Photo of Venezuelan flag in smoke by ··· Mango Verde con Sal ··· and used under a Creative Commons license.

The international and Venezuelan public opinion still wonders if Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's intentions of war are serious, while they explore the real possibilities of Venezuela getting into an armed conflict for which the nation does not seem prepared. Meanwhile, violent incidents along the border raise tensions and puts a veil on a situation, making it difficult for a reconciliation between the two countries anytime soon. However, the most expanded opinion in the blogosphere makes it clear that a war in ths region would be a conflict among people with a very close historical background and a very deep cultural attachment.

Daniel, through his blog Venezuela News and Views quotes a very controversial Venezuelan ex-president and gives his point of view:

… Translating this communique and publishing me puts me on record as someone that will not go to war against Colombia. If Colombia were to attack is a different matter but I would need proof of it since, courtesy to the FARC and even the ELN, Chavez could create a pretext to make it look like Colombia attacked.(…)

In other words, unless proven that indeed the US and Colombia are preparing an invasion to Venezuela, which odds for me are about <0.01% , I am in open refusal and thus a traitor by chavista canon. Not to mention that I am a pacifist, a conscience objector, and cannot justify any war unless overt aggression is clearly proved. And even then I would be unable to hold a gun and shoot, and would be of any use only at some hospital or such service(…)

Gandica, from the blog Enigma Press [es] gives an original idea:

Ahora bien esta es mi posición: Si estalla la guerra entre Venezuela-Colombia invito a la comunidad virtual de blogs de Venezuela a salir con la bandera colombiana. Y a toda la tribu electrónica colombiana a salir con la bandera de Venezuela. Y combatiremos -en esta guerra entre Venezuela y Colombia- a punta de balas de aguardiente y balas de ron en una zona temporal autónoma bajo los explosivos tonos del vallenato y nuestros joropos llaneros. Y después del combate, ebrios de felicidad, nos abrazaremos y reiremos como nunca antes. Que los políticos de Venezuela y Colombia y sus poderosos intereses y los perros de la guerra-Venezuela-Colombia se despedacen entre ellos.

Facebook has also been a tool to express the disapproval on this growing conflict. The group “Paz entre Colombia y Venezuela (Peace between Colombia and Venezuela)” looks for people online to join and discuss.

This is their main objective:

Este grupo no es para discutir si Chavez es bueno o malo o si Uribe hace las cosas bien o no, es solo para que, independientemente de la ideología política de cada uno de los miembros de este grupo nos unamos para RECHAZAR ROTUNDAMENTE UNA POSIBLE GUERRA ENTRE LOS PUEBLOS HERMANOS!.

Photo by Lozbot and used under a Creative Commons license

In Reticente [es], the blog of Juan David Escobar, he writes about that tradition that has been passed down by many generations:

Mis abuelas nos enseñaron que a eso de las 3pm, se debe parar la vida para comer algo caliente con parva, o lo que te encuentres, pero comer “algo”.

More often that not, this “something” is an arepa. On a cold afternoon, Escobar participated in the preparation of arepas of chócolo (soft corn), and which is something also discussed in other Colombian blogs. The Blog de Colombia [es] provides an explanation about the process to prepare the arepa:

La arepa es una de las comidas más típicas en Colombia. Para hacerlas, los ingredientes son muy básicos: harina de diferentes tipos de maíz, agua, aceite y sal. Luego está el relleno, que cada uno puede hacer de lo que quiera, pero la arepa pura es lo importante. Aunque todavía no se pongan de acuerdo sobre qué país es el originario, la arepa colombiana tiene su propia tradición y forma de elaboración.

The arepa of chócolo is made after threshing the corn, as indicated by the blog Recetas de Cocina, Colombia Turística [es]:

Se desgranan los chócolos, y se muelen. Debe quedar una masa suave. Se arman las arepas y se ponen a asar sobre una hoja de plátano, luego se voltean sobre una hoja nueva, hasta que queden bien asados por ambos lados.

The arepa of chócolo is accompanied with cheese [es]:

Si quiere puede hacer dos cosas con el queso: cortarlo en lajitas, cortar la arepa por el borde e introducir el queso en la mitad y asarlas de nuevo por un minuto o rallar el queso y mezclarlo, con la masa, antes de armarlas.

Blogger Carlos Múnera of the blog Somos Iguales [es] affirms:

Qué cosa más rica es ese binomio culinario de la arepa de chócolo* con quesito y mejor cuando se forma aquel triángulo amoroso a la llegada de un espumoso chocolate en leche. Sí señores, ah fríos que nos ha quitado ese trinomio de sabor. Ah tardes que nos han acompañado paralelo a una buena visita parviada*. Cuán sencillos y humanos nos sentimos cuando comemos del fruto de la tierra cocido al calor del fuego.

Photo by Juan David Escobar and used with permission.

Finally, Escobar of the blog El Reticente [es] concludes his post:

Mientras los ordenes económicos y de seguridad se mueven y la ciudad crece y se moderniza, todavía por aquí tenemos las tradiciones más clásicas, a pesar de que de las abuelas ni los huesos quedan.

