Stories about Colombia from January, 2007
Colombia: Same-Sex Unions
Andres Duque of Blabbeando documents the various political paths that GLBT advocates and activists in Colombia are using to gain the rights of same-sex unions.
Colombia: Paramilitary Leader's PowerPoint Presentation
Héctor Mondragón on the failures of “Plan Colombia” and Adam Isacson on “the world's most evil PowerPoint presentation” which was used by top paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso when confessing to his past human-rights crimes two weeks ago.
Cuba: Praying for Fidel
It's unlikely that Cuban president Fidel Castro will be any less of a polarising figure in death than he's been over the course of his long and colourful political career. Since the announcement of his illness and the passing of power to his brother Raúl at the end of July...
Brazilian Blogs on Chávez, Lula and the Mercosur Summit
Presidents from most South American countries are gathered in Rio de Janeiro for a meeting of the Mercosur trading group, and Hugo Chavez is again the attention drawer. Local bloggers have been substantially posting about the Venezuelan president since he announced the move to cancel the broadcasting license to (TV...
Colombia: Paramilitary and Politics
Forum on Democracy has translated an Op-Ed by anthropologist Aldo Civico which “compares the collusion between politicians and paramilitaries in Colombia, to the Mafia-controlled government of Palermo in the 1970s.”
Jamaica, Colombia: Identity etc
In response to some questions posed to him in December, Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp writes an open letter recounting a visit to a Colombian restaurant in Florida with his (part-Colombian) family: “Of course, I’ve chosen to blog about it and this is one way about talking about your questions, which...
Colombia: A Dirty War Against Paramilitaries?
“In early December, shortly after President Álvaro Uribe confined most of Colombia's paramilitary leadership in a maximum-security prison, an article in El Tiempo, the country's most-circulated newspaper, contended that the paramilitaries had one ‘secret weapon’ left. If they felt they were getting a bad deal out of the negotiation process,...
Colombia: Creative Commons-licensed Music
Highlighting Colombian music released with Creative Commons licenses, Carolina Botero presents the album “Colombitis” [ES] by trio “Colombita.” Also mentioned are “Gaita Negra” and salsa group Calambuco whose songs can be heard on hi5.