Mike's Bogota Blog

The Walkable Seventh Ave.

2012-02-25T18:48:00.000-08:00

Cars stay out: Seventh Ave. at 19th Street.

Seventh Ave. showed off its new look today as a calm, walkable, breathable street, which remains a transit corridor, even if some people will deny that.

Only 152 days left!

The long-delayed demolition of Seventh Ave.'s bridge over 26th St. was done today as part of the two new TransMilenio lines being built on 10 Ave and 26th St. This is one of the last, but also the longest and most difficult steps in the troubled expansion project, which originally was supposed to be finished in 2010. City officials say that building a new and presumably better bridge will take five months - and we all know how accurate their previous projections have been.

This couple with a bicycle and a baby
carriage found a clear path on Seventh Ave.

But Mayor Gustavo Petro is using the demolition of this major bridge to experiment in 'humanistic' transit planning, by pedestrianizing a stretch of Seventh Ave. Today, the blocks between 19th and 26th Streets and beyond were off limits to almost all motor vehicles. The stretch of Seventh Ave. between Plaza Bolivar and 19th St. will follow, Petro has said. This is a sort of test for a possible permanent pedestrianization of central Bogotá, Petro says.

'Enjoy this new pedestrian
space...Give up hurrying.'

The pedestrianization is opposed by many retailers, including the National Federation of Retailers, FENALCO. Retailers are concerned that fewer shoppers will venture downtown and that the closed street will be invaded by pickpockets and illegal, informal vendors. But in some other cities pedestrianization has helped retailers, by making shopping safer and more pleasant.

The city has already drawn a bike lane down the center of Seventh Ave.

Lots of cops keeping order and keeping street vendors away. But will they stay?

But this cyclist wasn't using it...

The only motorized vehicles on this stretch of Seventh were these TransMilenio shuttles. A good idea.

26th St., seen from 10th Ave.

The chasm at 26th St.

...and the remains of the bridge.

The city built this nice pedestrian bridge detouring around the demolished bridge.

The city is roofing over 26th St., which will expand Parque de la Independencia and connect it to the Museum of Modern Art.

North of 26th St., pedestrians ruled, too.

On 10 Ave., the TransMilenio work has advanced. Hopefully, they won't wait for the bridge to get it operating.

As always, the chess players were doing their thing.

The usual vendors are still around.

Playing foot volleyball in the middle of Seventh Ave.

19th St. Crowded and chaotic.

The sidewalk south of 19th St. was busier and crowded with the usual vendors.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Septimazo Returns - Briefly

2012-02-24T19:24:00.001-08:00

A street performer dances with a mannequin in the middle of Seventh Ave. this afternoon.

This evening I walked onto Seventh Ave. near Jimenez and, for a few brief moments, it seemed as tho the much-missed Septimazo had returned.

El Septimazo was a tradition in which the stretch of Seventh Ave. between Plaza Bolivar and 19th St. was shut to cars Friday afternoons from 5 to 9 p.m. to make way for pedestrians, street vendors and performers.

Hare Krishnas dance down Seventh.

But the previous City Hall administration cancelled El Septimazo, with no public explanation. However, the practice of shutting down part of one of downtown's principal arteries had been criticized by car drivers and some retailers, who objected to the competition from informal street vendors, who pay no rent or taxes. There were also concerns about crime.

Amidst its real problems, El Septimazo was also a real celebration of socializing, music and street games.

Alas, today's 'Septimazo' turned out to be only a temporary closing caused by a protest against police brutality. After negotiations, the protesters agreed to demonstrate on the sidewalk.

Soldiers make sure nothing goes wrong.

New Mayor Gustavo Petro has talked about bringing back El Septimazo, and I hope that he does it. In any case, Seventh Ave. will be pedestrianized beginning tomorrow because of the demolishing of the bridge over 26th St. for TransMilenio expansion work. Officials say that replacing it will take five months. We'll see how that goes.

A cyclist on Seventh Ave.

During the bridgeless period, Mayor Petro says that the stretch of Seventh Ave. between Plaza Bolivar and 26th St. will be progressively pedestrianized. That will be an interesting experiment. The city has promised to prevent the avenue from being invaded by informal vendors, who take sales away from stores but pay no rent or taxes.

Without El Septimazo, the vendors and performers generally do their thing on the sidewalks.

Hats for sale on a Seventh Ave. sidewalk.

Want your portrait sketched?

And then the cars reinvaded.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Protesting Police Brutality

2012-02-24T18:55:00.000-08:00

A poster for memorializing a student alleged killed by police nearby on Seventh Ave. in 2006,

A group of young people protested alleged police brutality this afternoon on Seventh Ave.

A plaque on Seventh Ave.
commemorates a youth
during a demonstration.

While police brutality has certainly occurred, I've also seen many examples of police being rather restained in the face of threatening and even violent protesters. (Protest scenes here, here and see what they did to the police here.) However, those incidents happened here in Bogotá, where lots of eyes are watching.

The protesters deserve respect and admiration. However, their focus on the official state forces also troubles me. Colombia's government has committed crimes - and acknowledged them. But, for the nation's left-wing guerrillas, commit crimes against humanity is often their modus operandi, and leftist groups turn a blind eye to that.

The government allowed this group to protest on Seventh Ave., just a few blocks from the capitol. That doesn't sound like a terrorist state to me.

Protesters making posters on Seventh Ave. They asked me to hide their faces.

'The state is the terrorist.' Well, Colombia's government certainly has committed human rights crimes - and acknowledged them, at least sometimes, and paid compensation to victims. But the country's violent leftist guerrilla groups the FARC and ELN make violence their way of life, and almost never apologize for it.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Suffering Wetlands

2012-02-24T17:12:00.000-08:00

Kids look over a Bogotá wetlands.
(Photo from: Maomolina)

Hard as it is to believe for those of us living amidst Bogotá's concrete and asphalt, the savannah where Colombia's capital is located was once a wetlands area. Back then, the rivers which ran down from the city's Eastern Hills spread out and washed over the plains. Today, almost all of those rivers are polluted and in pipelines.

Locations of nine of Bogotá's wetlands,
or 'humedales' in Spanish.
(Map from Wikipedia.)

The wetlands are one reason why the tombs in Bogotá's Central Cemetery and other cemeteries are placed mostly above ground.

Cleaning up the crude in a Bogotá canal. (Photo: El Tiempo)

But Bogotá's wetlands have suffered tremendously from their city surroundings, including from paving, pesticide and chemical run-off and even their use as trash dumps. In many areas, the organic wastes flowing into the marshes have nourished exotic weeds, which choke off native plants and animals. And, yesterday, more than 2,500 gallons of crude oil spilled into a canal leading to a wetland area in north Bogotá, altho authorities reported blocking and collecting most of that crude.

A Canadian plover,
which visit Bogotá's wetlands.

Chestnut heron.

In the 1950s, Bogotá still had 50,000 hectares of wetlands, which has plummeted to roughtly 500 hectares today. Nevertheless, the city still has between nine and thirteen major wetlands, altho some are in bad shape. I once spent a day with volunteers pulling sacks of garbage out of a wetlands area near Parque La Florida just west of Bogotá. The quantity and variety of trash we pulled out - including several objects we couldn't identify - was astonishing.

Yet, despite it all, the wetlands still harbor bird, rodent and plant species - including providing habitat for some birds which migrate as far north as Alaska. The wetlands also serve as natural filters for wastewater and reservoirs which reduce flooding.

The Santa Maria wetland. (Wikipedia.)

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

El Caguan: Ten Years On

2012-02-22T19:07:00.001-08:00

Jan. 1999, Pres. Andrés Pastrana waits in vain for FARC leader Manuel Marulanda to occupy his seat.

Ten years ago, Colombia's most ambitious experiment in peacemaking ended in failure.

The FARC's territory:
larger than Switzerland.

In early 1999, Pres. Andres Pastrana had demilitarized a region in Southern Colombia larger than Switzerland in which to negotiate a peace agreement with the FARC guerrillas.

But even during the supposed peace process, the guerrillas continued kidnapping and killing and used the region to cache weapons and drugs and hold hostages. In late 2002, Pastrana declared the negotiations over and sent the military in to occupy the demilitarized zone.

Pastrana and Marulanda finally meet.

A few years ago I interviewed a young woman who had been kidnapped while a teenager when the FARC invaded her family's apartment building. The guerrillas took her and her father to the demilitarized zone, where they held them for years while the government talked peace with the guerrillas and the guerrillas extorted a ransom from the girl's relatives. After about three years of jungle monotony, the father and daughter were freed - but by then the family business and family's relations had been irrepairably damaged.

When the government declared Caguan a failure and sent in the military, the FARC just melted back into the jungle. For the FARC's hostages, life became more difficult, because the guerrillas now marched them constantly thru the jungle to evade army pursuit.

Hopes for a negotiated peace have never recovered from the demilitarized zone experiment. Each time a new peace initiative is suggested, critics cry out 'Not another Caguan!' The name has become shorthand for weakness, failure and useless concessions.

Colombia continues living the consequences of El Caguan in the succeeding governments' aggressive militaristic strategies against the guerillas.

Guerrilla and government leaders pose together,
when peace appeared possible.

El Caguan was also a huge missed opportunity for the FARC, who could have scored P.R. points by turning their quasi republic into some sort of socialist laboratory. Instead, today they are weakened and on the run, several of their most important leaders killed by the military.

The image of the 'silla vacia', or 'empty chair', when FARC founder Manuel Marulanda no-showed for a negotiation session, leaving Pres. Pastrana seated alone, became the most enduring symbol of the negotiations' futility and the guerrillas' lack of sincerity.

It's hard to conceive today of Colombia's severe crisis at that time, when some observers were calling it a failed state and even talking about it fragmenting into three separate regions, controlled by the guerrillas, central government and right-wing paramilitaries.

Today, Colombia is much better off, violence and drug production slashed - but still suffering from guerrillas' and other groups' drug-fueled violence. Despite billions of dollars in military and other assisstance from Washington and a beefed-up military, the guerrillas struggle on in the jungles and mountains, as well as in the old El Caguan region.

Even a weakened guerrilla force is difficult to defeat - especially when it receives a huge income from the drug trade. That's why decriminalizing drugs, as Pres. Santos and other Latin American leaders have recently suggested, is the best hope for finally ending Colombia's long conflict.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Toxic Assault on Bogotá's Breathers

2012-02-22T17:46:00.001-08:00

Smoke billows from an alley near Jimenez Ave. today. This stuff might be ending up in your lungs.