However, Venezuelan authorities claim that the soccer players were paramilitaries, and these claims have added to the conflict between the countries. Besides the “incidents” already described above, Colombian intelligence officials or “spies” as the Venezuelan government refers to them, have been “captured” in Venezuelan territory, 8 “paramilitaries” were arrested in Táchira, two Venezuelan national guards were killed by gunmen on the border, and another was expelled [es] by the Colombian government. Colombia's intelligence agency even admitted that documents showed by Venezuelan Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami, seized from the “spies” captured in Maracay, were authentic [es].

Venezuela's government is upset for the agreement between United States and Colombia, which allows the former to use several military bases in the latter's territory, which has been presented as a “co-operation accord”. The pact was signed in early November, but it already has been the subject of an extraordinary UNASUR meeting past August to discuss the matter.

On November 8, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez told the Venezuelan military, on his weekly program Aló, Presidente that “the best way to avoid war is by preparing for it”. (see the video on the Adam Isacson post linked at the end of this post). Around 15,000 troops have already been sent to the border by Chávez. Colombia, which planned to send 12,000 troops, took the case to the Organization of American States and the United Nations, but the letter sent by the Colombian government did not ask for actions against Caracas.

Meanwhile, President Chávez softened his rhetoric, claiming his words had been “manipulated.” In addition, its Public Works minister, who is also the president of the Communications Commission, announced it will sanction [es] the media which “manipulate” Chávez's words. However, a few days later, the Venezuelan president again raised his tone against the Colombian government, blaming the U.S. base pact for his country's tensions with its neighbor. Chávez insulted the Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva by calling him“mentally retarded”, the Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez as being “disgraceful”, after Mr, Bermúdez “regretted” UNASUR's silence over Chávez's words. He also called President Álvaro Uribe Vélez by calling him“mafioso” and a “traitor” for delivering “the motherland to the yankees” [es]. Brazil, Spain, and even the United States have offered to mediate.

In the blog Atrabilioso [es], Jaime Restrepo writes:

Si hay algo repetitivo en el accionar de la dictadura venezolana es el lanzamiento de cortinas de humo. Los venezolanos están tan acostumbrados, ya vencidos por la fuerza de la repetición del mecanismo, que terminan aceptando los torpes montajes que elaboran desde Miraflores, para desviar la atención nacional e internacional.

La última cortina de humo es una ignominia: para tratar de ocultar el secuestro y ajusticiamiento de nueve colombianos en Venezuela, el dictador y su ministro del interior han armado un alboroto sobre la captura de tres presuntos funcionarios del DAS, que estarían haciendo “inteligencia” para “desestabilizar” al progresista de Miraflores.

Restrepo also criticizes the passiveness of the Colombian government. In another piece [es] published on the blog Atrabilioso, Eduardo Mackenzie writes about “Anti-Colombian pogroms” in Chavez's Venezuela:

Ese hecho y la matanza de los diez muchachos pone al orden del día un nuevo fenómeno: hay un ambiente de pogrom anticolombiano en Venezuela. Pues no sólo alguien los está asesinando sino que ahora algunos están perdiendo sus propiedades y huyendo de Venezuela. Es lo que le ocurrió a la pereirana Sonia Restrepo quien el 15 de mayo de 2009 tuvo que abandonar su fábrica de telas estampadas y huir de Guarenas, cerca de Caracas. Unas 40 personas armadas irrumpieron en su casa en nombre de un “círculo bolivariano” y la acusaron de ser una “extranjera explotadora”. Sin que ninguna autoridad la protegiera, ella perdió así la empresa que había construido durante 30 años.

Valentina Díaz, from the blog Realidades Colombianas [es] , slams Chávez and, without mentioning him by name, praises Brazilian president Lula:

El hecho de que solo hasta hace unos días Chávez haya descubierto la existencia de las teorías de Marx, socialismo comunista, no lo hace una novedad. Fueron escritas en el Siglo 19 (sic). Si no fueron capaces de sostener la revolución bolchevique a sangre y fuego en Rusia, guerra tras guerra, menos lo lograran en América un alocado y despistado mandatario latino. Obsérvese como en el Brasil su gobierno está introduciendo exitosamente lo “social”. Nadie evade a su gobernante, por el contrario, lo aplauden y le buscan para que contribuya a solucionar problemas de otros países. Es una persona que no se siente amenazado porque sabe que lo esta haciendo bien, nunca arremete ni inventa guerras con sus vecinos. Se trata de un señor, un estadista, que juzga observando primero el respeto a la dignidad humana de los pueblos, las instituciones y personas. La diferencia es muy grande y por eso al contrario de Chávez en Colombia se le quiere y aprecia.

In a subsequent piece, Valentina outspokenly criticizes [es] Chávez's war rhetoric:

Si quiere estrenar las armas que les compró a negociantes de la muerte, que las estrenen pero no con sangre colombiana ni gente inocente venezolana. Si Bolívar viviera hoy, habría sacado a Chávez a patadas del palacio de Moraflores.

However, Salomon [es] thinks that the Venezuelan president's warmongering has a “goal”:

El llamado a la guerra de Hugo Chavez Frias, solo es una medida de distracción a su verdadero objetivo: Controlar a Colombia, para expandir la influencia ideológica de su revolución, y para conseguirlo, está dispuesto a lo que sea, incluso a llevar a la guerra a dos pueblos hermanos.

