It’s been another one of those years in the country where you look back at January like it was a decade ago. A lot happens in Colombia, while some things seem to never change.

There’s been a lot going on from politics to sports, entertainment to construction. Some of those have seen great changes and unusual events, whereas others have trucked along playing all the classic hits.

We’ve rounded up the various goings-on to fill you in on some of the year’s highlights and lowlights.

Petro lurches from blunder to blunder

Gustavo Petro hasn’t had that bad a year, in one sense. However, he has got the square root of nothing done while also making a right spectacle of himself. He loves a bit of grandstanding, that now means carting around M-19 flags to official engagements.

Having crossed the halfway point of his presidency, it’s becoming ever harder to see what his legacy may end up being. It’s unlikely that the doomsters will be vindicated – his inaction has meant the country can get on with running itself and inflation is back under control.

He’s taking plenty of trips too, spending more time outside Bogotá than in the seat of power. In Uruguay that meant trying to show off his M-19 flag, in Panama wandering around with strange women and in Barranquilla getting booed by football fans.

There were rumblings of wanting to change the constitution, but those seem to have subsided. He’s started to muddy the waters around reelection, saying he won’t seek it but making vague comments suggesting it wouldn’t be bad. Petro also used coup language earlier in the year, making high drama of blocks on his governance such as an investigation into his campaign funding.

After the farce of the Panamerican Games being yanked away from Barranquilla, COP16 was a chance for redemption. Choosing Cali as a host city was a huge risk, and it didn’t pay off. Delegates ended up in motels, few big names turned up and nothing really got done.

He’s shed a whole load more ministers, in what seems to be his favourite pastime: binning people off. Latest to go was finance minister Ricardo Bonilla in scandal-adjacent circumstances. That means Petro is now on his third(!) finance minister.

Not much success on the hiring side of things either, mind, with his naming of Matarrife director Daniel Mendoza as ambassador to Thailand raising hackles across the political spectrum. Petro initially doubled down on that until Mendoza withdrew himself over misogynistic tweets he had made.

Proper scandals have been strangely thin on the ground this year. There’s the ongoing case of Nicolás Petro in the background, but most of the shenanigans have revolved around nepotism and appointments, with the Alcocer family of Petro’s wife prominent.

Femicides have risen to record levels, which has flown under the radar a bit. The current administration is certainly more friendly to the feminist cause, but has not translated that into action. Like many groups, feminist supporters of Petro seem to have been cast aside now he’s in power.

Paz Total has been so far more like Fracaso Total. Talks are either stalling, failing or non-existent with various groups and conflicts have continued throughout the year. This isn’t ideal for a president who has a background in guerillismo.

The conflict in the Middle East again made waves in Colombia with Petro deciding to cut diplomatic relations with Israel. Less dramatically but perhaps more worrying as a trend, the UK ended visa-free entry for Colombians and Germany announced a review of its policy. Both countries have seen asylum claims rocket in recent years.

In Bogotá

In the capital itself, the Embera occupation of the Parque Nacional finally ended in the autumn, with the community mostly leaving to return to their ancestral lands in Northwest Colombia.

La nevera’s reputation as a cold, wet place took a bit of a hammering in 2024. First, the hot, dry conditions of January-February saw fires break out repeatedly, mainly in the cerros orientales.

While they came to an end eventually, water rationing struck in early April and stayed for the whole year. The reservoirs have stayed low, however, so while there’s a festive break for the holiday period, it’ll be back in force in early January.

It’s not been fun living under the restrictions, but this is a multifaceted problem. Simply put, we are all using far too much water and at the same time the system is chronically underfunded. The latter may come as a surprise to those that pay the seemingly ever-increasing EAAB bills. Throw in a short and weak rainy season and it might be April before relief comes.

New mayor Carlos Fernando Galán has been quietly getting on with things. Not all of his campaign pledges have come to pass, but he’s managed not to have any nightmares and deal with the central government reasonably well. A cautious OK for now, but progress will need to be shown soon.

Construction on the long-awaited Metro de Bogotá is in full flow now, which is no mean feat. It means plenty of short term pain with road closures and transmi redirects in place, but the long term vision is much better. Galán has largely kept Petro from meddling, meaning that the project is on schedule so far.

The ciclovía celebrated its half-century in muted form. Slightly swallowed up by Christmas and bleak news domestically and worldwide,.it barely registered with many people in the end. Sad, really, for an event that could be considered the capital’s defining feature.

Crime remains on the up, despite a number of high profile top level arrests by local police. While recent figures show a decline in certain types of crime, there is widespread mistrust of the official statistics and plenty of high profile incidents such as broad daylight murders in the centre of the city.

Sports

The Copa America was huge here for once, with James Rodríguez rolling back the years to lead the country to the final. Sadly, they fell at the last hurdle against world champions Argentina in mildly dubious circumstances.

Colombia had a good penalty shout turned down at the death after Lautaro Martínez’ late strike in extra time had broken the deadlock. The journey was soured a little by farcical scenes at the stadium as fans were blocked from entering and then invaded. The semifinal, too, saw clashes between fans and Uruguayan players who ended up storming the stands.

