The Rajun Cajun on Demand

I just came to learn that our favorite rabble-rousin', bbq-analogy-makin' Democratic pundit, Mr. James Carville is the top campaign adviser to the conservative Colombian presidential candidate Juan Manuel Santos. Well, they both are pretty scary looking guys but I think that may be their only thing in common.

In other presidential campaign news, former Medellín mayor Sergio Fajardo has announced that he is willing to join forces with Green Party's Antanas Mockus for a center-left presidential coalition. Mockus, currently polling third after conservative candidates Santos and Sanin has not made any official announcements.

Colombian Congress: early returns, vote buying & corruption

Election day came and passed without any major incident, in fact, Colombia's Defense Minister has stated that these have been the "calmest elections in 25 years." That doesn't mean there weren't "irregularities," after all, this is democracy. The biggest taint that is beginning to unravel about these elections is the "Parapolitics" card. Al-Jazeera reported that Paramilitaries in rural areas had been intimidating voters and the Mission for Electoral Observation (electoral NGO) reported that the controversial Party for National Integration (PIN) had been involved in "vote-buying." The reason PIN is so controversial is that it is a coalition of relatives and spouses of other conservative parties that disbanded after many of its members were imprisoned for their direct ties to paramilitaries.

The PIN won 8 Senate seats and will join National Unity (27 seats), Conservative (23) and Radical Change (8) to form a dominant majority to support Uribe's pick for President in the coming months. For the opposition, the Liberal Party held 18 seats, followed by Polo (8) and Green Party (5). Votes for the house are still slowly being counted but seem to reflect a similar trend as the Senate. This overwhelming support for Pro-Uribe parties will no doubt play a large role in the upcoming presidential elections on May 30th. Everyone is expecting this Congressional bellweather to whisk in presidential hopeful (and Uribista favorite) Juan Manuel Santos. Though Uribe has not specifically endorsed a candidate AND the OAS and other independent electoral comissions have not finished with their reports. It's possible these electoral corruption charges could pan out and provide more support for the Opposition. Only time will tell.

Three Months to Run, a (Former) Guerilla in Second

 

 

"The happiest man in Colombia today is Juan Manuel Santos," said fellow presidential candidate Gustavo Petro following the Supreme Court's ruling barring a 3rd term for President Uribe. Who is Juan Manuel Santos? He's Colombia's former Defense Minister and the current favorite for the Presidential Elections on May 30th. One of the first polls conducted after the court ruling placed support for Santos at 23%, with opposition candidate Gustavo Petro at 11% and former Senator German Vargas Lleras and former Medellín mayor Sergio Fajardo both sharing 9%.

Some analysis: Everyone here has regarded Santos as the default frontrunner (if Uribe couldn't stand) since last year. If elected, he would most likely maintain the course that current President Uribe has plotted. However, his elite background and relationship with Big Media threaten to undermine his support with poorer voters in Colombia. Every candidate (except for Petro) has praised and pledged to continue Uribe's security policy, placing social and economic issues as the main differences between the candidates.

However, the only candidate that has outright challenged the competency (and legality) of Uribe's presidency is the Democratic Pole's Gustavo Petro, making him the true opposition candidate. And yes, he has a history of guerilla militancy that nearly barred him from being able to stand for election. After starting a political party influenced by his former history with the April M-19 movement, Petro sought to legitimize his ideals by forming a Left-wing alliance to win a seat in the Chamber of Representatives in Bogota. The guerilla-turned-economist was a wildly popular representative, prompting him to run for Senator of Colombia (twice) and was reelected with the second highest voter turnout in the country in 2006. I won't go much into the details of his sparring with President Uribe, but he has been one of the most vocal critics of the Uribe adminstration, launching probes and public debates into the dark spots of the Uribe presidency, namely about the relationship between paramilitaries and drug trafficking. In addition to receiving several death threats against his family, there have been several incidents in which the Colombian Secret Service has been accused of spying on his family. Petro has also been a vocal critic of the FARC guerilla insurgency, comparing them to Pol Pot and stating: "the FARC aren't revolutionaries, they aren't left but right wing and they are criminals."