Alejogalvis of Censurados: Cero [es] is “ashamed” of the Venezuelan president:

Eso de cerrar frontera cada vez que se le viene en gana deja ver la ridícula posición de este tipo, que en vez de buscar una solución, lo que intenta es enemistar a dos pueblos que se han criado de la mano, antes de la era Uribe ó de la era Chávez. Pena es lo que debería darle a Chávez que amenaza con guerra cuando su país está en pleno racionamiento de agua, luz y quién sabe qué otra plaga falta por caerle a ese país.

Blanca Rolón claims [es] Chávez is, unintentionally, helping to increase Uribe's popularity in Colombia:

1. No quiere a Uribe como presidente, pero le está haciendo la mejor campaña posible.
2. MERCOSUR está estudiando milimétricamente el ingreso de Venezuela a este organismo, pues Argentina y Paraguay no son tan retrógrados y ciegos como para no darse cuenta que Chávez no encaja por ser tan imprudente.
3. Si los organismos internacionales intervienen (OEA, ONU), pues Estados Unidos se mete en Venezuela acusándolo de auxiliar terroristas o algo así, y Colombia obviamente será su base militar.
4. El miedo de Venezuela a Estados Unidos tiene fundamento, ya que no sólo es por el petróleo, a lo mejor tiene cola de paja y, conociendo el modo de operar EE. UU., fácilmente lo acusará de peligroso para la paz de América, y más rápido lo va a invadir que como hizo con Irak.
5. Queremos a Estados Unidos fuera del dominio en América, pero con todo esto, lo que se logra es fortalecer su imperio y salvarlo de la crisis económica que tanto bien le hace en este momento a su industria militar un conflicto bélico.

Even political cartoon blogs from opposite sides, such as pro-Uribe Mamertoons [es] and anti-government Uribestiario [es], echo these opinions against a war with Venezuela.

But Plan Colombia and Beyond's Adam Isacson does not believe a war is likely, despite Chávez's rhetoric:

1. Both countries’ postures are defensive. […] Both sides are preparing to defend themselves from an attack by the other side – but neither appears to be planning an actual attack. Terms like “pre-emption” are not being used. Though each may be daring the other to make the first move, neither side is playing offense.

2. There is no definition of “victory.” It is hard to imagine a war scenario that either side can define as successful. Would Venezuela take over a few Colombian border towns? Would Colombia drop bombs on the presidential palace in Caracas? If so, then what? The scenarios themselves hardly make sense.

3. Both populations lack “war fever.” In neither Colombia nor Venezuela do we see people taking to the streets to call for war. Neither nation’s newspapers have been publishing editorials or columns demanding blood and sacrifice. There aren’t even any significant Facebook groups calling for a Colombo-Venezuelan conflict. […]

4. Much of this is about domestic politics. Both countries happen to be in a make-or-break election season.

Even so, Miguel Bernal criticizes the media coverage of the issue [es]:

Qué pereza los periódicos caldeando los ánimos. Estoy jarto de titulares tipo “Chávez le echó la madre a no se quién”

Incidents continue along the border, whose inhabitants are afraid “that the current tensions could escalate into a conflict with Venezuela.” On Thursday, November 19, three people were murdered in Arauca, near the border with Venezuela, while two civilian bridges were blown up by Venezuelan guards in Táchira, as Colombia's People's Ombudsman and Defense Minister denounced the incident [es]. The Venezuelan government claims that these bridges [es] were “hallways for contraband,” used by drug traffickers, paramilitaries, and smugglers. Colombian Defense Minister told local radio that Venezuela uses “imaginative excuses” [es] to justify the destruction of the bridges.

Ricardo Ladino had his say over this last incident [es]:

Yo también espero que los puentes de diciembre sean legales, de lo contrario Chávez nos acaba el día de las velitas y la navidad.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) should be used to support and encourage cultural diversity and to preserve and promote the language, distinct identities and traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples, nations and tribes in a manner which they determine best advances these goals. The evolution of the information and communication societies must be founded on the respect and promotion of the rights of Indigenous peoples, nations and tribes and our distinctive and diverse cultures, as outlined in international conventions. We have fundamental and collective rights to protect, preserve and strengthen our own languages, cultures and identities.

But can ICT truly preserve and protect distinct identities and culture? Does ICT by its very intervention introduce an element of westernization amidst the indigenous culture that it purports to preserve and protect? What is the optimum balance between preserving traditional knowledge and embracing remix culture? The cultural debate surrounding deployment of ICT in the field of indigenous/ knowledge and culture simply refuses to die down.

According to Mark Oppenneer, “the implementation of ICTs in service to indigenous peoples in development settings is a double-edged sword”, as both the critics and proponents of ICT4D have seemingly irreconcilable perspectives.

