Landmines in Colombia
Cheap and lethal
Aug 27th 2009 | BOQUERÓN
From The Economist print edition
The FARC flouts the Ottawa treaty

A SINGLE footpath connects the tiny village of Boquerón, in Colombia’s Antioquia department, to the nearest town, but for more than four years few have dared tread it. Over that period 15 civilians, including three children, and 45 soldiers have been injured by scores of home-made landmines laid along some three miles (5.5 kilometres) of the trail by the leftist guerrillas of the FARC. Across 60% of Colombia’s municipal districts this gruesome story is repeated. Since 2000 more than 7,000 people have fallen victim to landmines, according to the Ministry of Defence. Most of them were planted by the FARC and some by a second guerrilla group or right-wing paramilitary gangs.
The problem is getting worse. In an intercepted e-mail, Alfonso Cano, the FARC’s commander, last year ordered his fighters to sow more mine fields to halt army offensives “since we know it’s the only factor that stops and intimidates them.” This is borne out by testimony from FARC deserters
Most of the victims are indeed soldiers. Half of the army’s battlefield injuries are caused by mines. Four years ago army doctors treated 15 landmine casualties each month; now that figure is 43. Many lose limbs. The mines are made cheaply from fertiliser, syringes and building materials and can be detonated by pressure devices such as tripwires, or by remote control using radio frequencies or mobile-phone signals. The FARC perfected their manufacture after receiving training from former members of the IRA, according to General Freddy Padilla, the armed forces’ commander.
Luis Fernando Garrido, a FARC deserter, says that the mines are not deliberately aimed at civilians. But he adds that mines will be planted on civilian footpaths or roads when these are used by troops. They are also used to protect coca crops from government eradicators. The army has set up six demining platoons, but these are not keeping pace with the problem. The government is considering contracting out some mine-clearing to civilian groups next year.
Colombia is a signatory to the Ottawa treaty banning landmines. In November it will host the treaty’s second review conference. But the FARC recognises no such moral and humanitarian constraints on its war against Colombia’s armed forces and its democracy. It is sowing Colombia with a lethal problem that will take decades to clear.



Minas quiebra pata en Colombia

BARATO Y LETAL

Las FARC desechan tratado de Ottawa

En un pequeño camino que conecta a la pequeña provincia de El Boquerón (Antioquia) con su población más cercana, han salido 15 civiles heridos, incluidos tres niños y 45 soldados también heridos por las minas quiebra pata de fabricación casera. Este es un problema que lleva 4 años pero en todo Colombia es algo que ocurre hace mucho tiempo.
Según el Ministerio de Defensa, desde el año 2000 hasta acá, mas de 7.000 personas han caído victimas de estas minas terrestres, las cuales han sido plantadas en su gran mayoría por las FARC o también han sido plantadas por grupos paramilitares.

El problema crece cada día más, ya que en un mail interceptado a Alfonso Cano, el comandante de la guerrilla, se evidencia la intención de plantar mas minas, ya que este es el único factor que detiene al ejército.

La mitad de las heridas causadas en la guerra en Colombia, son gracias a estas minas, las cuales son fabricadas con fertilizantes, jeringas y materiales de construcción. Las minas explotan por presión o por activación automática por medio de un celular.
El general de las fuerzas militares de Colombia, Freddy Padilla, afirma que las FARC perfeccionaron esta técnica después de que la banda terrorista española IRA entrenó a la guerrilla.

El congreso de Ottawa es el encargado de la prohibición de la plantación de este tipo de minas, pero mirando las cifras que muestran las fuerzas armadas y el gobierno, se podría decir que este letal problema va a poder ser erradicado pero en decadas.