I passed this environmental and health tragedy today on Jimenez Ave., billowing up from an alley beside the old train station. Homeless people routinely use the alley to look thru stuff they've scavenged from the trash. Sometimes, they find - or steal - things like electric cables, and burn off the plastic to get at the sellable wire inside. The same's true, I understand, for old tires. Or, they may find burning a convenient way to clear out the alley when if fills up with trash.

Either way, burning plastic and other materials generates highly toxic fumes, terrible for the environment and everyone's health.

After the thick, black smoke had billowed for a while, some cops appeared - to do who knows what? By that time, the burner had undoubtedly fled - to gather more trash to burn another day.

Scavengers burn something on
26th St. near the Central Cemetery.

Also today, I saw a group of people burning something on 26th St. near the Central Cemetery - in full view of everybody passing by, including the police.

Scavenging and recycling is good, but not when it poisons the air and water.

The evident apathy toward such small public fires, which are very bad, makes inevitable horrendous conflagurations like the one I saw today on Jimenez.

This public hazard will continue until the public and authorities shake off their apathy and crack down on public burning - as well as vehicles and other pollution sources.

For way too long, Bogotá has considered its air to be a trash dump.

I returned to the alley off of Jimenez this evening and found it full of trash - ready to be burnt.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Message Marathon for the Kidnapped

2012-02-20T20:08:00.000-08:00

A young police officer stands before a banner paying homage to a kidnapping victim.

Since Saturday, on Plaza Bolivar, they've been reading messages for kidnapping victims who may or may not be able to hear them in captivity in Colombia's jungles and mountains.

Tables set up in front of the
Catedral Mayor de Bogotá.

The 110-hour marathon, which ends Thursday, was organized by Colombian police and military, the Voces del Secuestro (Voices of Kidnapping) radio show and the Colombia Soy Yo NGO.

Kidnapping is a grim part of Colombia's long-running armed conflict. Historically, the nation's leftist guerrilla groups have carried out most of the kidnappings, for both economic and political reasons. Apolitical criminal organizations also kidnap, just to win ransoms.

Reading messages sent in
from all over the world.

Thankfully, kidnapping has decreased in recent years, and many of the FARC's most prominent hostages have either escaped or been freed by the military. But Colombians were reminded of kidnapping's tragedy last year when the FARC guerrillas murdered three policemen and a soldier whom they'd kidnapped and held in the jungle for as long as 14 years.

The government demands that the guerrillas release their hostages immediately and without preconditions. Some left-leaning organizations - which seem to me to be guerrilla sympathizers - support the guerrillas' proposal that the government exchange kidnappees for imprisoned guerrillas. But the government argues that that would only free the guerrillas to return to violence and encourage more kidnapping.

During the message marathon, they've been reading thousands of messages sent in from countries across Latin America and Europe. You can listen live on Colombia Soy Yo's website.

Voces del Secuestro and other radio programs regularly transmit friends' and relatives' messages to kidnappees in the jungle.

Find information about kidnapping on Pais Libre's Website.

Related posts: Lest They Be Forgotten

The FARC's Countless Unseen Crimes

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Last Bullfight?

2012-02-19T19:43:00.001-08:00

Across the street from the bullring a group of activists held a candle-light ceremony protesting bullfighting.

Fans exit the
Arabic-styled plaza de
toros La Santamaria.

Today was the last day of the 2012 bullfighting season in Bogotá's Plaza de Toros Santamaria. Earlier this year, Bogotá's new Mayor Gustavo Petro said that the city should consider banning bullfighting and other public spectacles which include killing. That could make this the last day ever of professional bullfighting in Colombia's capital, altho the fiesta brava will continue, for the time being, in Cali, Medellin, Manizales and other cities.

Anti-bullfighting posters.

The stadium appeared to be filled today. That was the fights were headlined by El Juli, one of the superstars of the sport. Only a minority of Colombians like bullfighting, but they tend to be wealthy and influential.

Bullfighting's opponents argue that the 'sport,' besides being cruel, also promotes violence. That's particularly troubling in a nation with an internal armed conflict which has dragged on for more than a half-century.

Bullfighting fans leaving the plaza. Bullfighting is an upper-crust sport, popular among some wealthier Colombians and the traditional land-owning class.

The front of Santamaria Plaza, whose architecture is quite Moslem.

Last call! A man sells hats and other bullfighting paraphenalia.

Bullfighting plates for sale.

Mounted police stand between anti-bullfighting protesters and the stadium.

Police with anti-riot shields stand on Seventh Ave. between protesters and the stadium. They told me that the day had been peaceful - on the street.

Across the street, anti-bullfighting activists burn candles.

Across the street, along La Ciclovia, protesters call for a ban on bullfighting.

A pair of musicians who'll play during post-fight dinner.

A view thru the plaza's windows. The plaza was designed with a Muslim architecture, a tradition which Colombia inherited from Spain.

'El Rincon Taurino.' 'The Bullfighting Corner'; a restaurant near the bullfighting stadium. If bullfighting is banned, the restaurant may have to find a new name.

Any future for them? A poster advertises a school for young bullfighters.

Bullfighting fans flow out of the Plaza Santamaria, whose architecture is very Islamic.

Outside the stadium, a woman sells candies.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Four Legs on Two Wheels On La Ciclovia

2012-02-19T19:02:00.001-08:00

I couldn't help posting this picture I took on today's Ciclovia of this four-legged cyclist.

Usually, of course, it's the person who's on two wheels, with the canine companion running alongside.

Perhaps this is a case of dog-walks-man.

This kid also had it good, thanks to hard-trotting parents.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Space for a New Park in Downtown?

2012-02-18T19:01:00.002-08:00

A billboard promises wonders at the site. But the website is blank.

I've long wondered about the block of empty land on the southwest corner of 7th Ave. and Calle 19. This prime piece of real estate in downtown Bogotá has been empty and abandoned since I moved here. More than a year ago, someone raised a billboard there, announcing the impending construction of a shopping center. But, after a few weeks of preliminary work there, the place has been silent again.

Vendors sell ties at the lot's entrance.

But perhaps that's a good thing. El Tiempo opinion columnist Enrique Santos Molano researched the history of the empty lot and uncovered a legal battle which has activity there paralyzed. Molano proposes that the lot be turned into a public park, comparable - in size, at least - to the well-known Parque de la 93 in ritzy north Bogotá.

This brilliantly-restored b
uilding is across the street.

Besides size, however, a new public park at
this busy intersection would have little in common with Parque 93, which is surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in Colombia and Latin America. Parque 93 is bordered by quiet streets and upscale cafes, restaurants and multi-start hotels. The intersection of 7th and 19th, in contrast, is populated by blue-collar clothing shops, eyeglass shops and health food stores. Just a few blocks away, prostitutes prance along the sidewalks. And the avenues are chronically chaotic and congested.

Inside, grass and trash.

But a park would be a nice addition to the neighborhood, just as long as the city made sure that it didn't become a campground for the neighborhood's street vendors and homeless. While there is a small green patch not too far away in the Plaza del Periodista, this would be the only park on Seventh Ave. south of Parque de la Independencia at 26th St.

The walls provide great space for graffiti.

Cultural events in the park could add life to what's now a gritty and run-down district. But would the city plan events there, if few such events are held in Independence Park or the Plaza del Periodista?

The neighborhood's a bit seedy and run-down.

Other good uses for the property could be housing, a movie theatre complex (which would bring more activity into the area) - or several of these; the space is large enough.

While Bogotá has created new parks, both large and small, in recent decades, central Bogotá has few of them.

Looking into the future, the city is building TransMilenio express bus lines on the nearby carreras 3 and 10. A few hundred meters east on 19th St., they're building what is to be the tallest building in Colombia. Hopefully, one day in the near future the city will bring also transit sanity to the chaotic and polluted 19th St. and 7th Ave, where Mayor Petro has proposed building a light rail line. When that happens, this corner property could be crucial for transit stations.

But almost anything they put on this site - short of a parking lot - would be an improvement. This is a pressing case for the city to use eminent domain laws to end the legal wrangling and put this property to use.

A mentally-ill homeless man amidst trash nearby.

Rat street art.

The surrounding sidewalks provide great space for shoeshiners and vendors.

A man takes a leak.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Campesino Market in Plaza Bolivar

2012-02-17T18:41:00.002-08:00

Every few months, they organize a Mercado Campesino, or a Peasant Farmers' Market, in Bogotá's Plaza Bolívar. It's nice to see peasants for once take over the epicenter of Colombian political power.

The campesino markets, which are sponsored by Oxfam and other organizations, are intended to enable the peasants to sell their products to consumers without the costs or complications of intermediaries.

Buy my bananas.

A campesina.

This woman sold traditional grains, such as quinua and amarantha.

Try some chicha!

A chiva bus, common in the countryside.

Donut man.

Eating lunch.

This man was selling colored pencils.

Have some cocoanut milk.

A man sits in front of the cathedral.

Want a shoeshine?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Women's Artworks at the MOMA

2012-02-16T21:07:00.001-08:00

Laurie Simmons, 'The Instant Decorator'.

Is there women's art? Or men's art? Groups of men and groups of women certainly tend to have different hormones, interests, behaviors and life experiences. But individual men and women are all over the board in their femininity and masculinity, their life experiences and interests.

Bogotá's Museum of Modern Art is holding an exhibition of women's art, altho the artists are all European. Besides portraying men and women, the works aren't particularly feminist art. In fact, most are abstract. So, perhaps they're art by women, but perhaps not women's art.

Still, it is easy to see that the works are not by men for one reason: There are almost no nudes.

The exhibition, titled 'Mirada Femenina,' ends March 4.

Here's a list of museums in and near Bogotá's historic center, La Candelaria.

'Two Boys Smoking in Central Park,' by Diane Arbus

Love Without Illusion, by Grete Stern

'Alberto and Alfredo are Twins'. (Looking a bit like James Deans), by Barbara Allende

'Botella del Mar', Grete Stern

'You've done all you want with me,' by Carmen Calvo.

The sculpture consists of fingers...or phalluses?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Water to Waste

2012-02-16T17:21:00.001-08:00

Water, water, everywhere, but none to drink. Hosing down the sidewalk in front of Jorge Tadeo University.

Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro has fullfilled one of his campaign promises - unfortunately. The city will give free and subsidized water to poorer families. The intention is good, but there are much better and more sustainable ways to help such families, such as instead helping them to replace leaking pipes, install water-saving toilets and showerheads and teaching them to use water more efficiently.