Questioning the cultural neutrality of the ICT medium, Charles Ess, in his paper “Questioning the Obvious? Ethical and Cultural Dimensions of CMC and ICTs” states that

[..]. Far from serving as value-free or morally-neutral tools, CMC (Computer mediated Communication) technologies themselves appear to embed and foster the cultural values and communicative preferences of their Western designers. As a first example: South Africa has attempted to establish Learning Centres intended to empower indigenous peoples by helping them take advantage of the multiple potentials and capacities of ICTs. A series of observers have noted, however, that these Centres repeatedly fail – in part, because of basic cultural conflicts. Briefly, the Centres reflect their designer’s Western emphasis on individual and silent learning – in contrast with indigenous preferences for learning in collaborative and often noisy, performative ways (Postma 2001). This conflict is also captured in Edward T. Hall’s distinction between high and low context cultures (1976). In this schema, contemporary societies such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Germanic countries show a preference for literate (i.e., textual), high content (but low context) information transfer – while societies such as Arabic cultures, indigenous peoples, and many Asian cultures prefer instead more oral, low content (but high context) modes of communication.

[…] Similarly, Western Group Support Systems (GSS) that favor anonymity as a feature intended to encourage open and direct communication proved disastrous in the Confucian cultures of South Asia, as this indeed succeeded in encouraging subordinates to make comments that were culturally interpreted – and condemned – as attacks on one’s “face” (Abdat and Pervan 2000). These and multiple other examples make clear that CMC technologies carry and further a specific set of cultural values and communicative preferences - ones that, far from being universally shared, are indeed limited to specific cultural domains.

Secondly, because these technologies thus clearly embed and foster specific cultural values and communicative preferences - the initial enthusiasm for these technologies inadvertently but powerfully only aids and abets a form of “computer-mediated colonization” that threatens to override diverse cultural values and communicative preferences with those defining the dominant economic and political powers of the West.

While Ess, worried about the medium defeating the intended purpose of preservation, calls for a more culturally-aware framework, others have pointed out that such concerns are not entirely correct.

In response to a query by David Sasaki, director of Global Voices' Rising Voices section, as to whether or not helping under-represented communities join the online global conversation inevitably leads to their westernization/Americanization,  Álvaro Ramírez and Diego Gomez, co-founders of the HiperBarrio project, spoke of the community adapting Western culture to their own needs, infusion of new knowledge and broadening horizons.

Citing the example of hip-hop music, Alvaro pointed out that for the community, while there was definitely some US influence, the issue was not so much Americanization as adapting something western to their own needs. So it was not only about getting influenced but exerting influence as well, giving birth to something new, new knowledge or culture. Diego noted that the project had also opened up other doors of communication beyond westernization.

I think that in this project especially they have been influenced not just by Americans they now begin to think about India, Dubai, and other cultures that they didn't know existed before. Or they didn't have much reference.

Projects such as the E-Bario project in Malaysia, Community project of the indigenous Ngalia and Badimaya people of Western Australia, the Alan - Gluban project in Taiwan are a few cases in point.

In the final analysis, as Mark Oppenneer points out

…the critics are right: misguided ICT4D implementation that doesn’t take into consideration a wide range of cultural factors and explicitly or implicitly imposes Western processes or structures upon indigenous recipients does constitute a new form of computer-mediated colonialism. And yes, the proponents of ICT4D are right: ICTs, when implemented thoughtfully and respectfully – keeping the needs of the recipients at the fore – can be powerful agents of change in the fight to reduce poverty and improve the lives of marginalized peoples in developing nations.

In his 2008 presentation, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - The Role of ICTs, Jesse Fidler listed various possibilities for ICT to actively engage the indigenous communities and realize their visions.

And as far as preserving the pristine, isolated local culture is concerned, Professor Amartya Sen perhaps summed it up best in his talk at the 3rd IDRC/ Harvard Forum on the future of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) when he said that there is “no such thing as ‘unaided culture”, or ”culture that exists in isolation”.

Photo of San Basilio de Palenque by Royale_With_Cheese and used under a Creative Commons license.

The blog Azadón de Palo [es] interviews M. Elena Salgado, a resident of the village and answers the question, “What is it like to live in San Basilio de Palenque?“

Es un lugar pequeño, donde todos nos conocemos. Somos generaciones de todas las familias, desde las primeras que se refugiaron en los Montes de María (así se llama la zona que rodea a San Basilio). Nuestras casas son humildes, hechas con material que nos da la naturaleza; tierra, bahareque, tapia y cemento a la vista. Nuestros techos son de palma y lata, que ayuda a refrescar y soportar el calor.

Musical group Las Alegres Ambulancias that hails from San Basilio de Palenque. Photo by Troskiller and used under a Creative Commons license.

In the homes, the sounds of Afro-Colombian resonate, and in which many sectors of society want to claim. The essence of that concept takes strength and it is in that way that the blog Colombian Passport [es] publishes the following paragraph about this history:

Lo que bien se sabe acerca de los colombianos negros es que son las personas descendientes de los que fueron traídos como mercancía, forzados por las compañías negreras europeas entre los siglos XV y XVIII a todo el territorio de las Américas.

Patricia Quintero Barrera of the blog Etnicográfica [es] writes:

La Afrocolombianidad o Identidad étnica Afrocolombiana es el conjunto de aportes y contribuciones, materiales y espirituales, desarrollados por los pueblos africanos y la población afrocolombiana en el proceso de construcción y desarrollo de nuestra Nación y las diversas esferas de la sociedad Colombiana. Son el conjunto de realidades, valores y sentimientos que están integrados en la cotidianidad individual y colectiva de todos nosotros y nosotras. La Afrocolombianidad es un patrimonio de cada colombiano(a), indistintamente del color de la piel o el lugar donde haya nacido.

