaps the Colombian government can use the same rationale as the U.S. does with regard to the drug war, where it claims that both increases and decreases of coca cultivation are signals of success. More displaced people means you're winning even more!

1 comments:

Defensores de Democracia 11:00 AM  

Mr Weeks :

Thanks for taking up this important subject ... Americans shouldn't be mesmerized by Afghanistan and Iraq as to forget the fire in their neighborhood.

Criminals are criminals, and murderers are murderers, The Guerrillas said that they were redeeming the poor, but they were actually exterminating them.

The Greatest Problem of Uribe now are the Paracos, the guerrillas or Mafia from the Right. Also criminals, murderers and terrorists.

I do not deny the existence of this problem of the displaced, I don't deny that there are still corrupted military personnel.

I do not think that the Government of Colombia is a model of Honesty and Decency. I do not like a third term for Mr Uribe.

These displaced people need help and should be helped. So the taxpayers money should be used.

But I also think that there is a natural phenomenon of attraction to big cities. And there is also a phenomenon of "Malicia Indígena", by which you say that you are displaced and you are granted some help. That may also be an escape from unemployment in these times of World Recession.

This illuminates another success of the Colombian Government and Economy.

With so many enemies inside and outside ( Venezuela, Ecuador ) Colombia is growing economically and providing some services for the poor, I have seen that with my own eyes : Health Care, Education, Building Schools and Hospitals, etc ...

Those Schools and Hospitals were built in the safest places and in the most organized cities. So it is natural that people flow to those places.

Please do not say that I am a Uribist or that I deny the existence of the diplaced, or that I think that the Armed Forces of Colombia are very pure.

But compared to Venezuela or Ecuador, the Colombian Nation is better organized in the matters of Politics, Free Speech, Private Initiative, Free Press, Democracy, Economy, etc .... without billions of dollars in oil revenues, Colombia struggles for survival surrounded by scoundrels and their ridiculous propaganda lies.

And Yes !! ... I am sure that the Colombian Army is improving in respect for Human Rights ! ...

It is very shameful for Latin America that the Unasur is so coward before these lies .... Despicable Cowardice of Nations begging for alms ....

It shows the backwardness of Latin America in Politics and Culture, that only the voice of a courageous man Mr Uribe is raised against Lies and Infamy.

Forget all dreams of Latin American Unity or Solidarity .... Latin America will be more and more divided with the passage of time.


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