The photo above shows what happens when people don't have to pay for the resources they use. An employee is cleaning the sidewalk in front of the private Jorge Tadeo University by washing it down with a hose. He could clean the sidewalk with a broom and perhaps a few buckets of water. But he doesn't pay for the water, so who cares about wasting it?

Colombia has lots of water - but every liter supplied to Bogotá is pumped, filtered, treated and piped a long way. Wasting it means wasting resources and money which otherwise could be put to better use - not to mention stealing from the fishes and dolphins.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Deadly Forced Celibacy

2012-02-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

As tho the seemingly unending series of reports of Catholic priests molesting children weren't evidence enough of mandated celibacy's damage, now comes the tragedy of two Catholic priests from south Bogotá killed last year in an apparent robbery.

But now investigators say the killings were actually a suicide pact, in which the priests had paid their killers and an intermediary 15 million pesos for the double shooting.

The two long-time companions were evidently gay - El Tiempo reports that they were seen frequently in Chapinero gay bars - and one of them was suffering from AIDS and syphillis, diseases to which priests supposedly should not be vulnerable.

One of the priests also reportedly had been accused of sexual harassment.

It's hard not to imagine that if these men had not been forced to hide their sexuality from society and, presumably, their church, as well as live a lie about their celibacy, they could have resolved their troubles in healthier manner.

I read a letter in El Tiempo lamenting how these men failed the church. But after their deaths members of their congregations praised their services as priests. Perhaps it was rather the church which failed them by imposing unnatural and inhumane requirements on them.

Clerical celibacy in the Catholic Church developed only after the 11th century, and was formalized into canonical law only in 1917, according to Wikipedia. If Catholicism survived so long without requiring celibacy, then ending the rule would likely not harm the religion. In fact, ending the celibacy rule could resolve the global shortage of Catholic priests, which has contributed to the religion's decline relative to Protestant faiths whose ministers can marry.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bill Clinton in Colombia: Time to Inhale!

2012-02-15T19:19:00.000-08:00

Bill Clinton in Barranquilla, Colombia.
(Photo: El Heraldo)

Ex-U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Bogotá yesterday, dining with Pres. Santos, playing golf and making charitable appearances.

Clinton must certainly have also reflected on the results of his relationship to Colombia: the multi-billion dollar, mostly-military Plan Colombia, which he launched together with Colombian Pres. Andres Pastrana. The effort has been mostly successful here, stabilizing the country, reducing violence and sharply cutting the acreage under coca leaf cultivation. (Of course, there has been a big associated cost in human rights violations, including the falsos positivos scandal and the continuing tragedy of displaced people.)

From a global perspective, however, Plan Colombia's results look much more questionable. Billions of dollars and many lives later, coca leaf production here has declined in Colombia but increased in Peru and Bolivia. And, the decline in violence here has been offset by a surge in violence in Mexico and Central America.

As the president who admitted smoking pot - even tho he "didn't inhale" - Clinton would be in an interesting position to advocate drug decriminaliztion (a position which I'd be willing to be that he supports in private). In fact, U.S. Pres. Obama also tried pot in his youth (and even inhaled), and Pres. George W. Bush must certainly have experimented with pot and harder drugs during his wild days.

Guatemala Pres. Otto Pérez.

But of the three U.S. presidents, only Bush had a problem with an addictive substance - and that was a legal one - alcohol. (He eventually went on the wagon.)

From that, we might conclude either that alcohol should be prohibited like the others, or that all drugs should be decriminalized.

But few people doubt that alcohol prohibition was anything but a disaster. So, I'd opt for the decriminalization strategy.

Guatemalan Pres. Otto Pérez, whose nation has been wracked by drug-fueled violence, recently advocated drug decriminalization and plans to propose that policy at a meeting of Central American nations.

"With all the technology and resources and millions of dollars given by the United States the problem hasn't decreased," Pérez, an ex-military man, said recently. "People spoke of the success of Plan Colombia, but the big drug cartels just neutralized it."

Hopefully Clinton will pause to inhale deeply and think about this.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Fascination With Flowers

2012-02-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

Selling flowers in front of Bogotá's Central Cemetery.

Colombia is the world's second largest flower exporter, after Holland. Valentine's Day is the peak of the flower industry and some 80% of Colombia's flower exports during this period go to the United States.

Arranging flowers.

Flowers are Colombia's second-largest agricultural product after coffee, and generate some 150,000 jobs here in Colombia. But the industry is under pressure, because of lower-cost competitors including Ecuador and Kenya, and the increasing value of the Colombian peso.

But the industry has often been accused of overworking its employees, most of whom are women, and sometimes subjecting them to unsafe working conditions, including exposure to pesticides. Some companies reportedly require their women employees to have had undergone sterilization so that the companies don't become liable for maternity benefits.

The less-than-perfect flowers are sold here in Colombia, where the inexpensive flowers are popular for decorating, especially in cemeteries.

Flowers beside a reproduction of a San Agustin monument.

Older women flower vendors outside the Central Cemetery.

Soldiers carry flowers in Palo Quemao Market.

A flower cart in Palo Quemao Market.

The tomb of Leo Kopp, Bavaria brewery founder and a popular saint.

Leo Kopp with a crown of flowers.

The tomb of Julio Garavito, who is on the 20,000 peso bill.

A flower worker in Palo Quemao Market.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A New Life for the Old Slaughterhouse

2012-02-14T19:01:00.000-08:00

The old slaughterhouse building from behind, showing its tall chimney.

Bogotá's old slaughterhouse, located on an industrial stretch of 13th St., is something of an architectural landmark, with its towering smokestack and castle-like roof decorations.

The building's conversion
will mean the end of some
great walls for graffiti.

The slaughterhouse has been shot for at leat 15 years, and perhaps much longer. I couldn't determine its age, either on the Internet or the building itself: the plaques on its walls are so worn they're illegible.

The slauhterhouse viewed from across 13th St.

Past proposals for the deserted buildings and huge empty lot have included a shopping center. In 2006, the slaughterhouse was briefly occupied by displaced people. Now, authorities say it will be used by the Universidad Distrital as a school and library. And they're working on the site, so it looks like it will really happen. One of the workers today told me the project would be completed in five months, which sounds way too optimistic.

Let's just hope that all of the animals which gave their lives there for Bogotanos' sancocho and bandeja paisa didn't leave any ghosts behind to haunt the school's halls.

A horsecart passes by the slaughterhouse's old entrance.

Behind the old slaughterhouse is this huge empty lot, where they must have held the doomed animals. Part of the space could be turned into a green space for an area lacking a public park.

Workers on the building's roof, with its castle-like pattern.

A historical view of the old slaughterhouse. (Photo: El Espectador)

An illegible plaque commemorates the slaughterhouse's construction.

Another plaque shows idealized farm animals.

Interior of the building under renovation.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Restored Camarin for El Carmen

2012-02-14T07:39:00.000-08:00

The restored Camarin de Carmen, on 9th St. in La Candelaria.

Built in 1655, the camarin - a sort of box extending from the side of a church on Calle 9 just above Carrera 5 in La Candelaria - hung on for centuries despite weather, riots and earthquakes as the church building was converted into a military barracks, a school and finally a theatre. But more than three centuries of endurance ended in September 2010, when a delivery truck driving the wrong way on the cobblestone street smashed the ancient structure, severely damaging one of La Candelaria's oldest and most significant pieces of architecture.

A view of Calle 9,
with el Camarin on the right.

Some placed responsibility on the neighborhood's mayor: she had ordered removed a pair of chains which neighbors had fixed across the street's entrances to block traffic.

After a legal tussle, the company which owned the truck agreed to pay for repairs, and last Saturday, after 15 months of restoration work, the camarin was replaced as close to its original form as possible.

A view down the street towards the Presidential Palace.

A camarin is a tiny chapel built behind an altar to hold a religious image, in this case La Virgen del Carmen.

A coat of arms on ths street.

The camarin's return restores an important piece of one of the most colonial-appearing streets in La Candelaria, Bogotá's historical center. The block of 9th Street between Carreras 4 and 5 is one of La Candelaria's few stretches of cobblestone. On its south side is the Colegio Salesiano and on its north the Colegio Santisimo Rosario and a resource center for informal street vendors. On the block below is the Ministry of Foreign Relations, and two more blocks downhill the Presidential Palace, La Casa de Nariño.

And a colorful window on 9th St.

Graffiti mars this colonial street.

A handsome old house a block uphill.

The Ministry of the Exterior, across from el Camarin.

A poem set in a window. .

And a piece of poetry on a wall.

Police stopped and searched this old man who had been sitting in a doorway. A security guard told me 'That old man doesn't do any harm, but behind him come many others. They used to mug people all the time on this street.' The cops made the old man move on.

A lamp two blocks up the street.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Pablo Escobar: Tourist Attraction

2012-02-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

Fernando Botero painting of Pablo Escobar shot down on a Medellin rooftop. Today, Escobar tours take visitors to the site.

The DAS building in Bogotá,
car bombed by Escobar in 1989.

There's a tremendous irony in the fact that legendary cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar's story has become a tourist attraction: after all, the tremendous violence the man unleashed made Colombia a no-go territory for tourists during Escobar's reign, and the cocaine trade continues sullying Colombia's international reputation, even tho the country's since become much more stable and secure.

Tourists visit Escobar's tomb, the site where he was shot dead on a Medellin rooftop and even meet his brother Roberto, who participated in the drug cartel, went to prison and now defend's his brother Pablo's legacy. Colombian authorities reportedly don't like the Escobar tourism, fearing that it will damage the country's image.

But Escobar is perhaps the most famous (or infamous) Colombian, making him a legitimate object of interest. But he should be portrayed as the terror he was, not the Robin Hood he pretended to be. Escobar did play Santa for children at Christmas, build neighborhoods for the poor of Medellin and provide jobs - but all of that was paid for by the sales of massive amounts of cocaine which ruined the lives of mostly poor people in the cities of the United States and Europe. And Escobar protected his drug empire with assassinations, car bombings and general terror here in Colombia.

Entrance to Hacienda Napoles,
Escobar's playland outside of Medelli.

People from Medellin have described to me the fear they lived in during the Escobar era, when any car could contain a bomb and one could get caught in cartel crossfire on any street.

Escobar as a tourist himself,
in front of the White House
in Washington D.C.