Finally, on Asabbagh's channel on YouTube, there is the trailer of a documentary that shows what San Basilio de Palenque is like now, a community that was not declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in vain.

Photo of La Loma Library by Convergentes and used with permission. Click on photo to see a larger version of photo.

It is noteworthy that this library was created more than 50 years ago, as an initiative of the residents of La Loma, and throughout its service to the community it has offered classes in literature, painting, and music. The importance of its social role was described by Rezwan at the Rising Voices blog, who notes that that librarian's responsibility goes beyond the simple lending of books.

It is with those reasons that there were united voices of indignation surrounding the events that took place on October 13, which is described by @blueandtanit:

Ladrones robaron el equipo administrativo con información de La Loma, caja menor y El nica de Hiperbarrio en un asalto a la bpp de La Loma.

The director of Hiperbarrio, Álvaro Ramírez described his reaction upon hearing the news. He writes about the consequences of the robbery in his blog Ojo al Texto [es]:

Estoy un poco aturdido. Me concentro y trato de visualizar la modesta y hermosa Biblioteca de La Loma, sus estantes, las mesas y las sillas donde niños y grandes se sientan a diario a leer, a consultar libros, y a conversar.

Alcanzo a imaginar los computadores apagados y en la noche. Un par de intrusos llegan y logran penetrar por el techo. Entran con linternas y comienzan a sacar cosas

(…)

A la mañana siguiente llegan Gabriel Jaime y los otros empleados y encuentran el desastre. Un robo consumado. Un asalto a la comunidad de La Loma y un golpe duro para la Biblioteca Pública Piloto que ha venido dotando, con gran voluntad y paciencia a la filial más antigua de su extendida red de bibliotecas públicas: es decir gratuitas y abiertas para que todos podamos acceder a sus servicios.

(…)

Pienso en el daño que eso representa. En las personas que se van a perjudicar por no poder acceder gratis a los computadores.

Photo of La Loma library by blueandtanit and used under a Creative Commons license. Click on photo to see a larger version of the photo.

News of the robbery soon spread throughout different online networks, and the community also received notes from those who expressed their solidarity during the incident, showing that there is a strong network across the internet. For example, from Chile, Enzo Abbagliati sent a message of support on his blog Cadaunadas [es] after reading the post written by Ramírez:

Cadaunadas varias veces ha sido espacio para la alegría que desde una barriada de Medellín hemos recibido cotidianamente quienes creemos en las bibliotecas públicas como espacio de equidad y construcción de sociedades más democráticas. Reproduzco ahora una triste nota publicada por Álvaro Ramírez en ConVerGentes, quien desde el aturdimiento inicial nos avisa que han robado en la Biblioteca de La Loma. En Chile, en nuestras bibliotecas públicas, a veces sufrimos la misma suerte, la misma frustrante suerte.

¡Animo, amigos de La Loma! Sé que la comunidad estará con ustedes.

Locally, the Colombian digital magazine Equinoxio [es] became one of the first sites to publish news about the acts of vandalism and wrote about the efforts to investigate the crime:

El director de la biblioteca se reunió con las autoridades y con efectivos de la Policía Nacional a fin de coordinar esfuerzos para recuperar los bienes que se llevaron los asaltantes y capturar a los responsables.

Fortunately, the Golden Nicca prize was recovered, as it was found nearby, but the other objects remain missing. A member of Hiperbarrio, Catalina Urquijo of the blog $ujetate (Unknown II) [es] thanked those who sent messages through the different social networking sites:

Ofrecemos nuestros más sinceros agradecimientos a todos aquellos que nos acompañaron por diversos sitios de la red dándonos su apoyo tanto cuando creímos que nos habían robado el nica como ahora.

Finally, Libary Coordinator Gabriel Vanegas of the blog Esas Voces que Nos Llegan [es] summarizes the shock in which, as a public employee, he had to find out about the incident:

Duele ver la ignorancia de quienes perpetúan este delito contra el patrimonio de la comunidad, pero preocupa pensar en quienes dieron la orden de hacerlo y quienes sabiendo y viendo que se hacia no procedieron de manera correcta y oportuna ante las autoridades.

Sancocho is a traditional soup that can be found throughout Colombia and made with many ingredients. Festival organizers used the analogy of the soup to show how the week attracted many different individuals and organizations all contributing their own ideas to the event.

Photo of Festival workshop by Yuliana Paniagua of Convergentes and used with permission.

Cuba was the special invited guest, and representatives from the Festival of Cine Pobre [es] in Cuba spoke with admiration about the activities taking place in Colombia. There was also reflection on different topics, aesthetics, and creativity. Community and alternative groups also displayed their productions with the shared objective to create images that differ from those shown by traditional media. The festival's official blog [es] has additional information about the presenters, as well as the calendar of activities throughout the week.

The blog from Tal TV [es] writes that this community initiative was created from “the need to democratize the audiovisual culture in Colombia” and summarizes the philosophy behind the Festival that attracted participants from Colombia, as well as Spain, Cuba, and Argentina:

El festival Ojo al Sancocho, promueve nuevos realizadores y productores audiovisuales de Ciudad Bolívar, de Bogotá, de Colombia y de Latinoamérica, comprometidos con un audiovisual educativo-cultural, informativo y estimulante, que promuevan la identidad latinoamericana, pluriculturalidad y los valores de libertad, solidaridad, paz y justicia.