What surprises me is that in a country where there are so much anxiety about the future of the security situation, how a candidate clearly opposed to the current state of affairs can get such broad support. Granted, this poll was early, the sample was small and a lot of people are fed up with Uribe; but keep in mind that in less than three months, the next President of the Republic of Colombia will be elected. There is a huge pool of candidates looking to take advantage of this relatively short time and none has really put down all their chips just yet. My guess is that most are waiting to test the waters with the results of the Congressional elections which happen in less than two weeks! Considering both presidential and congressional campaigns have now "officially" started, it's a fascinating time to be following politics in this country.

 
*Above images are from: www.elecciones.com.co, which features a full list of all of the congressional and presidential candidates running and some really cool interactive features.

He Will Not Stand

 This morning I awoke at 6am to the sound of car horns and loudspeakers blasting kitchy campaign jingles. As I peered outside, I saw a convoy of cars with Conservative Party regalia (of course they're first ones up on a Saturday) touting the merits of their candidates for congressional elections in March. I've had at three more convoys drive by my apartment and I shall be expecting one more to round out the list of Colombia's five major political parties. I'm beginning to develop a migraine as its been like this all day: shouting, car horns and blaring music nonstop. The scene couldn't have been any different yesterday when the Colombian Supreme Court decided that current president Alvaro Uribe could not stand for a 3rd term.

The whole city was in slow motion on Friday, with most Paisas glued to their radios listening to commentary of what could be the most important decision for the future of Colombia. Passing through downtown, I saw a large group of anti-Uribe protestors next to a group of pro-Uribistas, both ready to take to the streets, save for the heavy police deployment keeping them apart. Despite the level of anxiety that hung in the air prior to the ruling, there were no major disturbances afterwards. They closed most of the main streets in Medellín after the ruling and for the first time, I saw army patrols walking through the neighborhood to keep any potential troublemakers off the streets. In the downtown bars, the scene varied from table to table: some elated Paisas pouring shots and celebrating Uribe's departure, others somberly downing bottles of aguardiente and worrying about the future of their country.

Every Colombian will acknowledge the success Uribe has achieved in his security policy which has made the country safer than it has ever been since the Marxist insurgencies. However, when it comes to social and economic development, his merits become a little more jaded. Most people I've talked from more well-to-do economic backgrounds were Uribe supporters and consequently, disappointed that he can't run again. Their fear is that a president that doesn't have the cojones to stand up to the FARC and Hugo Chavez will allow the country to revert to a less secure place than before Uribe was elected. However, the alleged corruption and human rights violations that occurred during his 2nd term have caused many who support his security policy to jump ship. Those from less wealthy backgrounds that I've talked to have been Uribe's harshest critics, namely for his (mis)handling of social programs, as well as inability to adequately address the issue of displaced coca farmers who have remained jobless since their relocation.

The interesting thing about the supreme court ruling is that today, both congressional and presidential election campaigns have "officially" started. I was told that even the Colombian Stock Market was literally at a standstill Friday, as traders anxiously awaited the ruling. Many political campaigns were holding back on spending until after the ruling, even many for next month's congressional elections which will serve as a barometer for the presidential election in May. In any case, campaign chaos has finally arrived and the fact that the campaign periods are so short will definitely provide for some tasty commentary. More to come.

The Mantra Obama

I was walking down the street today and noticed a sign promoting Eduardo Noriega for the 2010 Senatorial elections that resembled someone familiar....

 

Not all of his poses look like this, but I think they chose this pic for a reason. Eduardo Noriega, who has fifty-one (though he doesn't look it) years of being a lawyer under his belt has "dedicated his whole life to public service and looks to shake things up by having more diversity in the media and mass communication." This instantly reminded me of the six Brazilian candidates in 2008 who adopted the name "Barack Obama" to try and cash in on the world's Obamamania. This demonstrates that despite being the big, bad Yankee promoting U.S. military use of 7 Colombian military bases, the mantra Obama still has some serious shine here in Colombia. 

Whenever I've talked about the military base issue, most Colombians have been quicker to fault President Uribe, rather than Obama. While almost all give him credit for helping bring the security situation under control, many are quick to point out his neglect for constitutionality, human rights, or a number of other issues. Though it seems like every Colombian I've asked is against it, opinion polls favor Uribe in the upcoming May 30 referendum to see if he can be elected for a 3rd term.