Here in Bogotá, too, Escobar left a trail of mayhem and death. He helped finance the M-19's 1985 attack on the Justice Palace, which ended with about 100 people dead, the 1989 bombing of the DAS police headquarters, which killed about 70 people and the assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan the same year. In 1989 Escobar also bombed a plane, killing all 110 people on board.

Botero painting of a car bomb exploding.

Some people idolize Escobar because he defied the authorities - but Escobar was no hero. Rather, he lived in luxury, partying with actresses, while others died and went to prison doing his dirty work.

But, like the drug trade itself, Escobar tourism is inevitable. As long as the fascination with him exists, as it always will, someone will fill the demand. And, like the drug trade itself, Escobar tourism should be legal, tax-paying and perhaps regulated.

While others suffered: Escobar
with one of his many women.

Colombia is a free country, and those who describe Escobar as a hero have a right to - but open discussion should make the ugly truth about him win out.

Related posts:

Guillermo Cano, Journalistic Martyr

Pablo Escobar, Still Making News

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Colombia's Bloggers Campaign

2012-02-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

La Loca Margarita, a historical La Candelaria personality,
made an appearance at the bloggers inauguration event.

Colombia is mounting a bloggers offensive to market the country to the world. It's a good idea, to leverage the work of multilingual writers and photographers who are posting on the Web, anyway.

Simon Bolivar speaks at the bloggers event.

Most of the official blogs, who are listed here, are attractive blogs about food, travel and personal experiences (unlike this profound and subtle blog, which, surprisingly, was included despite its inclusion of Colombia's troubles as well as its achievements). Some of the entries aren't even about Colombia. A few are websites of travel agencies or other businesses, which doesn't make sense to me. Here's one interesting exception. Of course, my incomprehension of French and German puts some of the blogs off limits to me.

In any case, it's the brainchild of ProExport and a good, low-budget strategy for Colombia, and something which would have been near impossible just a few years ago, when the news was dominated by bombings, kidnapping and narcotrafficking and the country was off limits to all but real thrill seekers. Certainly, Colombia still has problems, but those are now secondary to the nation's economic growth, its cultural diversity and its tremendous biodiversity.

How Foreign Correspondents See Us.

I just read the interesting book 'Como Nos Ven los Corresponsales Extranjeros' (How Foreign Correspondents See Us), consisting of a collection of short essays and personal experiences by correspondents in Colombia from the Cuba, France, Italia England and the United States. The book was published in 1995, just ten years after the Holocaust of the Justice Palace, two years after the killing of Pablo Escobar and with the disastrous negotiations with the FARC still to come.

The book includes essays about Colombian women ('how beautiful they are'), Colombian men ('crude gropers') and Bogotá nightlife (fun, even amidst the violence). The book also contains a really enchanting essay about the Amazonian river dolphins and the indigenous people's myths and legends about them by Brazilian/British writer Sarita Kendall.

But the chapters with the most impact were 'Colombia, a Civilized Nation Where Death Never Goes on Vacation,' by David Lloyd Marcus and 'The Dead Who are Born Forgotten,' by Leslie Wirpsa, both from the U.S., whose subject matters are obvious.

A similar book written today would, instead, be about a still-troubled country getting on its feet and growing economically.

Incidentally, missing - unsurprisingly - from the official bloggers list is Expat Chronicles, by Colin Post.

Colin, a friend of mine, wrote very frankly and explicitly about sex, drugs and corruption, as well as his own problems with addiction and even mental illness. (And about politics, literature and urban planning.) Colin describes a hidden, dirty reality. That exists to some degree everywhere, but no nation, particularly one with as troubled a past as Colombia's, wants it to be shown off to outsiders. Colin's entrepeneurial initiative in setting up a brothel tour business may have been legal, but certainly didn't help his case with Colombian officialdom, either.

I believe that Colin has had to leave Colombia.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Los Martires' Festival of the Rock and Flower

2012-02-11T20:17:00.000-08:00

Today, the Los Martires District celebrated the Festival of the Rock and Flower in the San Agustin Park, which contains reproductions of the famous monuments found near the Ecuadorean border.

The festival featured flowers and stonework, which are characteristic of the district, since it is the site of Bogotá's Central Cemetery.

The festival was nice, and the little San Agustin Park is a surprising and interesting spot amidst Los Martires' traffic, industry and vices.

Bringing a renaissance to Los Martires should be a priority for Bogotá: after all, the neighborhood is in the city's heart and boasts some historical landmarks, including Los Martires Plaza, the La Sabana Train Station and several elegant old churches and grand old houses, now run-down. It also contains lots of retail, small industry, several educational institutions, the city's low-rent red light district, the notorious El Bronx, and lots of poverty and social problems.

The execution of 'La Pola'

Liberty

But Los Martires also has great potential: whenever the 26th St. and Carrera 10 TransMilenio lines are FINALLY finished, the neighborhood will have good transit access - and that will improve more if Mayor Gustavo Petro follows thru on his idea of putting a regional train line on the existing corridor, which runs right thru Los Martires.

The city might consider Los Martires as the site for the teaching hospital which National University medical students have long asked for. It would be fitting, since the Nacho's original hospital was located beside Los Martires Plaza, now the site of the military recruiting headquarters.

Educational institutions and quality low-rent housing would both revitalize the neighborhood and contribute to the mayor's goal of densifying the city. The city could also find space for a green area which would truly be a central park for Bogotá. One potential space would be part of the huge lot behind the La Sabana Train Station.

A groveling stone figure.

Some scenes from Bogotá's Los Martires district.

Bicitaxis lined up by Los Martires Plaza.

A pedicab, or bicitaxi, passes by the Voto Nacional church.

A horsecart, or zorrero, by Plaza España. The driver is loading a mattress he just found.

An aged, graffitied building on Plaza España.

On Plaza España, concrete seats which I've never seen used.

Vendors on Plaza España, with the Hospital San Jose behind them.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Sad Adiós to the Colombian Miami Herald

2012-02-10T19:42:00.000-08:00

A past edition of the Miami Herald's international edition.

Last year, a familiar and surprising publication appeared on Bogotá newspaper stands: the international edition of the Miami Herald.

It lasted about one year, and I always wondered how it could survive in a nation in which few people read the news in English, and those who do do it mostly on the Internet. This year, I haven't seen the Herald on newsstands.

In reality, it was mostly New York Times stories below the Herald's masthead. I occasionally purchased the paper, in part because it brought back memories of sitting down with the morning paper back home in the States. And, for all of the speed and convenience of the Internet, I still find reading on paper more satisfying. And, in fact, studies have found that people recall better what they read on paper than what they read on a computer screen. I also have a personal attachment to the Herald, since I contributed a few stories to them years ago, when they and other papers still had freelance budgets.

(Finally, I also have a guilty reason for preferring reading on paper: When you click on some sleazy, superficial headline about Michael Jackson or Britney Spears on the Internet, you know that some computer someplace is taking note and planning more such stories. But, when you read trash like that on paper, nobody else knows.)

Yesterday, Feb. 9, was the Day of the Journalist in Bogotá, designated by the Circle of Journalists of Bogotá.

Selling an international daily paper in English here had to be a challenge from the start when expatriates and tourists can instantly read the New York Times over the Internet. English-language newspapers in Latin America have also declined in recent decades because of changes in corporate hiring policies, as U.S.- and U.K-based companies have tended to hire more locals, who usually receive lower salaries.

The few English dailies remaining in the region include the Buenos Aires Herald, the Tico Times and The News in Mexico City. Of course, online publications have flourished. But most of those mostly copy or rewrite stories from other publications. For about three years around 2000 I wrote for the Bolivian Times. The Times did some bad, even irresponsible journalism, but also contributed a different opinion and informed. It's since folded, and despite my bad memories of being exploited by the paper's owner, the Times' disappearance was probably a loss for Bolivia.

Across the globe, newspapers are having hard times because of the Internet and other forces, as I, an ex-journalist, know well. In Colombia and much of Latin America, in contrast, newspapers are still going strong - thanks in part to a strong regional economy, to the limited Internet penetration and to wealth families who enjoy the status of running newspapers. But as Internet use spreads, Latin American newspapers will inevitably face the same challenges which U.S. and European are now.

Journalist Jineth Bedoya,
attacked for her work.

In recent weeks, Latin papers and other media have also faced threats from governments and illegal organizations. Ecuador's leftist government passed a law prohibiting journalists from reporting on elections - an obvious move to protect the government from press criticisms. An Ecuadorean court also fined two journalists $2 million for "humilliating" Pres. Rafael Correa with their investigative book about alleged corruption by the president's brother. Journalists' organizations have criticized the Ecuadorean government for these and other moves to muzzle the free press.

Meanwhile, Argentina has passed a law regulating paper sales - an obvious move by the government to intimidate the critical El Clarin media group.

In Colombia, meanwhile, the FARC guerrillas reportedly planned to murder a reporter who they believed to be an informant for the U.S. government and another who had written a book about the late FARC leader Mono Jojoy.

Also, Bogotá police prevented journalists from entering a court hearing on the killing by police of a young graffiti painter. Also, the year 2000 kidnapping and gang rape of Jineth Bedoya, a reporter with the El Espectador newspaper, remains unsolved.

In honor of Journalists' Day, the Circle of Journalists of Bogotá gave awards for outstanding journalists and journalism work in print, radio, TV and other 'net. Semana magazine won an award for 'The DAS's Secret Papers,' about the secret police agency's selling of classified documents. Olga Beher also won an award for her book 'The Clan of the 12 Apostles,' about allegations of connections between paramilitary groups and powerful Colombians.

Those are a few of the reasons why print journalism continues to be so important and relevant.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

What's the Point of Oscar Muñoz?

2012-02-09T18:04:00.000-08:00

Muñoz's images of figures in a shower.

I suppose I always ask that same question about abstract art: What's the point? It doesn't look particularly beautiful and doesn't contain any clear message about anything.

A portrait in the process of breaking apart.

So, why look at it? But lots of people do, particularly the work of Popayan-born artist Oscar Muñoz, who now lives in Cali, which are on display in La Casa de la Moneda on 11th St. in La Candelaria.

The exhibit is about the the ephemeralness of reality, as represented mostly in photography: photographs developing, images which fade before they're finished, images which dissolve and others which change with the viewer's perspective. Metal disks reveal images when a visitor breathes on them.

Portraits painted in
coffee on sugar cubes.

But we're surrounded by changes: slow ones as we age, quick one in the weather (in Bogotá) and instant ones with digital photography. So, I'm not sure why we need an artist to show us this stuff.