The blog Idealistas [es] writes about the background of the company Sueños Films Colombia, the event organizer:

Sueños Films ha editado alrededor de 40 documentales y 4 largometrajes, entre los que se encuentran “Corazón de Ciudad Bolívar” de Felipe Ávila, ganador del premio al Mejor Argumental Local 2008, emitido por Caracol Televisión, y “El Alma de los Sueños”, producido por los niños que integran los talleres de EKO, la escuela audiovisual de la fundación.

Participants in the Ojo al Sancocho festival took part in a wide variety of programming and were well-received by the residents of Ciudad Bolívar. After the final activity, the basic conclusion revolved around the need to construct a solid network in which all of the local initiatives that are being created converge in order to strengthen the audiovisual processes that are taking place around the country.

candy by Yomi955

In Colombia, people don't celebrate Valentine's day on February 14th, but instead, celebrate the whole month of September with the peak during the third weekend.  On these days not only romantic couples give each other presents, but friends also get together for drinks or to eat, and one of the most frequent ways to celebrate the month is through gift exchanges, quite common in workplaces and classrooms.

Juan Felipe Beltrán writes on his blog:

Es el mes donde las personas, amigos, parejas y enamorados se reúnen para pasar un mes de felicidad, alegría, armonía y vida. En algunas partes las personas juegan al amigo secreto, el juego trata al principio en que un monitor encargado del juego da una bolsita a cada persona y debe sacar un papelito, en ese papelito hay un nombre de una persona y nombre que te aparezca ese tu amigo secreto, a ninguno de tus amigos le puedes decir quién te tocó por que la gracia del juego es no revelar al amigo, porque si lo revela ya no será amigo secreto, entonces en cada día corresponde dar a tu amigo secreto algo, por ejemplo en un dia corresponde algo salado, el otro algo dulce, el otro algo ácido, el otro la broma y asi sucesivamente hasta que llegue el último dia que es el día del regalo especial. En Colombia es unos de los meses mas esperados y el más especial del año. [Ed. Note.- spelling corrected for clarity. ]

However, not many share this point of view regarding gift exchanges. Emmanuel Ariza writes about why he dislikes this celebration:

Aun hoy me atormentan las pesadillas de mis época de colegial, tener que comprarle un regalo a un “amigo secreto”, que por más que me esmerara, siempre iba a ser poca cosa para él. Todo para que a fin de cuentas, el pelafustán que tendría que darme el regalo a mí, diera cualquier bicoca comprada ahí de afán.

From youtube, creative online video collective Internautismo Crónico, has posted a video where one of their most famous characters, the Zarco (meaning someone with blue eyes), explains why he doesn't play secret friend anymore. The character of el Zarco represents many of the youth that live in marginal areas of the city of Medellin, and speaks with a specific slang called parlache. In the video, he explains his reasons for not playing secret friend.

The reasons El Zarco gives are the following:

• it is a comercial invention and as such, it requires money, which he doesn't have
• he gets picked by the laziest one who doesn't make an effort.
• effort is not rewarded, and gifts given are not similar in value
• picking out names from a bag and getting someone he dislikes is annoying
• getting IOUs instead of candy from lazy secret friends.
• not getting candy but having to give, and seeing everyone else get theirs.
• day of unveiling secret friends is annoying, people holler cat call and expect kissing and hugging.
• he is always single and depressed during love and friendship month but…
• if he  is not single, he has to split himself between friends, girlfriends and lovers.

At the end the Zarco proposes making this month a time to spend with friends and loved ones, taking the time to make peace with anyone with whom we don't get along very well, but not a time for these meaningless games… however, he admits that he will be playing this year again.

The game has taken an online tint as well. Secret Follower (or #FollowerSecreto) is the new method by which Colombian twitters are participating with their friends from the popular micro-blogging platform.  The methodology is explained in this page and through this tool, people can send their secret follower messages, and anyone can also check out their own present. Click on the menu button and select a twitter user to see the types of gifts they have received: phrases of friendship, images of cute animals or candy, videos, poems and more.

The small gifts are popularly called “endulzadas” which means “to sweeten”, and in this online version they consist of nice pictures to share, links to fun websites or to sites where they can download their specific present. One of the presents is the following example, a short video made with popular internet images:

So happy Month of Friendship and Love to all!

(Image by Yomi955 used according to Creative Commons attribution license)

Photo of Silleta Flower Display by Jota Estrada and used under a Creative Commons license.

The “silletas” are works of art created by the silleteros, and have become the defining symbol for the Festival of the Flowers [es]. During the last days of this event, close to 500 flower displays parade through the city on the shoulders of the silleteros, showing the color and size of these flowers cultivated by the peasants of Santa Elena, a municipality located one hour of travel time from the city of Medellín.

During the 2009 version of the Festival of the Flowers that took place from July 31 to August 9, people around the world followed along with the events through the official blog. On the blog, the festival administrators give the overall festival organization, events, attendance, security, and hotel occupancy high marks [es].