Militant Urbistas vs. Pacifictic Peruvians

Casa Viena in Cartagena served as a great staging point for outings, both night and day. We opted for the Chiva bus last night, which is sort of like an old school bus painted Rasta colors with musicians onboard grinding away and shouting Vallenato music. We were packed in behind an accordion player who had the Wesley Snipes “Blade” do’ plus a rat tail and tossed a bottle of rum to start. I couldn’t figure what the objective of the Chiva was: a halfhearted city tour? An odd musical experience or a tipsy tourist dance off? We got all of these things, with very little gusto on the end of our guides, maybe the Chiva just was. 

The bus dropped us outside some clubs that looked too pricey and too full of prostitutes to be fun, so we drank the remaining rum outside by the beach. A couple from Medellin heard our English and were even more excited to discover 2 Yankee brothers they could talk to in Spanish. “Antonio” had his wife pose with us for several pictures, why? “Because you are Yankees and I have never had pictures with Yankees, I love you guys!” He then went on to declare proudly that he was a staunch “Urbista” (President Uribe supporter) and that he wanted a constitutional change for a third term to kick ass and take names.

His demeanor struck me very much of a pro-war conservative in the States post-9/11 and pre-Iraq number II. He kept firing his fake machine gun up into the air to emphasize his points: “and we’re gonna smoke out all those socialist bastards out of the jungle, RATATATAT YEAH!” And this guy was almost forty. It reminded me of when we drove by the naval base and saw a huge statue out front of a Colombian soldier, flag in one hand, mouth open wide (presumably yelling) with his machine gun pointed towards the sky. He didn’t mesh well with Daniel, a pacifistic Peruvian sculptor who was one of the only other sole Spanish speakers in what became “the gang” for the night. Daniel and Antonio were lightly sparring words all night, Daniel usually deferring to take the high road and admit that Colombia was safer because of massive military mobilization. “But it’s not that simple,” he would whisper to me “mobilization of right wing paramilitaries has displaced millions and killed thousands.” It’s a difficult subject to discuss, especially when your own country has been so involved (Colombia still receives about $500-600 million a year in U.S. military aid). While I’ve been apt to talk politics in Argentina and virtually everywhere else, in Colombia I have just been listening. 

We ended up on the magnificent city wall, listening to downtempo electronic music at Café Del Mar. The majority of the people on the wall had opted to hang out outside the club as opposed to club-priced beer and we chose to do the same. I polished of a great looking burger on the way back as well, green tomatoes and peppers, yum.   

 

Pino, Pino, Pino

Yesterday, I managed to catch a documentary by Fernando "Pino" Solanas, who is like an Argentine version of Michael Moore and Howard Dean rolled into one. He has uniquely used his political positions (senator, deputy of Buenos Aires) to gain access to corrupt Argentine politicians and businessmen.

He got his start as an original Peronist, helping make films for ousted Prez, Juan Peron while both were in exile in Spain. Upon returning to Argentina, he became an outspoken critic of President Menem and a day after denouncing him publicly, was attacked and shot 6 times. This helped launch his political career, even running for President after founding his own political party. Though currently the National Deputy for the City of Buenos Aires, he's continuing to make movies.

His latest documentary that I caught called "Oro Impuro" (impure gold) and was about the environmental, economic and social ills of the Argentine mining industry. The movie was fairly well done; he does have the "Galeano"-type world view but manages to avoid the preachy overtones prevalent in Michael Moore Films. Here's one of the only works of his I could find with english subtitles: "Hour of the Furnace" from 1968. Lots of animal gore and marxism, just to let you know.

Sell your soul for a Chori and Cola

Despite the numerous protests constantly clogging everything up here in Argentina, come election time, there is a great deal of apathy and inaction. This is largely a result of widespread political corruption, including on election day when political parties attempt(and usually succeed) to hit and streets and buy the votes of the poor with a Choripan (sandwich) and a Coke.

The annual corruption index, issued Transparency International Indicates that countries such as Chile and Uruguay have made great strides towards becoming less corrupt, getting ratings just barely behind the U.S and Canada. Argentina, however, rounds out the bottom of the pack with buddies Bolivia, Ecuador and just barely beating out the Most corrupt: Venezuela.


Click Here to check the ratings of other countries.