In this 2008 article about a Muñoz exhibit in the U.K., the artist says his work presents a metaphor about Colombia's long armed conflict:

My work today arises from my interest in understanding how a society comes to accept war - or rather, a dark and corrupted succession of wars over more than 50 years and which have not yet ended - as part of the routine of living, where both the past and the present are plagued with daily violent events which are persistently repeated.

Watching a video of a
photo being developed.

The way that some Colombians in some regions of the country have become inured to their nation's violence could be the most disturbing result of the country's conflict. Yet, until I read it, the relationship wasn't evident. If Muñoz wants to comment on Colombia's conflict, he could do so more powerfully by being less abstract.

If you're into it, Muñoz's work is on display in La Casa de la Moneda until March 12.

I didn't see this image in the exhibit, but find it haunting. (Photo from INIVA)

Every time I visit the Botero Museum/Casa de la Moneda complex I'm impressed by the building's architecture, which mixes modern geometric lines and colonial sections.

A hall with a spiral staircase.

One of the museum's atriums.

A doorway and plaza with a fountain.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Colombian Traditional Clothing

2012-02-08T20:02:00.000-08:00

Indigenous costumes in the Museo de Trajes Regionales.

Among Latin American nations, Colombia is known for its cultural and ethnic variety - but not particularly as an indigenous nation, as are Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.

But altho Colombia's population is only about one percent indigenous, it has some 80 different indigenous ethnic groups, according to Wikipedia, whose territories cover close to one-third of the country's surface area.

A traditional loom.

The Museo de Trajes Regionales (Museum of Traditional Clothing), on 10th St. in La Candelaria, one block east of Plaza Bolivar, is somewhat misnamed. Nearly all of the exhibitions on display right now are of traditional indigenous clothing.

Impressively, since they are such a tiny minority, a considerable number of Colombia's indigenous peoples have preserved lots their traditions. I've visited the Wayuu people in La Guajira along the Venezuelan border and the colorfully-dressed Guambiano people near the town of Silvia.

A Chichba weaving.

Indigenous youths in traditional clothing walk across
La Plaza del Periodista in La Candelaria.

But many Colombian indigenous peoples have been hit hard by the nation's long armed conflict, by environmental damage and by the rise of the country's capitalist, westernized culture, which lures many young indigenous people from their communities into towns and cities, where success is harder to obtain than it looks, but new addictions and diseases are in easy reach.

Still, one frequently sees students from indigenous communities walking La Candelaria's streets proudly wearing their people's traditional clothes.

Preparing for the exhibition about the --- people of Peru.

On the 15th of this month the museum will open an exhibit of work by the Shipibo Konibo, an indigenous people from the Peruvian Amazon, whose women consume yage, or ayahuasca, a psychedelic substance obtained from a vine, in order to see visions and create artwork. Yage and other psychedelic substances are widely used throughout South American by indigenous peoples during rituals and ceremonies. But yage in particular has become popular among non-indigenous people, including tourists, as a recreational drug (despite causing vomiting and diarrhea). I've even heard that the vine the substance is obtained from has become scarce in many areas.

A weaving of a woman and an anaconda,
inspired by a yage-taking session.

The museum's building was once the home of Manuelita Sáenz, revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar's lover and savior. In 1828, the two were together in a building across the street when Bolivar's enemies came to kidnap and kill him. But Saenz managed to warn Bolívar, who escaped thru and window and hid underneath a bridge.

The museum's atrium has a bust of Manuelita Sáenz, who once lived here.

A Wayuu woman.

The museum charges 3,000 pesos admission.

Find a list of La Candelaria's museums here.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Car-Free Candelaria?

2012-02-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

Schoolchildren walk in La Candelaria's
La Concordia district. Pedestrians in La Candelaria,
where they far outnumber car drivers and
deserve priority.

New Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro has proposed making Seventh Ave. pedestrian-only during the five months-or-so they expect the demolition and rebuilding of the bridge over 26th St. to take.

"Let's find an advantage in the crisis" of the bridge closure, Petro said.

A pedestrian-only block of 10th
Street today.

The loss of the bridge will certainly create a transit crisis for central Bogotá, since Seventh is one of the major arteries - even tho it slows to a crawl during every 'rush hour.' Banning cars from Seventh Ave. would anger many businesses, but also bring back the long-time tradition of the Septimazo, the closure of the avenue every Friday evening, when it turned into a long street fair. Last year, the city suspended the Septimazo, without warning or explanation that I heard of. Ideally, closing La Septima from Plaza Bolivar to 26th St. would turn the avenue into a permanent Ciclovia, with bicycles, skaters and walkers breathing relatively clean air.

Not very colonial: Cars idling on Carrera 3
in La Candelaria.

The Seventh Ave. bridge over 26th St.,
already half demolished.

Closing Seventh would also give a boost to the much-proposed but never realized pedestrianization of the La Candelaria neighborhood, the city's historic center. See references here and here. So far, the city has proceeded with making only 11th St. west of Plaza Bolivar pedestrian-only. Under Mayor Lucho Garzon cars were banned from several blocks of central La Candelaria. Businesses complained, but the policy created an area of peace and tranquility for pedestrians, who comprise the overwhelming majority of the neighborhood's residents and visitors. But the administration of now-imprisoned Mayor Samuel Moreno suspended this policy, also without warning or explanation.

A truck-motorcycle crash this morning in La Candelaria.
It's a wonder that more pedestrians aren't hit.

Restricting cars makes lots of sense for La Candelaria, a historical neighborhood frequented by students and tourists, most of whom get around on foot and where motor vehicles' noise and pollution scar the historical atmosphere. During much of the day, the racing taxis and other vehicles, which generally ignore stop signs and expect pedestrians to scurry out of their way, endanger people on foot. During rush hours, when the neighborhood's narrow streets are used as a 'shortcut' by drivers coming to and from other areas, the traffic jams make La Candelaria noisy and poison its air.

A pedestrian darts across a congested Seventh Ave.

We also suffer a litany of car horns and car alarms, the drivers seemingly unaware that people might be sleeping at 11 p.m. or midnight. There seems to be a growing habit of drivers preventively honking their horns as they approach each cross street, to warn any oncoming car planning to sail past the stop sign. So drivers protect themselves and their vehicles from other, law-breaking vehicles by keeping neighbors awake. And don't get me started on the motorcyclists who seem to pride themselves on the decibles they can generate.

My fantasy for La Candelaria: Banning all a limited number of buses, delivery vehicles during certain hours and a certain number of vehicles per household for the car-owning minority. Buses and vans belonging to local high schools and universities would be allowed, as perhaps a few city bus lines. And, some arrangement would be made for taxi service, particularly for older and handicapped residents and hotels.

Pedestrians in La Candelaria outnumber car drivers.

Besides that, there'd be pedicab and a public bicycle service to carry people to transit stations, parking lots and other destinations outside the neighborhood. They should also employ traffic-calming measures like speed bumps and improve security for the increased number of pedestrians. That'd make the neighborhood more sane and calm and more in keeping with its colonial image. It would also reduce the need for parking lots - and provide more space for more productive uses, such as housing, hotels, universities and museums.

Related posts:

Scenes from 'Car-Free' Day

On Cars and Colombia

A fender-bender today on Seventh Ave.

Jimenez and Seventh Aves in La Candelaria, a highly pedestrian area.

Definitely not car-free today.

Traffic jam on Seventh Ave., which achieves the worst of all worlds.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Photos in the Museo Bogotá

2012-02-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

The Museo de Bogotá, on Carrera 4 just north of 12th St., is one of La Candelaria's smaller, lesser-known museums, but worth a walk-through. Right now it's got an exhibition of photographs, the winners and entries from a contest named 'Bogotá, Present-Day Patrimony' intended to portray the relationships between the city's residents and their surroundings.

If you want to see the show, hurry. It ends Feb. 16.

The museum is in a colonial home which was the residence of Juan de Sámano, the last Spanish virrey, or representative of the king, to attempt to rule Colombia. Sámano is remembered for his ruthlessness in executing many rebels and patriots, the most famous of them probably being Jorge Tadeo Lozano and Policarpa Salavarrieta, as well as for fleeing to Cartagena and then Panama when rebel forces approached.

In the locomotive repair yard behind the Estacion de la Sabana.

One of the photographers who struggle to survive on Plaza Bolivar in the era of digital photography.

Hiking on Bogotá's outskirts.

Traditionally-dressed residents walk up a La Candelaria Street.

A woman in a public market.

This photo, of portrait cards displayed in a shop, struck me because of the variety of subjects: leftist idealists beside a murderous fascist. And behind these extraordinary personalities, forgettable retail products.

Llamas on San Victorino Plaza.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Minute Men (and Women)

2012-02-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

By Jorge Tadeo University.

Foreign visitors wonder what they are: these people standing on plazas, parks and streetcorners throughout Bogotá wearing or carrying signs saying 'Minutos.'

On Plaza San Victorino.

Will they add minutes to your life? Save you time by doing your chores? Sell you a few minutes of their time and company?

No, they'll hand you a telephone chained to their waist and charge you the minute printed on those signs they're holding up. These people are living, walking telephone booths.

The ubiquitous minuteros result from the expensiveness of Colombia's cellphone industry. Relatively speaking, it can be quite expensive to make calls from your phone, particularly when calling between telephones belonging to different companies. The minuteros buy time in bulk and have phones from all of the companies. The real disadvantage is for the call's recipient, who doesn't know who's calling before answering. But when you want to call up that estranged special somebody who'd never answer if they you it was you, then minuteros come in handy.

The cell phone companies don't appreciate the minuteros employing their services more economically. And authorities have in the past talked of prohibiting the business (probably under pressure from the companies.) But don't feel sorry for Colombia's cell phone companies - Comcell, Movistar and Tigo - whose pricing schemes can resemble institutionalized theft - at least to me: they charge for calls by the minute. What if your call lasted only two seconds? They'll charge you for the full minute, anyway. How about if you signed up for one of their plans providing 150 minutes of talk time per month, but you left for vacation, got laryngitis or your phone got stolen, and used only a few of those minutes? Don't worry, the cell phone company will take all your time away, anyway. (At least that's all true of Comcel, whom I patronize guiltily, since they hold a near monopoly.)

On Carrera 5 in La Candelaria.

As for the minuteros, their income varies widely depending on location: one man in the very busy Plaza San Victorino said he can earn 50,000 to 60,000 pesos per day - far above the minimum wage. But others earn much less.