Political will is scarcer than food

A national shame
Aug 27th 2009 | JOCOTÁN
From The Economist print edition



Not Africa, this is Guatemala
IT IS hardly one of Latin America’s poorest countries, but according to Unicef almost half of Guatemala’s children are chronically malnourished—the sixth-worst performance in the world. In parts of rural Guatemala, where the population is overwhelmingly of Mayan descent, the incidence of child malnutrition reaches 80%. A diet of little more than tortillas does permanent damage.
This chronic problem has become acute. Higher world prices for food have coincided with a recession-induced fall in money sent back from Guatemalans working in the United States (remittances equal 12% of Guatemala’s GDP). Drought in eastern Guatemala has made things worse still. Many families can scarcely afford beans, an important source of protein, and must sell eggs from their hens rather than feed them to their children.
The government and aid donors are providing emergency food supplies for 300,000 people scattered in some 700 villages. Up to 400,000 more may need help. In Jocotán, in the east, rehabilitation centres have admitted dozens of children who are so malnourished that their black hair has turned blond, their faces are chubby from fluid build-up as their organs fail, the veins in their legs become a visible black spider-web and their face muscles are too weak to smile.

What makes this even more distressing is that Guatemala is rich enough to prevent it. Other Latin American countries, such as Bolivia, Peru and Brazil, have reduced child hunger. Yet according to Unicef, the incidence of stunting—a common indicator of chronic malnutrition—in Guatemala is twice what it is in Haiti, where income per head is only a quarter as high. Stunting is not genetic: a study by the World Bank found that Mayans in southern Mexico are taller than those over the border.
That points to a failure of government in Guatemala. The Mayan population were the main victims of a long-running civil war between military dictatorships and left-wing guerrillas. Although democracy came, and eventually peace, social conditions have been slow to improve. Income inequality remains extreme, even by Latin American standards. Two-thirds of the rural population remains poor. Guatemala came second to bottom of a new index measuring inequality of opportunity in Latin America published by the World Bank last year. Whereas Guatemala City has shiny shopping malls, gated mansions and trendy restaurants, many indigenous Guatemalans scratch an inadequate living as sharecropping subsistence farmers. “These people were totally abandoned in the mountains with no infrastructure, no education, no health,” says Rafael Espada, the vice-president.
Much research shows that children who are undernourished tend to suffer from learning difficulties and end up poorer. So proper feeding is the first step in breaking the cycle of poverty. But schooling is vital too. Guatemala lags behind in educating girls in particular. As a result, mothers may not prepare corn-soya feeding supplements correctly, and may share them among all their children rather than favouring the malnourished.
The government fails to collect enough taxes from wealthier Guatemalans to provide good schools and health care for the majority, let alone the kind of targeted cash-transfer programme that has helped to cut poverty in Mexico, Brazil and elsewhere in the region. But urban Guatemalans are more worried about rampant crime, much of it by drug gangs. The government, like its predecessor, is full of good intentions. But several attempts at tax reform over the past decade have foundered in the face of entrenched political resistance. So malnutrition looks set to continue in a country in which it ought to be a cause of national shame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AWfeHCjEzo

Recomendado De la Feria del libro!

“El poder y El delirio” de Enrique Krauze

Este libro cuenta de forma ensayística la historia y la evolución del pueblo venezolano, planteándolo desde dos puntos que plantea el autor, primero hablando acerca de Hugo Chavéz , quién es éste personaje para su país, y según sus acciones por qué camino ha llevado a su pueblo y bajo qué regímenes. Lo explica a partir de crónicas entrevistas, análisis, reflexión histórica, entre otros.

Este libro se escogió ya que es un libro que analiza desde puntos de vista muy interesantes la política y la sociedad venezolana, lo que permite aclarar y dar hipótesis acerca del conflicto actual que se está desatando entre Venezuela y Colombia. Se convierte en una herramienta del ciudadano latinoamericano para comprender las ideas y en general al gobierno venezolano a través de los ojos de Hugo Chávez.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AWfeHCjEzo

THE ECONOMIST

Football and politics in Argentina
Hand of gold
Aug 13th 2009 | BUENOS AIRES
From The Economist print edition
Another government bail-out