Photo of Silletero with flower display on his back by Felimartinez

However, festival organizers also recognized some things that can be improved upon [es], including some complaints about the high prices of admission for some tours, which were not well attended. There was also some disorder with the organization of some events:

Aunque las cifras entregadas hablan del éxito de la fiesta, este año la ‘mala nota’ la sacaron la noche de silleteros en Santa Elena y el desorden en el Desfile de Carros Antiguos.

Blogger Xady of Expresate [es] writes about the city traffic that was affected by the closing of the principal avenues in order to accommodate the thousands of residents of Medellín, other Colombians and foreign visitors who enjoyed the multitude of events:

Para realizar algunos eventos o en su defecto muchos eventos la alcaldía y la secretaría de tránsito optan por cerrar vías que son muy utilizadas por otras personas que no están en los eventos agendados, generando así una congestión vehicular o una aglomeración en el transporte público tal como el metro que es la vía más rápida cuando hay este tipo de problemas en las calles.

Aparte de todo esto, en el evento de arrieros, mulas y fondas suele suceder que hay demasiadas riñas y peleas y adivinen el motivo, las mujeres o simplemente el trago. Generando así una cara negativa de la feria de las flores.

Even with the things that went right and went wrong, the Festival of Flowers sought to unite the city through a tradition that started in 1957, after the peasants had been coming down to the city of Medellín with flowers on their back in order to sell them. Here are some highlights of the 2009 version of the Festival of Flowers produced by the festival organizers:

Fearing he would be cornered by his colleagues, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe managed for the meeting to be broadcast live on television. People from all over South America followed the event, and Colombians were not an exception. Those working in offices without television sets, but with internet access could watch the summit through several websites streaming the meeting, which lasted more than 6 hours (it was scheduled for 3).

Colombian twitterers followed and commented on the event, using the hashtag #unasur, as did their counterparts from other countries. As the event was going on, Uribe defended the military deal with the US while the other presidents debated it, the local twittosphere expressed their views, took positions, and made jokes as if they were watching a football match.

El Chiflamicas @elchiflamicas:

temas para #unasur el regreso de nubeluz. grántico, palmani, zum!

Jorge Ruiz @chandaxi:

¡MUY MADRE URIBE! Declare la guerra ya hdp y si es el caso vamos hasta por ese pedregal mal llamado malvinas, las falklands son Colombianas!

Miguel Olaya @juglardelzipa:

«imperio terrorista». ¡uribe y la revolución de las categorías políticas!

El Político @yosoyelpolitico:

Colombia es mi patria libre, democratica, soberana y pasional - yo tambien los soy y Unasur quiere privarnos y privarme de eso.

Andrea @ludovia:

me enferma Uribe, me enferma Chávez, me enferma Correa y están en el mismo salón!!! arrrg #unasur #masoquismo

Dustin Martínez @DuXtin:

Cuando dijeron que iba a hablar el presidente de Perú, por un momento imaginé que iba a ver a Fujimori.

Manolo Paez @ManoloPaez:

Hoy soy colombiano y peruano! Suramericano no!

Juan David Escobar @ElReticente:

En RCN, en el “banner” dicen en Ultima hora: “Colombia no aceptara verificación de #Unasur”. Los benditos traductores del sentir
nacional.

Daniel Villegas @Villegasrest:

Chavez, Correa y Ortega son el diablo, cada uno tiene 6 letras en el apellido, son el “666″. #Unasur

Manuel Gomez @manuelj:

Correa esta diciendo cosas muy interesantes, lastima que el colombiano promedio va a ignorar todo lo que diga por el odio que le tiene.

Lanark @donAlvar:

jajaja “yo respondo por mi periodo de gobierno” pues por eso, huevón, para siempre #unasur

Miguel Olaya @juglardelzipa:

«los nazis usaban brazalete. lafar usa brazalente. entonces lafar son nazis», dijo uribe en #unasur.

Carlos Correa Cano @kloscorrea:

¿Y será que con tanto tratado EEUU- Colombia a los colombianos nos van a empezar a tratar con dignidad en los aeropuertos gringos?

@Aldobello

¿cúal es la herramienta de medición de cultivos ilícitos que existe ahora en Colombia pero no en el 2002?…. pues Google maps!!! #unasur

Andrea @ludovia:

no entiendo, no hay intervencionismo bueno ni malo pero ¿chávez no se puede meter y estados unidos sí? ¿me perdí? #unasur

Die Goth @DieGoth74:

#freemediave Documento secreto de #Chavez contra #Uribe en #Unasur fue robado en operación comando de temibles cuarteles de Wikipedia

AsmodeoCastigado @Asmodeo_:

ESte pisco es un chiste total: RT @aabenedetti: El Presidente Uribe como siempre muy bien en UNASUR

Túrin @Turint:

Lula da clases de completa sensatez, me dan ganas de ser brasilero… bueno, tambien cuando juega la seleccion

Sebastián Restrepo @SebasRestrepo:

Hubieran puesto a leer a Bachelet, eso lo lee en 20 segundos.

@simonwilchesc

A qué horas se abren las líneas para que votemos en #unasur ????