In a nation with high unemployment and a big informal economy, the minute-selling business provides a way to survive for countless people who lack skills or opportunities. But you'll also make a sad observation on the limited opportunities in Colombia's economy by talking to some of the very capable people spend their days standing around with a couple of cell phones chained to their waists and yelling 'minutos!' 'minutos!'

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Barrel Recyclers

2012-02-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we pass these guys selling barrels cut in half near the Palo Quemao market. They buy the barrels, cut them in half, clean them and resell them for use mixing cement.

And, they create a colorful backdrop in this industrial neighborhood.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Pocket Parks

2012-02-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

La Concordia Park in La Candelaria: Green space for lovers and a court for futsal, just meters away from traffic and high-rise buildings.

In the poor, troubled Santa Fe
neighborhood, trash piles up across
the street from a tiny park.

Bogotá's big parks, particularly Parque Simon Bolivar, and its new ones, like Parque Tercer Milenio, have received lots of attention. And justifiably so: on sunny weekends those parks fill up with thousands of Bogotanos picnicing, playing soccer and flying kites.

Watching futsal at lunchtime in a
Santa Fe neighborhood park.

But measured in person-hours per square meter per day, Bogotá's 'pocket parks' may get more use.

Relaxing in La Esmeralda Park
in Teusaquillo.

These parks, which often cover less than a city block, are squeezed between apartment buildings and factories; they might be be bordered by noisy, polluted avenues and their sunlight blocked by high-rises. A few do not even have grass. They may have only a damaged swing set and pull-up bars, a cracked futsal court and a few benches. Unlike Simon Bolivar and other big parks, where you can breathe fresh air, enjoy country-like quiet and pretend that the city is far away, these tiny parks are both in the city and of it, often with all of its noise, pollution, trash and even crime.

Eating lunch by a reproduction
of a San Agustin monument
in the Los Martires district.

But, for shop and office workers who want to sit outside to eat lunch, or factory workers organizing a quick soccer game, these parks provide a break, if not an escape. And Bogotá's new Mayor Gustavo Petro intends to densify the city. That's a positive plan for several reasons: it will mean shorter commutes for the poor, who now live primarily on the city's outskirts, from where they have to spend hours each way in traffic jams on their ways to the city's business districts and wealthy areas where they work. A denser city also means that services such as electricity, water, transit and trash collection are easier and less expensive to provide.

Dogs and couples play in their own
ways on a green patch by La Plaza
del Periodista, in La Candelaria.

However, a denser city will also make these tiny public spaces all the more valuable.

In terms of social justice, investment in parks and public spaces is one of the best. That's because parks get used by the rich and poor alike in a healthful way.

Cops check someone out in a Santa Fe park.

Evening on La Plaza del Periodista.

Trash piles up by a tiny park in Santa Fe.

The Arzobispo River in Teusaquillo is lined by this green corridor
- and sports the visual warnings on this bridge.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

La Candelaria Returns to Life!

2012-02-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

A storyteller at work in the chapel doorway.

Photographing a mural
in the Callejon del Embudo.

The La Candelaria neighborhood, Bogotá's historic center and the location of many universities, is coming back to life these days as students return to class.

The neighborhood has more than a dozen universities, all but one of them private. And, when the students are around, La Plaza del Chorro becomes the center of action, with its musicians, street performers, storytellers, chicha bars and crafts and pot sellers.

Playing with fire.

Juggling.

A handicraft seller catches some customers.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

On Cars and Colombia

2012-02-02T19:34:00.000-08:00

Nothing movin': A routine traffic jam in La Candelaria.

Today's Car-Free Day in Bogotá (a misnomer) is a good time to look at cars in Colombia.

Gray skies at dawn: Morning
pollution above central Bogota.

Colombia actually has a low per-capita level of car ownership, compared to wealthy nations and even many other developing countries, thanks in part to high gasoline prices and historically high import tariffs. That might come as a surprise to anybody trapped in Bogotá's horrendous traffic jams, but it's also a warning of how monumental those traffic jams could be as more Colombians buy cars. That's already happening: 150,000 new cars are brought into Bogotá every year, and that number looks likely to accelerate with increasing economic growth and free trade agreements with the United States, Korea and the European Union.

If authorities don't take strong measures soon, Bogotá will strangle in traffic.

A parked car blocks a handicapped
ramp in the National Park.

The auto industry does generate lots of jobs in car assembly plants, sales, maintenance, etc etc. But the auto industry also bleeds Colombia's economy: about 60% of new cars are imported, taking capital out of the country, and each additional car consumes more gasoline, which otherwise could be exported and produce more income for Colombia's economy.

Add to that the pollution, traffic congestion and health problems caused by too many cars, and it's clear that automobiles are a drag on Colombia's economy, as well as its environment and quality of life.

Bogotá's Pico y Placa policy has obviously failed. Mayor Gustavo Petro wants to create a London-style congestion charge: that's not only a good idea. It's a necesity for this city.

Sensible transit? A cyclist passes cars in a traffic jam.

Related blog posts: Scenes from Car-Free Day

Bogotá: One-Way Trip to Becoming Los Angeles, Calif.?

Green or Grey Bogotá?

End of the Line for for Bogotá's Traffic Congestion?

Why expensive car fuel is a bargain for Colombia

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Scenes from 'Car-Free' Day

2012-02-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

An impossible scene on a normal day: A bicyclist has the whole street to himself in the Santa Fe neighborhood.

Today was Bogotá's annual Car-Free Day, when privately-owned cars - but not taxis, buses, work or official vehicles - are banned from the streets.

This block in La Candelaria
is normally blocked with cars
parked against the sidewalk.

The decade-old event begun by Mayor Enrique Peñalosa is intended to get auto-addicts thinking about alternative ways to get around, such as bikes and mass transit. At that, it's only a partial success, since many car users simply postpone trips to the next day. Commerce and activity generally declined today. I saw fewer street merchants and the public markets were quieter.

'This Thursday Feb. 2
the city takes a deep
breath thanks to
Car-Free Day.'

But I did see more bicyclists out today, as well as many more motorcycles. Traffic in general was down, making the city peacefuler, a bit less polluted and easier to navigate thru.

The Car-Free Day riles many auto addicted bogotanos, who have so internalized traffic jams that they take them for granted instead of seeing them as the urban blights they are. But hopefully perhaps it also opens a few people's minds.

However, to really change people's habits, we'd need both more frequent Car-Free Days and longer periods without cars. Those things aren't likely to come soon. But Mayor Gustavo Petro's plan to create a congestion fee for private car use just might accomplish something similar.

Experts from the National University reported that sulphur and ozone air pollutantion did not decline significantly during the Car-Free Day - principally because many of Bogotá's buses are decades old. I'd say, rather, blame it on the pollution - whether the vehicles are new or old.

"In 12 years of reflection with Car-Free Day, today we haven't taken a single action which contributes to solve these transit problems which burden the city," said the director of the Observatory on Logistics and Transit of the Center for Development Research at the National University, who has the notable name of Jose Stalin Rojas.

Sr. Rojas is exaggerating, at least a bit - if not for the TransMilenio express bus system and the Pico y Placa rule the city would be even worse. Let's hope that new mayor Gustavo Petro does bring some real changes, including a congestion charge and the Integrated Public Transit System (SITP).

On a normal afternoon, this intersection is in gridlock. Today, the skateboarders and pedestrians are in the clear.

Here's the same spot on a normal day. Does this make any transit sense?

And this avenue near the Universidad Central normally is a traffic jam every evening. Today, things were moving.

Impossible on an ordinary afternoon, workers roll a cart carrying lumber down a La Candelaria street.

'Fewer cars, more clean air' says this bus stop billboard.

The Gran Estacion shopping mall got into it with this newspaper ad - which offers to refund part of shoppers' taxi fares. How's that for logical?

Ceramic floormaker Alfa got into things with this ad in El Tiempo urging people to 'Give some fresh air to your house with Alfa...'

but alongside Alfa's ad was one selling cars...

It was not a motorcycle-free day.

Or a pollution-free day. Note the grey sky.

The red light district still had some activity.

Normally, the Palo Quemao Market's parking lot is crowded at mid-day.

Today, workers played soccer in the market's parking lot.

Waiting in a crowded TM station.

Zorreros, or horsecarts, were not banned.

Green or Grey Bogotá?

End of the Line for for Bogotá's Traffic Congestion?

Why expensive car fuel is a bargain for Colombia

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Raw Wound Reopens

2012-02-01T19:43:00.000-08:00

Soldiers attacking the Justice Palace in 1985.

In a dramatic and incendiary decision, a Bogotá court has ordered Colombia's military to publicly ask forgiveness for human rights violations committed during the retaking of the Justice Palace after a 1985 guerrilla attack.

Bogotá's City Hall: New mayor
Gustavo Petro was a leader of the M-19 guerrillas.

The M-19 guerrillas had violently invaded the Justice Palace, on Plaza Bolivar, with the apparent assistance of narco Pablo Escobar, and demanded that democratically elected Pres. Belisario Betancur give himself up for a trial by the guerrillas. Instead, the military counterattacked violently. The building went up in flames - the cause is still controversial - and about 100 people died, including 11 of the 12 high court justices. At the time, the military were heroes. But since then evidence has emerged of human rights violations committed by the military, and a consensus has formed that the military used too much violence in the palace's retaking.

The new Justice Palace building.

Col. Alfonso Plazas Vega, who commanded the counterattack, was convicted of violating human rights, but several other military officers were tried and acquitted.

A plaque in City Hall condemns
the guerrillas' 1985 attack.

However, the M-19 guerrillas' fate has been very different. A few years after the disasterous attack, the group demobilized and turned into a political party. They participated in the 1991 writing of Colombia's new and quite progressive Constitution, and today several one-time leaders of the M-19 are in government - including Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro.

Military officials ask how it is that the guerrillas, who started it all, are getting off scott-free, while the military who retook the palace are being tried and asked to apologize.

Retired military officials have rejected the court's ruling. (The court also ordered ex-Pres. Betancur's role to be presented to the International Criminal Court.)

A plaque on Seventh Ave. commemorating the people who
disappeared during the military counterattack.

The El Tiempo newspaper criticized the ruling in a strong editorial, and asked why the guerrillas, who staged the attack, should not have to apologize as well.