BETWEEN them, Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernández, and her husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner, have nationalised their country’s post office, its airline and the private pension system. Now, it seems, it is the turn of football to come under the state’s aegis. This week the Argentine Football Association was poised to accept an offer of $154m from the state television channel for the rights to transmit this season’s matches. The association’s president, Julio Grondona, unilaterally ripped up a contract lasting until 2014 under which Torneos y Competencias (TyC), a private broadcaster and partner of the Clarín media group, paid $70m a year for the lion’s share of the broadcasting rights.
Nobody disputes that Argentine football is a mess. Many of the brightest Argentine stars play for much bigger salaries in Europe, so many clubs field teams made up of youths and veterans. Despite this transfer income, mismanagement and corruption mean that many of the clubs are shouldering big debts, including $8m in unpaid wages to players and $80m in taxes. That prompted Mr Grondona, who has ruled Argentine football with an iron hand for 30 years, to threaten to suspend indefinitely the new season’s kick-off, scheduled for August 14th
The Kirchners fared poorly in a legislative election in June. Ms Fernández’s government lost its majority in the lower house of Congress, while Mr Kirchner was humiliated by coming second in the election for deputies in Buenos Aires province. Opponents claim that the new television deal was crafted personally by Mr Kirchner to restore his political fortunes.
First, he would be seen as the saviour of the season, as well as the man who put football on free-to-air television (though cable, on which TyC is available, is widespread in Argentina). Second he would strike a blow against the Clarín group, whose newspaper has been critical of him. TyC’s president claims that Mr Kirchner persuaded Mr Grondona to switch the contract at a late-night meeting, and says he will sue the association. Officials later denied that the meeting took place.
Football and politics have rarely been far apart in Argentina. When the World Cup was held there in 1978, the country’s then military junta is alleged to have arranged to bribe an opposing team to ensure Argentina’s progress and eventual victory. To curry public favour, the junta also stooped to abolishing relegation when popular teams were threatened with demotion to a lower league.
Mauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires, built his reputation by successfully running Boca Juniors, one of the capital’s two big clubs. Such jobs are hotly contested, despite the clubs’ poor financial state. Buenos Aires is plastered with posters for rival candidates in an election for the presidency of River Plate, Boca’s big rival. Whoever wins may now command a bigger pot of television money—courtesy of the taxpayer.




Fútbol y política en Argentina
MANO DE ORO
La presidenta de Argentina, Cristina Fernández y su esposo y predecesor, Néstor Kirchner han nacionalizado el correo nacional, la aerolínea del país y el sistema privado de pensiones. Ahora parece que también van a nacionalizar el fútbol. Esta semana la Federación Argentina de Fútbol tuvo la propuesta por parte del canal estatal del gobierno de tener el derecho de transmitir los partidos de esta temporada por una suma de $154m. El presidente de la asociación, Julio Grondona, enterró el contrato que tenía con Torneos y Competencias (T y C), en el cual la empresa privada tenía el derecho de transmitir el fútbol argentino hasta el año 2014 por una suma de $70m.
Nadie discute que el fútbol Argentino es un desorden. Teniendo en cuenta que Argentina es un país que tiene transacciones multimillonarias por la calidad de jugadores que exportan a Europa, hay cifras que dicen que se deben cuantiosas sumas de dinero como $8m entre jugadores y $80m en impuestos. Lo anterior demuestra un alto grado de corrupción y malos manejos. Debido a esta situación, Grondona se vio forzado a suspender indefinidamente la temporada de fútbol que empezaba el 14 de Agosto.
Los Kirchner se han visto afectados en su popularidad y confianza en los últimos tiempos. Sus oponentes dicen la poderosa familia esta haciendo este trato de la televisión para que puedan volver a tener el poder económico y político que alguna vez tuvieron.
El fútbol y la política en Argentina nunca se han llevado de la mano, en el mundial de 1978 también hubo disputas. Se decía que una junta militar había presentado un soborno para que la selección Argentina ganara un partido clave para ellos y fuera fija la victoria. Para callar los rumores, la junta dio apoyos a los equipos de segunda división mas conocidos como equipos chicos.

Feria del Libro: El Arco del Conocimiento y Cultura Mundial.