Carlos Santamaría B. @Flakster:

#UNASUR fue TOCONUR (TOdos CONtra URibe), pero ni así pudieron….. Ja ja

Pablou @p4bl1t0:

hoy mas de uno aprendio que Surinam es un pais de suramerica xD #Unasur

Lina Artunduaga @LinaArtunduaga:

Que partida de nerdos somos, trinando 7 horas de una cumbre aburridísima!

When Bolivian President Evo Morales spoke at the meeting, several twitterers wrote racist comments, ridiculing his accent, the way he was talking or the fact he is an indigenous. @lncognito compiles [es] some of these tweets.

On the blogosphere, president Uribe's former press secretary Ricardo Galán tries to summarize the meeting [es]:

• La estrella de la jornada, Cristina Kirchner le arrebató el manejo de la cumbre al Rafael Correa, le bajó la temperatura al enfrentamiento verbal, le puso los puntos sobre las íes a Uribe y a Chavez y ejerció como buena anfitriona.
• Michelle Bachelet fue la otra estrella. Fue la única que le dio dimensión internacional y visión de largo plazo a su discurso. Los demás estaban más preocupados por hablarle a los habitantes de sus países que al resto del continente como bien lo dijo el Presidente Lula. (…)
• Uribe les manejó la cumbre de principio a fin. Dijo lo que quiso, cuando quiso y en el tono que quiso.

Journalist Jaime Restrepo agrees [es] with Galán that it was a victory for Uribe and a defeat for Chávez. He also complains about the uselessness of the UNASUR:

[S]i las decisiones de Unasur no son vinculantes, una de las quejas que presentó Alan García, los documentos pueden decir muchas cosas que, después de los encuentros, se convierten en letra muerta. Es más: mientras Chávez sea dictador, las decisiones de Unasur no serán vinculantes, pues al sátrapa no le interesa que el mundo conozca la verdadera naturaleza criminal de su régimen.

Finally, Marsares declares [es] Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the “winner” of the summit, and recognizes the Colombian diplomacy's “success” at neutering a “Chavista trap”, but claims that Uribe is still an obstacle for South American integration:

Es claro que la intervención de Lula los aterrizó, al punto que vieron lo que no habían querido ver antes. Que decisiones tomadas al calor de las emociones no sólo perjudican a los vecinos, sino también al propio país, pues Sudamérica es una red de vasos comunicantes, donde todos dependemos de todos. Así que la tarea a seguir, según lo predicado por Lula, es recomponer las maltrechas relaciones si es que se quiere, en un futuro que UNASUR sea una realidad y no un club en el que prime el diálogo de sordos.

In the first video, published with the post titled ConVerGentes Group celebrates its second anniversary [es], Catalina Restrepo, member of Hiperbarrio and blogger at Cosas del Alma [es] tells about how the project started and the problems faced by La Loma in Medellín, the neighborhood where they are located. Restrepo was recently awarded with the Talented Woman Award in the field of Social Development in her hometown.

Video I

In the second video, published under the title Gabriel Jaime Venegas: rescuing La Loma’s historic memory [es] features Gabriel, one of the pioneers of the project, who blogs at Esas Voces que Nos Llegan [es], who tells why recovering the neigborhood history is so important to them.

Video II

Jacinto Lajas, one of the members of Periodismo Ciudadano and the person who produced the videos shown above, is a self professed fan of Hiperbarrio project. Lajas describes why the project in Medellín was so appealing to their site and led to the production of the videos:

Since we started with PC (Periodismo Ciudadano), besides having friends there already (Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, etc.), our interest has been focused more in Latin America, which in the aspect of citizen journalism in Spanish is the logical area of interest, and where its development is more interesting at every level, because of the sociopolitical contexts from the different countries, among other things. Besides that, personally (and I guess everybody else) I’ve have always been interested about what was happening there (politically, socially…). At least, a lot of people of my generation in Spain were already interested in those themes during our own youth. Come on, we used to hear Quilapayún, Víctor Jara or Violeta Parra along with Deep Purple, Creedence (Clearwater Revival) or AC/DC, to make ourselves musically clear. :D

The first interest in Hiperbarrio came about through an article that dealt with the project as a way of taking young people to certain neighborhoods of Medellín, making the most of libraries, as an alternative to the way of weapons, something similar to computers vs. guns, to put it in simpler terms. And it was nice the touch of citizen journalism, where young people could document their own reality and thus be productive, instead of victims of a situation of deep-rooted violence, which always ends in the same way, crime and death. That was the part of the project that attracted me.

Then once I met them, my conviction about the huge injustices grew stronger. They were nice young people, intelligent, cultured, full of goals and dreams, with a lot of ability and with a lot to offer. Thanks to this path offered by Hiperbarrio, they are making it clear to the world what is happening in Colombia, as in other parts of Latin America and the world in general. It is not a problem of the people, but of those who lead people’s destiny without caring at all about the people. There are paths to fight against that sort of curse without deaths or bloody revolutions. Instead one can fight with their hearts and a free voice, in a peaceful and kind way (which now the Internet allows to spread further).

The complete series consists of five videos, two of them are posted at Periodismo Ciudadano [es], to watch the rest of them, you can do it here. Global Voices would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Hiperbarrio once more, who recently participated in Campus Party Bogotá 2009 with a workshop about videoblogging and who appeared days ago in a piece of news at the Colombian newspaper El Espectador.