"Ordering the Army to carry out an act of public contrition for an attack initiated by guerrillas is both humilliating and excessive," El Tiempo wrote.

ordenar al Ejército que haga un acto de contrición pública por una toma de inspiración guerrillera es tanto humillante como excesivo.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Justice for El Choco!

2012-02-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

Protesters from Choco Dept. symbolically chain themselves by the entrance to the Cathedral of Bogotá.

Panning for gold in a Choco River.

On Plaza Bolivar today a group of people from El Choco Department demanded government help for their region's many problems, including corruption, lack of resources and flooding of the Atrato River.

El Choco, on Colombia's Pacific Coast, has become almost allegorical for poverty, violence and low human development levels. The region, whose residents are mostly Afro-Colombians, as well as indigenous, has been wracked by Colombia's armed conflict, as well as environmental degradation. Altho the region has great biodiversity, that has suffered from deforestation and destructive gold mining. Much of Colombia's cocaine production is trafficked across El Choco to the Pacific Coast, where it's often shipped north in submarines.

The protesters demanded dredging of the Atrato River, which they said has killed dozens of people in floods.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Hay Festival: Culture and Drug Policy

2012-01-31T19:14:00.000-08:00

The Hay Festival which just ended in Cartagena is an annual celebration of literature, dance, gastronomy and other culture from all over the world. But this year, with much of Latin America wracked by drug-fueled violence, it also carried a subtext about how to address the regional plague.

Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes.

No More Violence

The 2012 festival was headlined by Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes, who has spoken out frequently against prohibitionism, which many blame for his nation's soaring violent crime.

"Mexico's policy doesn't end the problem, but worsen's it and makes it insolvable," Fuentes said, who supports gradual drug depenalization beginning with marijuana. "It involves opening an a subject area in which drugs are consumed but aren't a crime, and trafficking ends because it's not profitable anymore."

But the most prominent speaker on drugs was undoubtedly Colombian Pres. Juan Manuel Santos, who made clear that he supports drug depenalization - but only if Colombia has an international consensus behind it.

Massacred migrants in Mexico.

"That solution would be acceptable for Colombia if the whole world accepts it," said Santos (asking for a lot). But for Colombia to go it alone would mean making itself an economic and political pariah.

"We must seek alternatives," Santos added, "because narcotrafficking finances all the illegal groups."

Juan Manuel Santos

Those illegal groups include Colombia's guerrillas, paramilitaries and narcos, as well as the cartels which have turned some Mexican cities into slaughterhouses and created gangs in Brazil, Venezuela and the Caribbean. A recent study found that 40 of the world's 50 most violent cities were in the Americas. (Five of those cities were Colombian, Cali ranking in 11th place. Bogotá was not in the top 50.)

"This subject cannot continue being taboo," Santos asserted.

Nicaraguan novelist
Sergio Ramirez.

Nicaraguan novelist Sergio Ramirez observed that "Central America occupies a tragic position: geographically, it's a bridge for drugs from south to the north and we can't move from there...Just as Mexico experienced a 'Colombianization,' Central America is now being 'Mexicanized.'

For a really strong statement backing drug depenalization, read this statement on the Colombian presidential website. It's striking to me. A position which used to be only whispered in hallways is now out in the open. But will policy follow reasoning?

"Colombia has perhaps been the nation which has suffered most fighting against narcotrafficking. It's cost us our best leaders, journalists, judges and police."

A Botero painting
condemning violence.

Santos then compares the War on Drugs to pedaling a stationary bicycle, and then goes on to recall his time as Colombian defense minister, when he worked with the U.S. D.E.A. and defined 'success' as raising drug prices in U.S. cities. However, Santos observes, those higher prices only made the illegal business even more profitable for those who got their drug shipments thru.

"Take the profits away from organized crime, and maybe take these profits for the state in order to carry out campaigns against consumption, are some practical solutions, which I believe that if adopted on an international level could be effective," Santos said.

Not long ago, these were radical opinions seen only in alternative publications. But here they are expressed by a conservative president of one of the nations which has made the greatest efforts and suffered the most in the War on Drugs.

If some of the novelists and other writers who attended the Hay Festival have their way, perhaps drug decriminalization will change from fiction to fact.

Here's El Tiempo newspaper's editorial: Drug's Legalization and Taboos

By Mike Ceaser of Bogotá Bike Tours

Scenes Along La Ciclovia

2012-01-31T07:03:00.000-08:00

A girl and her dog on La Ciclovia.

Bogotá's world-famous Ciclovia, during which hundreds of kilometers of streets are shut to cars every Sunday and holiday, has enjoyed sunny weather during the past several weeks. The Ciclovia is a celebration of cycling and other sports, but it's also many more things, including the world's longest street party, a place to see and be seen, a vendors' paradise and a place for art and politics.

And it's not just for cyclists. La Ciclovia's also for walkers, skaters, wheelchair users and joggers.

Celebrating La Ciclovia.

Enough! On Seventh Ave. across from the Plaza de Toros, anti-bullfighting activists have hung signs condemning the practice.

This guy found a new load for his cargo bike - his two kids.

Not all Ciclovia users are casual cyclists, as these competitive types show.

TransMilenio construction work is going on along much of Seventh Ave. in central Bogotá. The work is way behind schedule.

This woman pedaled a vending cycle.

Disabled racing tricyclists.

This kid was driving a loud, gasoline-powered scooter - which should be prohibited on La Ciclovia.

A girl steps off of her scooter to look at the Presidential Palace.

Guinea pigs line up to race near San Francisco Church.

Hockey on skates in the National Park.

Kids on new bikes.

Lorenzo the vicuña in Plaza San Victorino.

Crossing Seventh Ave.'s bridge over 26th St. The bridge is to be demolished and replaced. Where will La Ciclovia go?

Orlando, a regular on La Ciclovia, celebrates Cuba's revolution and denounces the Colombian and U.S. governments.

La Ciclovia is also a huge sales floor. Here, a man selling plums from a cart.

It's also a political platform. Someone set up this photo display about human rights issues.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Pick the Prison-Worthy Crime

2012-01-30T18:54:00.000-08:00

On the left: Men throw dice on Plaza San Victorino, near a 'Chance' shop.
On the right: a traffic accident on 26th St.

Which crime deserves harsher punishment? Small-time gambling, or drunk driving and killing someone?

In Bogotá, apparently the former.

Today's El Tiempo reports that, despite officials' vows to crack down on drunk drivers, motorists who kill others while drunk continue receiving short prison sentences or are even allowed to do their 'prison time' at home.

'Three illegal Chance
sellers sentenced to
four years in prison.''

In contrast, I saw this photocopy today warning that several vendors of illegal 'Chance' tickets had received four-year prison sentences. Those are people who sell either counterfeit tickets from the city's official Chance numbers game or tickets for their own, unofficial and illegal numbers games. Numbers games are bad bets and mostly take money from poor people, who can least afford to lose their money. Bogotá's official Chance game is supposed to finance health care, and the government estimates it loses close to 1.5 billion pesos - or $800,000 dollars - per month because of fraud and illegal games.

Financing health care:
an official 'Chance' ticket shop.

But selling fraudulent tickets can't compare to the immorality or damage from getting drunk, driving a car and killing someone. But, El Tiempo reports, judges continue to consider drunk driving deaths 'unintentional,' and so deserving lighter punishment than a deliberate killing. In contrast, many other nations hold people responsible for their actions while under the influence. Otherwise, inebriation becomes a license to kill, as happens here.

El Tiempo also reports that drunk drivers often pay off their victims' families to drop charges against them.

As so often happens, 'justice' obeys economic power. And in Colombia car drivers are by nature people with money, if only because they own cars.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Lie Detector Reveals an Unpleasant Truth

2012-01-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

Note poligraph for me:
prosecutor Jesus Albeiro Yepes.
(Photo: El Espectador)

This story in the other day's El Espectador newspaper reports that an experienced Colombian anti-mafia prosecutor, who was fired after refusing to take a lie detector test administered by the U.S.'s FBI in 2004, has been reinstated by a court order.

I'm struck to read that a U.S. government agency is administering lie detector tests to Colombian officials - and even moreso that Colombia would fire someone for not taking the test.

Some prosecutors who did take the FBI's test reported having been asked humiliating questions, including ones about their sex lives, El Espectador reported. (The story doesn't make clear whether or not the tests continue.)

"If one is not capable of defending his dignity, neither is he capable of guaranteeing a correct legal process," prosecutor Jesús Albeiro Yepes told El Espectador.

What have you got down there? In 2007,
a Secret Agent frisks Colombia's presidential
honor guard before George Bush's arrival.

Yepes has a good point. Certainly, Colombia has a corruption problem (as do many countries). But U.S. leaders have repeatedly touted Colombia as a great ally in the drug war. Doesn't such an ally deserve lots more respect and trust? Particularly if the U.S. wants Colombia to eventually stand on its own in the War on Drugs?

This story reminds me of an incident during George W. Bush's 2007 visit to Bogotá, when U.S. Secret Service agents frisked Colombia's presidential honor guard before Bush's arrival. How's that for trust?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A 100th Anniversary for a Millenial Site

2012-01-28T19:59:00.000-08:00

Researchers in San Agustin in 1946 (Photo: El Espectador)

The Parque San Agustin in Huila Province is celebrating the 100th anniversary of scientific research about the site's famed 2,000-year-old monoliths. For its own part, Bogotá's own San Agustin Park in the Santa Fe neighborhood is passing a more modest first birthday.

Monuments in San Agustin, Huila Province.

Huila's San Agustin archeological park is the only place in Colombia with pre-Columbian monuments. But their makers remain a mystery. The people, called Agustinianos after the present-day town nearby, created about 300 stone monuments between about the first and eighth centuries after Christ. Then, their civilization disappeared, perhaps pressured by the invasion of other peoples, climate change or other causes.

San Agustin in Bogotá.

The Swiss writer Erich Von Däniken, who saw extraterrestrial influences in many ancient human civilizations, credited aliens with influencing the ancient Agustinianos. Others have theorized about Mayan, Egyptian or even Viking connections. All those speculations, which have little evidence, short-change the native Colombians, who undoubtedly were capable of creating magnificent stone monuments without outside help. Researchers theorize that the monuments were used for ancestor worship and may have represented reincarnation. Many mix human and feline charcteristics, suggesting the mixing of human and animal spirits. Perhaps the monuments provided gateways between this world and the next.

A bicycle tourist
beside the famous
'Doble Yo' figure.

The monuments in Bogotá's own park, which is located in the very urban Santa Fe neighborhood behind the Central Cemetery and just a few blocks from the red light district, have a better-known origin: They were created by local sculptors, including some of the people who carve headstones nearby.

