Stories about Colombia from March, 2011
Colombia: Indigenous Communities Protect their Food Security
Indigenous communities in Colombia are taking steps to protect their food security. Not only are they educating their communities to eat what they grow on their vegetable gardens instead of buying expensive food brought from outside but they are also protesting new laws and regulations limiting their access to milk.
Colombia: The Lady of Colombian Television Dies
The blog Portal Vallenato reviews the death [es] of Gloria Valencia de Castaño [es] (1927 – 2011) from respiratory failure on March 24. Valencia pioneered radio and television projects in Colombia. She was known as “the lady of Colombian television” and as a major figure (as host, image and voice...
Colombia: Fractal, a Sci-Fi event in Medellín
Juan Diego Gómez posts in his blog about Fractal'11, an event about fiction, art, science and technology that will take place in Medellín, Colombia, on April 8-9, 2011. Juan Diego introduces [es] some of the speakers: awarded Science Fiction writer Kij Johnson (@kijjohnson), cyborg anthropologist Amber Case (@caseorganic), researcher Johanna...
Colombia: Controversy Over Photos of Minors Published by Adult Magazine
An article, titled "Let the children come to me" (referencing Mark 10:14), which includes photos from an exhibition by photographer Mauricio Vélez depicting staged scenes of nude underage boys (or models pretending to be minors) being watched by actors dressed as Catholic priests has caused controversy both offline and online.
Spanish-Speaking Bloggers React to Earthquake in Japan
The 8.9 magnitude earthquake which shook Japan on March 11th has provoked reactions from Spanish-speaking bloggers from all over the world. After reviewing news of various disasters around the world and most recently in Japan, the question which arises is: faced with a disaster, would you abandon your home?
Colombia: Columnist Threatens to Sue Twitter User for Slander
Political website La Silla Vacía summarizes [es] the online fight between columnist Ernesto Yamhure (@eyamhure), a staunch supporter of former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez, and Twitter user Nicolás González (@nicoagonzalez). González criticized Yamhure's latest op-ed [es] where he mentions a character played by late comedian Jaime Garzón, claiming [es] the...
Colombia: A Medellín Rapper on Colombian Hip Hop
Albeiro Rodas writes about hip hop in Colombia: “In the last decade, Colombian hip hop is developing among young people of the poor barrios as a way of expression. I met Mcleoud, a Medellín rapper who talked to me about this music culture in the country.”
Racism in Latin America
During the International Year for People of African Descent -as declared by the United Nations- a video from Chile and another from Colombia spread through social networks show cases of racism in Latin America.
Colombia: Celebrating International Woman's Day
In Colombia, the celebration of International Women's Day has become a tradition, and it is reflected online with netizens sharing different perspectives through websites, Twitter and blogs.
Colombia: The earth shook to show people that Necoclí exists
On the 2nd of March 2011, a tremor measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale was felt in the department of Antioquia and part of northern Colombia. The epicentre of this shock was in the Necoclí municipality (located in Antioquia) and although there were no victims, an ex traordinary fact – as well as the quake itself – that emerged through Twitter was the ignorance of some to the existence of Necoclí.
Colombia: High School Students Speak About Sexual Diversity
In Colombia, the government of Medellin has started a campaign to raise awareness on sexual diversity in high schools, and part of the campaign includes online videos of different students speaking about their experience
Latin America, Caribbean: Increase in Food Prices
Bloggings by Boz writes: “The FAO reports that February 2011 was a yet a new high on food prices. This has led to several warnings from organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean including ECLAC [Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean] and the IICA [Inter-American Institute for Cooperation...