Eran ya las seis y cuarto de la tarde cuando decidimos comprar los boletos para entrar a la feria del libro. Nos daba la bienvenida ese inmenso arco que decoraba la entrada. Al ingresar vimos a cientos de personas, no sólo estudiantes, sino a personas de todas las edades, queriendo conocer más a fondo de lo que el puño y la letra puede llegar a crear, desde graffities hasta el libro más técnico y complicado.
Llegamos primero a observar en el pabellón tres el stand de la universidad. Ofrecía libros para los estudiantes activos de La Sabana a precio de feria, y así mismo, resolvía dudas e invitaba a otros estudiantes a conocer de los servicios y oportunidades que ésta daba. El pabellón se dividía por stands, dónde en cada uno se mostraba la personalidad distintiva de cada institución o universidad, no sólo de Bogotá sino de ciertas regiones de Colombia. Después de nuestro recorrido de observación por acá , nos dirigimos a el pabellón número nueve, que aunque no pareciera atractivo a la vista por ser de la Panamericana, papelería común para la comunidad estudiantil bogotana, entramos y sorprendemente ofrecía grandes descuentos para los asistentes. Se encontraba desde el libro más pequeño que hablaba de despecho hasta los de matemática avanzada, ofrecía además papelería a un precio inigualable que no se encontraba en ninguna de las sucursales de Panamericana , precios que únicamente se conseguían allá. Con ganas de conocer algo que se ajustara más a nuestros gustos,acudimos al pabellón catorce, que a propósito estaba rodeado de actividades en su exterior. Rifaban premios a las personas que se acercaban, animadores vestidos de azul y de gran altura con sus piernas de palo llamaban la atención del público. Al entrar al pabellón el ambiente se mostraba creativo, en donde cada stand se destacaba por sus más bellas pinturas, graffities, diseños, caricaturas y creaciones que transmitian curiosidad ante el público que se mostraba expectante con el surgimiento las obras realizadas a partir del mismo público interesado. Lo que más nos llamó la atención fue el stand de los graffities, ya que no sólo se quedo en un arte callejero, sino en un arte que tiene igual valor que las demás creaciones, que es un arte que tbn se plasma en libros, mostrando las mejores obras. Hicimos algunas compras, un libro guía para dibujar las mejores Pin Up Girls y algunas calcomanías. Después de ya haber visitado algunos pabellones, antes de parar en nuestro último pabellón, hicimos una parada en el pabellón número cuatro , en donde se encontraba el invitado de honor México y por supuesto su cómida típica a la venta para los visitadores, que como nosotros querían además de degustar, llenar el estómago después de tan larga caminada. La entrada de este pabellón es distinta a las demás, al entrar se percibe un pequeño restaurante al mejor estilo mexicano y el olor a una buena comida. Después de comer tacos mexicanos y un gran postre de manzana, fuimos a la barra de corona donde hicimos un brindis con Jose Cuervo. Después pasamos por un extraño pasillo de la fama , en donde habían fotografías de gente común pero peculiar, que atrapaba la atención del público. Luego pasamos al pequeño stand donde se ponía a disposición el patrimonio escrito mexicano, en donde habían libros de toda calse, como arte universal, historia de México, animales en México, etc.
Ya faltando 15 para las 8 de la noche, nos apuramos a conocer el pabellón seis , que entre otras cosas constaba de varios stands que destacaban diferentes culturas colombianas e internacionales, como por ejemplo, la opita y la argentina. Sin embargo, nuestro mayor interés era conocer al stand de la Guajira, ya que el día anterior nos habían contado que había sido el día de la Guajira en la feria. Nos atendieron unas mujeres Wayuú con manta guajira y con caras sonrientes. El stand estaba decorado con dos chinchorros y varias mochilas, y por supuesto, poseía varios libros y detalles artesanales de la cultura Wayuú y su historia. Con este rápido viaje a la costa nos despedimos de tan entretenida pasada por la feria del libro, un mundo que a veces los jovenes ignoramos por tener una idea distinta de lo que pueden llegar a guardar estos valiosos libros y cultura colombiana.

Aug 6th 2009 | BOGOTÁ AND CARACAS From The Economist print edition

Álvaro Uribe tries to convince South America that the FARC is the real threat

WHEN Colombian officials revealed on July 26th that three Swedish anti-tank rocket launchers sold to Venezuela in 1988 had been found in a camp belonging to the FARC guerrillas, they expected their neighbours to share their outrage. Instead, the leaders of Brazil and Chile seemed to side with Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez in expressing unease over a pending deal that would give the United States use of several Colombian air and naval bases. Frustrated by the reaction, Álvaro Uribe, Colombia’s president, cut short a midyear holiday at one of his ranches for a lightning tour of seven South American countries (including Brazil and Chile). His aim is to persuade them that the real security threat in South America comes from drug-financed insurgents and their allies, not the United States.

The Colombian army found the anti-tank bazookas last year but Sweden only recently confirmed that it had sold them to the Venezuelan army. Colombian officials point out that the find seems to corroborate e-mails on computer equipment belonging to Raúl Reyes, a senior FARC leader killed when the Colombian army bombed his camp just over the Ecuadorean border in March last year. In messages dated January 2007, Iván Márquez, a guerrilla commander, writes that he met three Venezuelan officials who promised him “bazookas” and later says that he received “85 millimetre anti-tank rockets”.

Mr Chávez dismissed the e-mails as fabricated. He has insisted that his government does not protect the guerrillas. But the New York Times this week reported that more recent intercepted FARC communications obtained by unnamed intelligence sources pointed to continuing help from Venezuelan officials in procuring weapons for the guerrillas.

As so often when thrown on the defensive, Mr Chávez went on the attack. He recalled his ambassador in Bogotá—for the third time in 20 months. He threatened to block all trade between the two countries. This totalled $7.3 billion last year, of which $6 billion was Colombian exports. Venezuela relies on its neighbour for much of its food, as well as, believe it or not, natural gas. This week he ordered a halt to some car imports and vowed to find alternative suppliers for other Colombian products.

He also claimed that the bazookas had been stolen from a Venezuelan naval base in 1995, though provided no proof. He said that the plan to give American forces use of Colombian bases could unleash a war in South America, and that he would buy “several battalions of Russian tanks” in response. In the past he has said that claims that he is helping the FARC are designed to justify a military attack on Venezuela.

Both American and Colombian officials dismiss such arguments as absurd. They have been talking about the base agreement since February and expect to sign it later this month. Colombia is offering the Americans facilities at Palanquero, its main air-force base, and backup access to two others, to replace an American base at Manta in Ecuador whose lease was not renewed by Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s left-wing president. Manta was used by American AWACS for the surveillance of drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific.

But the agreement will also formalise facilities for the American trainers and surveillance planes that help Colombian forces in anti-drug actions under Plan Colombia. This potentially involves giving the Americans the use of parts of four further bases, two of them naval ports (see map). Colombian officials this week stressed that whereas Manta was an American base, they are merely offering the Americans facilities at Colombian bases. The agreement would not involve increasing the number of American personnel in the country (capped by law at 800 troops and 600 civilian contractors, although only 250 are currently there). Americans will not be allowed to engage in combat or launch operations from Colombia against a third country, they insist. “It’s a co-operation agreement against drug trafficking, terrorism and other crimes,” Jaime Bermúdez, Colombia’s foreign minister, said.

But diplomacy and public relations are not Colombian strong points. Talk of half-a-dozen American bases leaked into the Colombian media and alarmed several South American governments. Celso Amorim, Brazil’s foreign minister, said his country was worried about a strong American military presence “whose aim and capability seems to go well beyond what might be needed inside Colombia”. Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet called for the issue to be discussed at a meeting next week of the fledgling Union of South American Nations in Ecuador, whose president cut ties with Colombia after the raid on Reyes’ camp. Apparently fearing a diplomatic ambush, Mr Uribe said he would not attend, and set off on his regional tour.

Tensions in the northern Andes will persist. Mr Correa is angry at the recent leak of a captured video in which a FARC leader refers to a donation to his election campaign. Ecuador countered by releasing what purports to be Reyes’s diary, which implicates disgraced former aides of Mr Correa in accepting FARC money but not the president himself. (Colombia reckons the document is fabricated.) Until it gets active co-operation from all its neighbours in fighting the FARC and other drug traffickers, Colombia will conclude that it must rely on American support.