For the rest of this year, the San Agustin Archeological Park in Huila plans to commemorate the Colombian and foreign archeologists who began researching the region in 1913. Research there continues, and probably will never end.

Perhaps more significant for us than the original Agustinianos' origin was their disappearance. Like the Mayans and the monument builders of Easter Island, the Agustinians were replaced by a much simpler culture incapable or uninterested in creating such massive objects.

Did the original Agustinianos fall victim to climate change? Overpopulation? War? Environmental destruction? We may never know. But, for a nation like Colombia challenged by many of these problems and others, the Agustinianos' disappearance serves as a warning about preserving the environment and finding peaceable means to end conflict.

While Huila's San Agustin region appears bucolic, much of rural Colombia suffers from erosion, pollution, deforestation and desertification. And Bogotá's Santa Fe neighborhood captures many urban ills, including litter, air and noise pollution. Sometimes, it seems, cities like Bogotá are carrying out an experiment in how a species can poison itself in its own wastes.

This figure, in Bogotá's Santa Fe neighborhood, appears to suffer from an indeterminate gender.

The Bogotá park is a green island amidst urban noise and pollution.

Posing with a face.

These figures might represent male midwives, or gods devouring infants.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Water, Water, Everywhere

2012-01-26T19:37:00.000-08:00

Drenched pedestrians walk past street vendors taking refuge in a caged entrance on 11th St.

With Bogotá suffering unseasonable downpours, it's appropriate that La Candelaria's Luis Angel Arango Library (on 11th St. across from the Botero Museum) is holding an exhibition about Colombia's water.

I visited the library while the rains had turned 11th Street into a river. On the next corner uphill a group of street vendors and their children had taken refuge in an entrance, where they appeared to be caged in.

Colombia is one of the planet's most water-blessed nations. But lots of those water resources are threatened by pollution, erosion and deforestation. One of the worst cases is Bogotá's own Rio Bogotá, which you can smell long before you can see.

But Colombia also has Agua de Panela, a popular drink made using sugar cane.

A wealthy white family on an outing down by the river.

A car floats downhill in La Candelaria.

Indigenous people canoe down a river.

A steamboat on the Magdalena River, immortalized by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Panning for gold on a riverside, perhaps in the El Chocó region.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The OTHER Free Trade Agreements

2012-01-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

A man stands beside a graffiti saying 'No Free Trade Agreement' in central Bogotá.

With the approval last year of Colombia's free trade agreement with the United States, protests against and public attention to free trade issues seemed to disappear.

But the U.S. deal is only one of many FTAs for Colombia. Some of them, such as ones with Turkey, Switzerland and Iceland are not likely to fundamentally affect Colombia's economy, others might.

And probably the most important deal being negotiated is with South Korea. The Korea FTA's supporters emphasize that Korea has become a major world economy, and one of the planet's most vital economies. In only 60 years, Korea rose from Japanese occupation and, despite enduring a civil war and a hostile, totalitarian neighbor to its north, converted itself into one of the more important and dynamic economies in the world.

Today, despite having few natural resources, Korea's economy is five times the size of Colombia's and it has a per-capita GDP almost six times Colombia's. Korea is home to some of the world's best-known brands, including Samsung, LG and Hyundai.

Bagging export coffee by hand in a small Bogotá coffee factory. Can Colombian industry compete with Korea's
highly-sophisticated manufacturers?

FTA advocates say that Colombia needs to open the door to such an important market, which could also be a gateway to Asia.

But South Korea's success story also contains a lesson for Colombia. Korea grew its economy not on free trade and lassie faire, but with government assistance and protectionism. This 1985 Kellog University paper about Korea's economy said: "In order to secure the domestic market, the government not only placed orders once production began, but also quickly protected the products with an armory of barriers. These included a prohibited list of good, quotas and tariffs...."

The Colombian government argues that Colombia's exports have grown after signing FTAs. But, to Canada, Colombia appears to have exported primarily hydrocarbons and coffee - raw materials or products with limited added value. Economic leaders appear to expect the same from the proposed Korea FTA. The El Colombiano newspaper and ex-Pres. Alvaro Uribe's website - both FTA supporters - predicted that "With the treaty, some economic sectors will win, such as primary materials, and others which could be hurt, such as home appliances and cars, since Korea is a world power in these areas."

It's no surprise, then, that Colombia's engineers, automobile assemblers and manufacturing unions are opposing the Korea FTA.

Sure, by signing the Korean FTA Colombia could export more oil, coal, coffee and bananas. But it'll open the floodgates to cheap Korean-made cars and other manufactured goods. That'll be great for Colombian retailers, but terrible for its unions and manufacturers. And those manufacturing jobs are the ones which create skilled labor and a healthy middle class, instead of the low-wage sales jobs.

You build a healthy economy by putting people to work designing and manufacturing microwaves and refrigerators - not making minimum wage hawking appliances manufactured overseas.

And, besides, do Colombia's leaders really think they'll benefit their nation by clogging Colombia's streets with cheap (and often polluting) which also export Colombian jobs? In other words, if Colombia is going to strangle its cities and poison its air with more cars, at least let them be made here by Colombians!

The Korea FTA's advocates assert that Korea and Colombia have 'complementary economies.' That's true, in a sense: Colombia's economy depends on agriculture and raw materials production; Korea's is based on manufacturing and thinking work. But, to increase its wealth and qualit of life, Colombia needs to make the shift to a manufacturing economy. But if Colombia destroys its incipient manufacturing sector with a flood of cheap foreign-made goods, it'll never make the leap.

Coming up are other FTAs, including one with the European Union, which could bring more cheap manufactured goods, as well as subsidized agricultural products. Find all the signed and possible future treaties on the government's website here: www.tlc.gov.co

Here's an excellent commentary in Foreign Policy: Will Colombia be the next free trade victim?

Related posts:

March of the Milk Makers

Free trade - for what?

Students' Day of Rage

The Gringo Invasion Vs Colombian Innovation

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Imprisoned on San Victorino Plaza!

2012-01-23T18:09:00.000-08:00

Imprisoned on Plaza San Victorino.

During a bike tour today we passed by these young men in a juryrigged jail beside the Butterfly sculpture.

What's strange about this scene?

The scene is disturbing for several reasons: the informal holding pen suggests vigilantiism and lack of rule of law, suggesting other times in other nations where people were detained arbitrarily because of the way they looked or who they were, and subjected to public humiliation. The guys I saw inside the pen certainly did not look like people I'd invite over for dinner.

Other people on the plaza suggested that these youths had been detained because they weren't carrying identification or were thieves. But they didn't seem to know, or particularly care. If the youths had committed crimes, why weren't they under arrest, instead of enclosed here like stray dogs?

Bogotá certainly has a crime problem. But one would hope that, especially with a new leftist mayor in charge, it'd find less repressive and more constructive ways to address the problem, such as trying to get these kids into school or work.

Until a recent court decision, the military would stop young men in public places and ask for proof that they'd done the obligatory military service. If they didn't have it, it was off to the army.

Related blogppost: Civil Rights for Suspects?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Aggressive Graffiti

2012-01-23T15:35:00.000-08:00

Zero bullfighting.

This afternoon, these guys were painting this anti-bullfighting mural - right across the street from the entrance to Bogotá's La Plaza de Toros, its bullfighting stadium.

The mural won't likely last long - "They'll erase it soon," a stadium security guard predicted to me.

So the aficionados won't likely see the mural when they arrive for next Sunday's bullfights.

Anti-bullfighting activists got a boost recently when Bogotá's new Mayor Gustavo Petro said the city should consider banning the sport.

Related blog post: No More Olé!

Toxicomano's Massive Mural

The completed anti-bullfighting mural. How long will it last?

It lasted less than a week. It was painted over before the next Sunday's bullfight.

Satire? 'Bullfighting is art and graffiti is vandalism.'

This great piece of street art celebrating student protests....

................was replaced by these ugly scrawls below!

Several months ago, ´protesting public university students painted a mural here on Carrera 4 denouncing, among other things, proposed reforms of the public universities (which died) and the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (which was approved last year). On the same block, coincidentally, is the HQ of the National Retailers' Federation (FENALCO), which backed the FTA. Unsurprisingly, the mural was painted over.

These lesbian stencils appeared on La Candelaria walls in recent weeks. I've seen quite a few female couples holding hands in the neighborhood recently, and they seem perfectly comfortable.

'Femininity and masculinity: Two poles of massive indoctrination.'

'Ruining your tranquility will be our best orgasm.'

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours, which does Graffiti Tours.

One More Year!!!???

2012-01-22T18:51:00.000-08:00

A unicyclist pedals behind a bus across the half-demolished Seventh Ave. bridge over 26th St.

Work left to do:
26th St. at 7th Ave.

In an interview in today's El Tiempo new Mayor Gustavo Petro says that the 26th St. Transmilenio line - which was supposed to be completed in 2010 - will not be operating in March of this year, or even in August, as temporary Mayor Clara Lopez had promised.

A car makes its way down
26th St., amid construction.

Petro said that, because of various delays, particularly the need to demolish and rebuild Seventh Ave.'s bridge over 26th St., the project would not be operating until 2013.

Hopefully, Petro was describing a worst-case scenario in order to see the project finished earlier and appear efficient. He suggested as much, by asserting that the bridge project should take much less than a year.

The trench on Seventh leads to the
planned National Museum TM station.

Lots of other projects also need finishing: the city still hasn't managed to purchase a plot of land it needs for an on-ramp near the City Council building because the owners are insisting on more money. And the huge roof structure being built over 26th east of Seventh Ave. to connect Independence Park with the Museum of Modern Art has been delayed by neighbors' lawsuits. And then there's the National Museum TransMilenio station, where work is just starting.

Several of the pedestrian
bridges over 26th are completed
and being used, altho not
officially open yet.

The delays are frustrating not only because finally getting TransMilenio running on these avenues would facilitate the city's transit. More critically, these two TransMilenio corridors are required for Bogotá's more ambitious plan to get traffic moving and reduce pollution: the Integrated System of Public Transit (SITP). Beyond that are the planned subway and possible streetcar line along Seventh Ave.

Of course, all of these ambitous infrastructure plans mean another thing: Expect Bogotá to resemble one big construction site for a long, long, time.

26th from overhead.

Seventh Ave's bridge is already half-demolished.

Heavy work on Seventh Ave.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours