Julián Ortega Martínez

Latest posts by Julián Ortega Martínez

Colombia: If Mubarak were Colombian

  11 February 2011

Around the time Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was scheduled to deliver his disappointing speech on February 10, 2011, the hashtag #siMubarakfueracolombiano ("If Mubarak were Colombian") started trending on the local twittosphere.

Colombia: British expat loves Bogotá

  7 February 2011

Vicki, a British journalist living in Colombia's capital, has posted her 101 reasons to love Bogotá, including “Streets are numbered, not named. You don’t need an A-Z,” “It is considered acceptable to love books,” “Sometimes people sell chocolate on the buses,” “New people don’t have to be drunk to talk...

Colombia: Twitterathon for School Children

  6 February 2011

February is back-to-school season in most of Colombia, and some Twitter users (who helped organize a “Twitterathon” last December to help the victims of the rainy season) joined to gather school supplies for 730 children [es] who study at Fundación Hogar San Mauricio [es] in Bogotá and Institución Educativa Luis...

Colombia: Twitter Solidarity with Victims of Rainy Season

  12 December 2010

Colombian Twitter users have joined to support the victims of this year's heavy rainy season, which has affected at least 1.5 million people. Twitteratón [es] started on December 8 as an event in Medellín [es] to collect donations for the victims, prompting similar events in other cities like Bogotá (12/...

Colombia: Mayor of Bogotá isolated amidst corruption allegations

  18 November 2010

Bogotá Mayor Samuel Moreno Rojas faced criticism even before taking office in 2008; as the mayor, he has been regarded mostly as an "incompetent" who "lacks leadership", and is routinely mocked with nicknames as "bobolitro" ("dumb"). In the last few weeks, a corruption scandal has added to this criticism.

Peru: Two Women Contend to Become Mayor of Lima

  3 October 2010

On Sunday October 3 regional and municipal elections will be held in all of Peru, and for the first time the top candidates in Lima are two women. But this does not mean that the campaign has been free of rumors, accusations, and scandals. Of course, bloggers have also been sharing their views and evaluating the candidates.

Colombia: Critical Views on the Bicentennial

  20 July 2010

The 200 years of the Colombian independence is the subject of posts by Jaime Restrepo on Atrabilioso [es], who criticizes the common stereotypes about Colombians and their urge to “get ahead”, and Rodrigo Sandoval on El Bayabuyiba [es], who writes about the lack of a real national project for the...

Colombia: Reactions to Presidential Elections from the Blogosphere

  2 June 2010

The Colombian blogosphere also reacted to the outcome of the presidential elections held on May 30, discussing why the Green party candidate, Antanas Mockus, lost to the candidate of the ruling coalition, Juan Manuel Santos. They also analyzed what is in store for the political atmosphere in Colombia after the June 20 run-off election.

Colombia: ‘Child Bomb’ Used to Attack Police Station

  8 April 2010

Gustavo Silva Cano provides his thoughts [es] about the death of 12-year-old Heriberto Grueso in El Charco (Nariño, southwestern Colombia), killed by a bomb he was carrying inside a package that an unknown person asked him to deliver apparently to the little town's police station.