In the mountains of Europe, los escarabajos of Colombia made their mark with some dashing riding even if there was little to show in cold hard results. It’s still welcome after some hard years following Egan Bernal’s Tour win.

Smaller sports had a good year, with the Aussie Rules team being invited to the Transatlantic Cup for the first time ever. Both the men’s and women’s team jetted out to Canada and acquitted themselves well.

Entertainment

Festival Estéreo Picnic roared into the Parque Simón Bolívar and instantly looked right at home. The event has traditionally taken place in the far northern outskirts or satellite towns rather than the heart of the capital, so this was a huge change.

It delivered, too, with Fercho cementing his position as reggaeton’s rising star. Feid stormed the stage under a spectacular drone show and drew by far the biggest crowds. Big nineties guitar bands had a moment, too, with the Offspring and Limp Bizkit getting everything bouncing.

Standout concerts in the city included the Colombian queen searching for world dominance, Karol G. Shakira swung by too, as well as Iron Maiden and Megadeth for aging rockers.

For Latin music lovers, the Festival Cordillera acts as a regional counterweight to Estéreo Picnic, featuring mainly Latin bands. That’s continuing to build its reputation as an event to play and offering an alternative to foreign-dominated lineups. It doesn’t bode well for Rock Al Parque though, as this is a serious rival.

What next?

The coming year will see jockeying for election runs in the major parties. Final decisions are likely to be made around the turn of the year, so expect plenty of grandstanding come autumn.

In Bogotá, there will be more disruption from water cuts and metro construction. As ever, expect the unexpected and some bizarre stuff. In the end though, the country will probably end up much the same as it is now after twelve more months.

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What probably frustrates regular citizens more than anything else, though, is the sheer lack of activity from the police. One of the reasons it’s so hard to get decent crime stats is simply that many people won’t even consider reporting incidents as they don’t believe anything will get done.

While crime in Bogotá is at the top of many citizens’ concerns in the city alongside transport, it’s often given short shrift by politicians, both at the local and national level. Despite all the pretty words and head-nodding, there very rarely seems to be anything along the lines of an actual effort to crack down on crime. Notably, this has allowed the mano dura politicians to take the space. 

Rodrigo Lara and Diego Molano have both been talking tough on crime, with the former perhaps the closest to understanding the concerns of regular rolos. The other candidates have offered little, meaning the offers so far on the table seem to be extreme punishment or a shoulder shrug. The first of those is likely preferable for many voters. 

With Nayib Bukele’s similar electorate in El Salvador showing the political benefits of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, it’s an attractive line for those trying to win votes. The smug indifference of many candidates is extremely unappealing. Indeed, it contributes to the intense disillusionment felt by many residents of the city towards their representatives who they rightly see as out of touch.

Crime is a matter of context

It’s worth noting that by comparison with the rest of Colombia, Bogotá is actually a relatively low-crime city. That is of course, a low bar, with the country following the general trend within the Americas towards high crime levels. Very few Eurasian cities would tolerate a crime level as high as that of Bogotá, and it’s been ramping up post pandemic (.pdf).

The local government figures are here, but there’s a half-year lag on reporting. That report was made at the end of August, covering February. There’s also a wide distrust of official figures, with many people simply never reporting robberies without injury or without need to file insurance claims. Additionally, some other crimes such as sexual assault or domestic violence are often either not reported or not taken seriously by the police.

The main driver of crime is personal robbery, with street muggings and pickpocketing far outweighing everything else. It’s worth remembering that the standard method of theft in the city is mugging – with knives and guns not uncommon. Motorbikes are often used for a swift getaway and/or ambush. Following the report above, theft is now being measured in five figures, reaching 11,500 in the short month of February alone. That’s over 400 a day.

That’s just personal robbery too, with around a thousand commercial robberies, 600 home break-ins and 700 vehicle thefts monthly to go on top of that. Our recommendation is to hang out in a bank – there were only the three bank hold-ups in February.

Violent crime, or at least crime with the implication of potential violence is top of most people’s worry list. But there’s also a whole multitude of infringements often referred to as low-level crime. This runs the gamut from not picking up dog shit, to flytipping, to violating noise regulations. On top of that, there are financial crimes and corruption. We’ll cover that in the next article in this series.

Perception of crime

In general, perception of crime rarely matches up to actual crime levels anywhere in the world – positively or negatively. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not a problem for the next mayor. Indeed, the perception of crime in Bogotá is high, putting it among the worst places in the country, which is far from true. With over 80% of the city considering it an unsafe place to be, you’d think the authorities would be moving heaven and earth to change that.

After all, it’s no good improving safety and bringing down crime levels if no one in the city believes you. After all, with some caveats over Covid, things haven’t got a lot worse in López’ time as mayor. Yet, she’s likely to leave office with the reputation of having seen crime increase under her watch.

This isn’t helped by the fact that people trust their friends and family more than they do politicians and civil servants. If crime levels appear to be down but you’re hearing about how Juan got jacked and María was mugged last week, then you’ll assume (with quite some justification) that the politricksters might be massaging the figures. This allows rumour and hearsay to run rampant.

One of the more worrying aspects to this mismatch between perception and reality hangs on the Venezuelan question. Xenophobia has been bubbling away in Bogotá for years now, and although it hasn’t boiled over so far, it has come to the brink a few times. There are some concerns about jobs, but the main fear is of criminals crossing the border. 

This isn’t helped by the mayor and other politicians regularly pinning the blame on ‘extranjeros’, a common dogwhistle to refer to Venezuelan migrants. It’s certainly true that there are criminals among the hundreds of thousands of migrants, but it’s not as if Bogotá was crime-free beforehand. This is mainly a way to pin the blame on the “other” rather than take action to get our own nevera in order.

Police and prisons

There’s a strange paradox about crime in Bogotá. It’s high, but doesn’t have a similarly high arrest rate to match. In some ways, that’s a good thing. There are not nearly enough courts to process everyone and the prison system is already desperately overcrowded despite the low arrest figures – impunity levels are around 90%.

As the police do have to arrest some people, this means the holding cells in police stations are often crammed full of people awaiting charges. These spaces are not designed to function as prisons though and they aren’t for purpose. August alone saw two breakouts from these holding cells.

Bogotá has had, at best, a rocky recent relationship with coppers. It’s not too long ago that we saw a volatile couple of days in which various police substations (CAI) were attacked and burnt. This followed Javier Ordóñez dying after being excessively tasered in an arrest. His crime was to have been buying booze late at night. 

That was followed by a strange night which saw 11 further deaths under murky circumstances. It seems the police can get into action precisely when no one wants them to. Another death which was the fault of police was student protestor Dilan Cruz. The ESMAD forces which were responsible for that incident have been disbanded, but also recreated in the same outfit with a different name.

What probably frustrates regular citizens more than anything else, though, is the sheer lack of activity from the police. One of the reasons it’s so hard to get decent crime stats is simply that many people won’t even consider reporting incidents as they don’t believe anything will get done. Worse yet, when the police do act, it’s usually to fan the flames of a fire.

Bogotanos are almost certainly right on that, too. It doesn’t take long to walk around Bogotá and find infractions occurring in front of disinterested coppers. This isn’t always dramatic stuff – colados on the buses, jumping red lights, smoking dope – but it reflects an attitude that the police don’t need to be respected. And you may not even see a uniform, as they have a knack of disappearing.

It’s worth nothing that Colombia doesn’t have regional police forces, only a national one. The Bogotá division is just that, rather than an independent organisation. This makes it hard for a mayor to exercise effective control over the police and worse yet allows for meddling from the central government, who rank higher in the chain of command. If either Lara or Molano pull off a shock victory, this will almost certainly be a factor.

Violent crimes

Disturbing videos from the Séptima over the summer show criminals carrying out carjackings even in the plain light of day. These brazen assaults certainly support those who have the feeling that the state is losing control over the capital. 

Buses have been stormed, including intermunicipal routes coming in from the satellite cities. This involves armed thieves entering the bus, beating people and taking wallets, bags and so on. This also happens on the TransMilenio, although there it is sometimes stations that get stormed. In fact, local radio stations broadcast advice on the stations you’re least likely to get mugged in. It seems farcical that the city can’t keep a hold of contained spaces like these.

More worryingly, there have been a couple of high-profile killings recently in the capital. An assassination outside a gym in leafy north Bogotá rightly shocked many, with Claudia’s response being to highlight the victim’s own criminal record. An emerald dealer was assassinated downtown earlier this year, and last week a woman was killed in a chicken shop in Bosa.

While planned hits like this make the headlines, the monthly murder rate often hits triple figures. In less well-reported areas violent crimes are sadly all too common. Femicide, too, has been in the news. A shopping mall murder and the Valentina Trespalacios case took the headlines but many more incidents did not make the news, even though they ruin lives.

Rape and sexual assault are so underreported that the informes on crime don’t even mention them, generally being grouped under violencia intrafamiliar. Given that these are crimes often underreported globally, it’s no surprise that Bogotá appears to follow suit. Paedophilia and other forms of child abuse are also suspected to be much higher than official figures indicate.

Prostitution is largely ignored and webcam studios are barely monitored, with few cases being prosecuted. A woman was charged with pimping 14 year olds earlier this year, but the explosion in webcam numbers mean all kinds of abuse may be going on.

There are also serious organised crime groups operating in the city, with the Tren de Aragua and AGC both threatening each other. The former was originally a Venezuelan group who now operate multinationally, which has fed into the xenophobia angle.

I’m Batman!

This has meant that the never-far-away spectre of vigilante groups has reared its ugly head again. Not only that, at least one candidate, Lara, has openly called for retired police and military to step up and be his first line of defence. His words are carefully chosen. In anti-government protests of recent years, Primera Línea was the name used by the youngsters facing off against the riot police.

In other protests, the ones against police, there was a different problem, unknown actors seemingly firing on the anti-police protestors. That’s remained shadowy and hasn’t really come to light, with many insisting that they were either plainclothes police acting out of official channels or paramilitaries. The lack of clear information on this simply breeds further rumour and distrust of official channels.

On a less dramatic level, posters have been seen in various parts of Bogotá, making it clear that vigilante action will be taken against thieves. Again, this is no surprise. Both the police and politicians have failed to do anything and opened the door to a desperate public.

Financial crime and others

While it may not grab the headlines in quite the same way, there’s a lot of financial crime in Bogotá as well. Some of this is against the individual, such as card cloning, but there’s also a lot of unpaid taxes and fraud, especially online and over the phone. There is also a smorgasbord of things the police just can’t or won’t even start to think about as they are swamped by robbery reports and homicides.

Street sellers will set up shop directly outside a legal store with action rarely being taken. This makes it hard for legal taxpaying businesses to compete, while standards are often not being followed. Stolen items are often also sold this way, often with police milling about nearby. When challenged, there are protests, as many feel they have a right to sell informally.

A worrying number of these incidents involve riders with no documentation because this is rarely checked until an incident occurs. Look both ways before stepping into the street and cross all your fingers.

Then there’s things like the colados on the TransMilenio. Fare evasion has become so commonplace that it’s almost impossible to take a journey without seeing at least one and probably multiple attempts to jump the ever-growing barriers to entry. This is despite police often being in the station.

Recently, a number of exotic fish were intercepted at the bus terminal en route from the coast, with the illegal animal trade being easy to find. Many shops on the Caracas openly flaunt regulations on animal welfare, with the police rarely stepping in.

Drug sales are common, it’s hard to walk through Candelaria without being offered coke at least once. In the case of marijuana this is understandable as the police are quite open about tolerance levels, it being generally understood that smoking weed discreetly in a public park won’t attract police attention. This is something that should be formalised, though, so that people know where the lines are.

The roads often appear to be a free-for-all and motorcycle incidents in particular are accelerating as fast as the motos themselves. While a lot of this is personal choice, who they hit certainly isn’t. A worrying number of these incidents involve riders with no documentation because this is rarely checked until an incident occurs. Look both ways before stepping into the street and cross all your fingers.

The official numbers appear to be the tip of the iceberg, which may well indicate the city has a titanic problem. Whoever wins the mayoral race needs to address crime in Bogotá and they need to do so fast. Not only is the public perception way out of step with the urgency (or lack thereof) shown by the local government, but distrust of authorities is also problematically high.

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In 2022, Colombia elected Gustavo Petro on a platform of cambio. One year on, and we thought we’d look back at how that’s been going. Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither the doomsayers nor the bright-eyed optimists appear to have been proven right, with the performance of Colombia’s biggest leftist being mainly, well, meh. 

Shrug emoji is the main narrative so far, but of course there’s plenty of time for that to change. It’s remarkable how much there is to report on, despite seemingly nothing of real consequence happening. Even with north of 2000 words, there’s still  much we haven’t covered or have skipped past.

Petro is doing fairly well, or at least not badly, in the polls. Sure, about 30% approval and 60% disapproval isn’t great. But in a jaded Colombian political landscape, it’s actually relatively good. He’s always been a polarising figure in Colombian politics, with a certain amount of baggage. Famously, he was a member of the M-19 guerilla in his youth, was a polemic and controversial mayor of Bogotá and has always worn his heart on his sleeve, for good or for bad.

Throughout his political career he has been dogged by accusations of corruption, incompetence and an inability to compromise. As leader of the country, he has fewer places to hide, though. Much of the Colombian establishment is lukewarm or openly hostile to him and his politics, so he may have to grit his teeth and do some deals.

El gobierno de cambio

Having swept in on the wind of change, little has actually taken place. The exceptional ability of Colombian politics to stymie and frustrate policies has hit his reforms and they have been mired in the gloop of Senate bureaucracy. He needs to negotiate to get support for his reforms, but is unable or unwilling to find compromise.

Most worryingly, most of these reforms are barely fleshed out. For example, even the relatively simple Matrícula Cero (free university attendance) plan has six months to be sorted out or dropped from congress. The basic idea is straightforward, but the devil is in the detail, of which there are few. It’s not clear if it will apply to everyone, or if conditions will be applied. If the latter, it’s anyone’s guess what those would be and seemingly no appetite to shine light on them.

Health, pension and work reforms are all currently under discussion in the congress but haven’t been able to get the votes needed to pass. Education, among others, is waiting even to get to that stage. A minor tax bill has gone through, but that was pretty much necessary to provide economic stability.

One notable thing that has changed is congressional salaries, soaring ever upwards to nearly COP$45 million a month. That’s right, each of these berks is trousering north of USD$10,000 a month. Backdated, too, you’ll be happy to note. It seems the names may change but the gravy train of politics chugs resolutely onwards, whatever camp the leader is in.

Colombia has, however, gone well over a year now without large-scale street protests. It’s not for lack of trying on the part of the opposition, but they’re not used to it and are loosely organised. Instead, the trend is towards Petro organising large rallies to drum up support for himself, usually from his balcony.

He has also got into seemingly pointless spats every few months with the mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, over the metro. He always wanted it to be subterranean, she wanted an elevated system. It may now end up part underground, overground, wombling free. What is clear is that no-one on the street wants yet more delays or wrangling over a project that has already taken years to get to this point of still not existing. Current ETA is 2028(!).

It’s the economy, stupid

Perhaps the shining grace for Petro has been the robustness of the economy. While things are far from perfect, inflation is slowing down, unemployment has fallen to single figures and the peso is doing well against the US dollar as well as other currencies. The last of these, perversely, is affected by Petro’s inability to get reforms through. Bond markets have taken succour from the fact that drastic change is unlikely to take place, meaning more investment.

There are grumbles from some quarters about the economic indicators not being thanks to Petro, but everyone’s in agreement that the doomsayers’ predictions of economic chaos and collapse have been wrong. That’s not to say that the economy doesn’t have problems, but it is trucking along at much the same pace as before. Foreign direct investment is up and the predicted exodus of capital hasn’t happened.

The dollar exchange rate has had a pretty little dance, with a sharp appreciation to the mythical COP$5000 after the election, followed by a steady decline this year to under $4000 at one point. At the moment, it’s hovering around that level and unclear where it will go next. Part of this is confidence that Colombia remains stable, part of it is economic worries in the States and part is simply a recovery from a very weak position.

Chaos in reshuffles / lost ministers

Petro’s cabinet has been highly unstable, with more than half of his first cabinet having left their positions already. Probably the most important losses have been Education Minister Gaviria in February and, more recently, Minister of Mines and Energy, Irene Vélez. Finance Minister Ocampo, a key moderating voice, also left office this year.

Gaviria left over the details of the health reform in a reasonably amiable manner. More recently, though, he has given interviews saying he wouldn’t have joined if he had known the reality of what he was getting into. The first exodus came in February, with four ministers leaving. The end of April and start of May saw more big changes, including the departure of Ocampo and the beleaguered Health Minister Carolina Corcho.

Irene Vélez was more contentious, as she started rockily and never really stabilised. Early on she appeared to be at loggerheads with the president, giving contradictory details to the press over exploration permits. While some of the criticism coming her way was ridiculous – wearing trainers on official business, for example – there were serious allegations too. Things came to a head in a nepotism scandal with her husband which eventually saw her unable to cling on anymore.

Foreign policy

Petro has never been a fan of the US, to put it mildly. However, his rhetoric has been largely nondescript and diplomatic, with only a couple of wobbles. He’s been lukewarm on Russia-Ukraine but broadly come down in favour of the Ukrainians. His Foreign Minister, geriatric conservative Álvaro Leyva, has been somewhat undermined by Petro’s insistence on making state visits himself, or sending his wife Verónica Alcócer to keep an eye on things.

More tricky has been the relationship with next-door neighbours Venezuela. Petro was famously friendly with Hugo Chávez, although less keen on successor Nicolás Maduro. He normalised relations in the autumn, which was an astute move, though the optics were far from ideal as he turned up personally for the reopening of the border. He’s been happy to visit Caracas and gladhand Maduro, too, which is uncomfortable for many.

Petro is also an outspoken supporter of Castillo in Perú, a fellow leftist who has been (maybe) toppled. Same goes for Ortega in Nicaragua. Not on his birthday list are the self-titled ‘world’s coolest dictator’ Bukele in EL Salvador, who has had twitter spats with the Colombian premier, and Boric in Chile, who copped some ire for calling out human rights abuses by both leftist and rightist governments. 

Paz total

No one knows what this actually means, as it’s never been clearly defined, rather just hanging in the air as a vaguely good thing. What is more concrete is a bunch of ceasefires (or not) and peace talks. The biggest of these is with the ELN, which is a major achievement. Compared to the FARC, this group are much harder to negotiate with and much less organised. Just getting them to sit down has taken enough time, but things are promising so far.

Dissident members of the FARC are also around a table, despite their own problematic optics of turning up for photoshoots with rocket launchers. Finally, there are ongoing overtures to bacrim groups such as the AGC in an attempt to contain them. This is an area fraught with danger and looks worryingly like appeasement. It’s also possibly unwise to start multiple talks without concluding either one, as they may affect each other. Hanging over all of this are the problems of implementing Santos’ peace plan, two presidents down the line.

Meanwhile, there’s growing discontent over crime – both perception and reality. This has always been a much bigger problem in Colombia than the headline-grabbing insurgencies and conflicts. The murder rate is much lower than it was, but remains stubbornly high – in the mid twenties per 100,000 people, according to the Externado University’s research. That’s above regional averages and over four times the world average, even without disappearances taken into account.

Four of every five Bogotanos now feel unsafe in the capital and there have been recent high-profile shootings in busy areas, plus a litany of carjackings and robbery videos online. With local elections coming up, this is going to be a key area for many candidates. If not controlled, it could become a serious issue for the national government too.

Scandals

Unsurprisingly, there’s been plenty. For the main part they’ve been kept at arm’s distance from Petro himself, but the most recent one strikes right through to his inner circle. Nicolás Petro, his son, is under investigation for dodgy money raising, possibly connected to funding his father’s campaign. Worryingly, Petro and his family are sending messages of support, rather than condemnation.

Nicolás Petro is the president’s oldest son and last week admitted taking dirty money and channeling it into his father’s campaign. He took pains to make it clear that his father didn’t know about it, but this raises more questions than it answers. It would seem that there’s either staggering naivety, bumbling incompetence or outright corruption, none of which are positive traits in a leader.

Petro the elder likes to paint himself as an anti-corruption campaigner, yet his support is concentrated in Colombia’s most corrupt departments. Apart from the capital, the only departments he won last year were on the two coasts and the Amazon, with only Bogotá in the mountains supporting him. Not checking where money is coming from seems alarmingly remiss or tacitly accepting, depending on how generous you feel.

His celebrity ambassadorial appointment to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, was implicated in a particularly bizarre funding scandal and has refused to turn up to the hearings. That scandal was also related to gathering campaign funds on the coast and featured a lot of threats to bring everyone down. Then, there was the end of Irene Vélez, who seems more than happy to hand out contracts and public money to her husband’s companies.

The Vice President

Vice President Francia Márquez has been another flashpoint in the Petro presidency. She’s come under fire for her largesse, especially her frequent use of state-funded helicopters to get in and out of work. Her response to criticism was simply: “de malas,” rather than engaging with the concerns. Surprisingly, she has stayed based in Valle de Cauca rather than relocating to the capital.

Further fanning the flames is her new department – the Ministry of Equality. After spending a year to set up, it finally arrived at the end of June this year. It’s large, to say the least, with nearly 750 employees and four vice-ministers (twice that of the finance ministry). On the more positive side, she undertook a successful trip to Africa, building valuable links on the continent, including the establishment of a long-overdue embassy in South Africa. Even that trip took some flak for the size of the travelling party.

There’s a lot of racism, sexism and classism in the attacks on Márquez, by far the most high-profile Afro-Colombian politician. All the same, she’s also hardly setting the world on fire. Her fans would argue it’s almost impossible for her to shine with critics ready to pounce on her every move. Things have calmed down somewhat in recent months though, and with the spotlight off her she may be able to get more done.

Future dreams

So, what comes next? It seems certain that the various reforms will continue their rocky progress. Some may pass, depending on the willingness to compromise on either side. Peace may collapse with the ELN, but that’s unlikely to be Petro’s fault, whereas the other peace deals are likely to end well.

However, as we’ve seen with the FARC, peace on paper means little if the government can’t solve the underlying problems. Other groups will likely fill the vacuum and we’ll be back in the same position negotiating in a few years. That might not be this government’s problem though. Progress in this regard may work out OK for Petro but make things trickier for whoever follows – left or right.

Corruption and scandal at the moment seem to be containable – Colombians have a high tolerance for both things in practice and are particularly unbothered by nepotism. However, if it hits the President personally, that could all change. Big questions, too, hang over economic developments, including external ones. If the dollar continues to slide, Petro will look good; if it appreciates again he will look bad regardless of the reasons.

An interesting variable is here in Bogotá. Regional elections at the end of October mean new mayors all round, and the capital may well elect one of his key allies, Gustavo Bolívar. That’s far from a certainty, but if it does go that way he will have far less friction with the local government. Medellín is almost certain to swing rightwards, though, so regional conflict may well increase.

The jury remains out on Petro after a year and it seems most likely at present that he will simply waddle through to the end of his term having done more than you might think but not as much as he could have. Like most world leaders, really. A week is a long time in politics though, and especially in Colombia, so there’s always the possibility for some random event to throw everything into disarray. Watch this space.

The post Petro: Year One appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Passing by verdant hills and pasture, the pothole-ridden road leading up to Mochuelo Bajo scarcely resembles the rest of Bogotá. Yet, on arrival in the barrio rural – as it is categorised by the city – the capital’s urban density becomes a reality again, with informal brick housing crowding the narrow streets.

The rural road to Mochuelo. Photo by author

Mochuelo Bajo sits on the far southern edge of Ciudad Bolívar, the capital’s poorest localidad. It is sandwiched between brick mines to the west and Bogotá’s main landfill, Doña Juana, to the east.

Not long ago, this was a rural village populated by wheat, barley and pea farmers. But starting in 1980, illegal housing developments began to increase with the arrival of displaced people fleeing violence elsewhere in Colombia.

Then, in 1986, the state’s Special Administrative Unit for Public Services (UAESP) bought one of Mochuelo’s fincas to use as a landfill. Soon after, soil contamination meant that many crops stopped growing. The agricultural economy was largely replaced by work at the rubbish dump and at the newly established ladrilleras – brick mining and manufacturing complexes.

Mochuelo Bajo. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Díaz and Virgilio Pedraza

Mochuelo’s transformative urbanisation also produced new pressures on potable water resources. The enlarged population was forced to compete over ever scarcer supplies, compounded by the landfill’s contamination of local water sources.

Residents petitioned the state to act by recognising the illegal housing developments and extending Bogotá’s water network to Mochuelo, but were largely ignored. Meanwhile, the quantities of waste dumped in the community grew.

Lifelong resident and former wheat and barley farmer Virgilio Pedraza recalls that “by 2000, there were so many people that the demand for water became a much more serious matter for the community.”

Now in his 70s, Pedraza expresses no bitterness towards Mochuelo’s urbanisation nor to the newcomers. Instead, he has dedicated the last 23 years to accommodating the barrio’s new residents.

Virgilio Pedraza has worked to improve clean water access for two decades. Photo by author.

Getting drinkable water in Mochuelo

Pedraza was a founding member of “La Asociación de Usuarios del Acueducto Comunitario ‘Aguas Calientes.’” This is Mochuelo’s community water plant, built with the aid of a government grant in 2000 to redress the scarcity of potable water in the neighbourhood. 

While projects like this exist in other parts of Colombia, they tend to be far from the developed Andean core. 

The community water plant. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Díaz and Virgilio Pedraza

Now, over two decades after its foundation, the association is still the principal supplier of freshwater to Mochuelo Bajo’s 6000 residents.

Pedraza is one of two fontaneros – technicians who work on the physical operation of the water treatment and distribution network. The other four members of the team deal primarily with administration.

Jennifer Paola Díaz has been part of the latter group for the past five years. An environmental professional and the plant’s commercial director, she manages both water treatment and billing.

For Díaz, the issue of water is part of a greater fight. “The plant symbolises Mochuelo’s history and its social struggle – it represents a battle for clean water. Many bogotanos live in a bubble – they don’t recognise the reality that lots of people face in their city.”

Jennifer Díaz in the association’s commercial area. Photo by author

She explains that “we don’t charge the same as in Bogotá but, rather, a much more affordable tariff that’s accessible to residents of Estrato 1.” According to Díaz, even within this socio-economic band, people in Mochuelo pay “considerably less than those who fall under the city’s official provider.” 

Run as a non-profit, 70% of the cost of providing water is covered by the government. However, state support ends there and the plant is otherwise independent, relying on residents to pay the remaining 30% through bills.

Yet, this money falls short of their needs. “We work with very few resources,” says Díaz, “which forces us to search relentlessly for outside support and funding.” 

Díaz and Pedraza at the plant. Photo by author

Even without these financial constraints, ever-scarcer natural resources also pose threats to Mochuelo’s water supply. With a severe El Niño predicted to kick in later this year, the future doesn’t look good.

On average, the town faces a month of water cuts per year, concentrated in the usually drier months of December, January and February. During the outages, residents can go for up to twelve hours without water. 

“The cuts are a serious problem”, says Díaz, “because many people depend on the service to bathe, to prepare food and to drink. After all, water is a fundamental necessity.”

The shortages are worsening with climate change, according to Díaz. The reduction in water at Mochuelo’s source has been significant in recent months and aggravated by the increasing unpredictability of the climate, which reduces the plant’s ability to prepare for dry seasons.

Water shortages compounded by population increases

These supply issues have been compounded, Díaz explains, by rises in Mochuelo’s population in recent years due to the arrival of displaced people. With more residents, there is less water to go around.

Mochuelo’s water source. Photo by author

As pressure on the plant rises, Díaz and her coworkers are forced to consider alternative solutions: “We either need to find a new water source, or the Acueducto de Bogotá needs to expand its network to include the whole city. There really needs to be greater state intervention to improve access to water.”

Although the plant has been fighting to supply Mochuelo for two decades, a rapidly growing population and increasing water scarcity undermine their ability to carry on independently. While the state’s current subsidies help to keep bills low, money remains tight for the association and, even with more funding, their water supplies are finite. For Díaz, an expansion of the Bogotá water system, coupled with continued state subsidies, is the most ideal path to solving the growing water crisis in Mochuelo.

Yet, as the state stalls, feelings of disillusionment and anger towards it appear to build in the barrio – protests last November saw residents demand that the government fix the Vía Mochuelo, one of the neighbourhood’s main roads. Their calls have yet to be answered.

Vía Mochuelo. Photo by author
Indeed, the city’s administrators appear disconnected from the demands of Mochuelo’s residents. In its most recent issue, Doña Juana’s newspaper, sponsored by Bogotá’s Alcaldía and the UAESP, celebrates the landfill’s sponsorship of recent school graduates in Mochuelo. The headline reads: “Educating for the Future”. Yet, as the capital’s waste continues to flow into Mochuelo and water resources become scarcer, many of the barrio’s residents are growing increasingly anxious about what that future may hold for them.

The post A Forgotten Barrio Fights to Keep the Water Running appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Migrants and vulnerable informal workers are still being forced out of rooms for rent in downtown Bogotá, families reported today, even after city authorities moved to prohibit landlords from putting families on the street during the coronavirus crisis.

Mass illegal evictions – which are causing a sanitary crisis in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak – are happening in the inner city and poor barrios where many of the 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in Colombia’s capital have settled in recent years after fleeing turmoil in their home country.

Small businesses suffer from coronavirus lockdown

“The authorities can create rules – but the hostel owners can still do what they want,” Venezuelan mother Rosa Barreto told The Bogotá Post. She had spent the night on the streets with families and small children after being thrown out of lodgings the day before.

“We weren’t behind with the rent, but the owner told us to leave. Now we’ve nowhere to go.”

Venezuelan migrants face severe hardships during the coronavirus quarantine because 80% make a living through selling on the street. With lockdown they are forced to stay inside, creating a vicious circle of poverty and eviction that ironically puts them back on the street again.

Trapped by the quarantine

The situation has been worsened by the closing of charity shelters as part of the coronavirus containment, district council staff told The Bogotá Post. Added to that, the transport shutdown has trapped migrants in Bogotá who would otherwise might be heading home to Venezuela to ride out the coronavirus crisis there.

The problem equally affects many Colombians in the capital: Bogotá has an estimated 170,000 street sellers and 9,000 street people living precariously. Many rely on crowded hostels and pagadiarios, the ‘pay per day’ flophouses where residents must scrape together the cash up front to secure a bed for the night.

Read all our coverage of coronavirus in Colombia

Sleeping rough is a likelihood facing Don Gabriel. The former farm worker fled massacres in Arauca in 2004 to seek refuge on the streets of Bogotá and told us his story as part of our special on homelessness in Bogotá in 2017.

When we caught up with Don Gabriel in La Soledad last week, the 80-year-old recycler was struggling to find cash to pay the hostel.

“There’s not much material to recycle – people aren’t using so much – and the people who give me money to help are not around either.”

He was aware of the coronavirus risk, and how to stay safe, and had soap and water in the hostel, but no guarantee of enough cash to pay the night.

Migrants hardest hit by evictions

Meanwhile city leaders this week rushed in rules to ban evictions of tenants “for failure to pay rent” during the quarantine and froze rents. According to Mayor Claudia López, this Decree 93 had “prevented the evictions of at least 1,500 people living in the pagadiaros in the city centre.”

But migrants we talked to believe the decree could have been counterproductive by panicking hostel owners into ejecting tenants struggling to pay. This week saw a wave of evictions that city authorities seem powerless to prevent and falling hardest on Venezuelan migrants.

Bogotá quarantine: Chapi under lockdown

In fact, the Secretario de Gobierno was quick to announce that the decree “doesn’t mean that tenants don’t have to pay rent”, though this is not clear to either owners or renters.

Added to that, Venezuelan migrants fall outside the financial subsidies being offered to 350,000 poor families already registered for state support, and which the government is suggesting can ease the wave of evictions.

No money for rent

For her part, the Mayor López robustly has denied accusations of xenophobia against Venezuelan population here: The Bogotá city authority was providing free health, kindergarten, schooling, school lunches among other subsidies for the migrants, she told media today. There was “no money or legal mechanisms to pay their rents as well”.

She announced a plan for the state and UN bodies to provide 25,000 food coupons for migrant families in the coming days. Another scheme is to work with the police to ensure families can “return to their dwellings where they have been illegally evicted”.

But can police really force dwelling owners to re-open their doors to migrants? Probably not. Extra food will be welcome – but hardly replace a room for the night.

As these tensions mount in the city centre, migrants are forced to break the quarantine through lack of choices.

Some are already voting with their feet to make the hard trek north back home to Venezuela – where for the last three years a man-made humanitarian crisis has left millions destitute and hungry.

It’s a tough choice. But for families with small children even that route is closed until the buses run again, says migrant mother Sra Barreto.

“Right now, we want to go home. There’s no way for us to survive here. And right now, no way to leave.”

TECHO are working to help underserved communities in Bogotá, including the Venezuelan migrants. Visit their donation page to support them.

The post Coronavirus: Bogotá’s Venezuelan migrants face tough choices appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

This article was originally published on Latin America Reports

Four days before the death of student protester Dilan Cruz, who succumbed to injuries suffered from the impact of a tear gas canister being launched at his head by anti-riot police in Bogotá, Colombia, sparked nationwide outrage, two young men were gunned down by security forces during the country’s national protests over 500 kilometers away in the port city of Buenaventura.

Spare some coverage in local media, their deaths have mostly gone unreported. 

According to official communiques, interviews with officials close to the investigation, and statements from witnesses made to Latin America Reports, on the evening of November 21, a crowd of protesters gathered in front of one of the city’s largest shopping malls, Viva Buenaventura. It has been reported that some of the people gathered were attempting to loot the mall when security forces arrived. 

Clashes erupted with protesters throwing rocks at security forces which included members of the local police as well as the Colombian Naval Infantry. (According to officials close to the investigation, Colombia’s anti-riot police, which carry non-lethal weaponry, were not present at the scene). 

The security forces opened fire, using what officials described as high-powered weaponry, resulting in the deaths of 22-year-old Wilber Mina Lizalda and 17-year-old Brayan Alexis Vargas Gomez. A member of the police and the Naval Infantry were also injured, according to a press release from the Colombian Navy. 

Both of the deceased were shot in the back, according to an official who asked to remain anonymous because the investigation is ongoing.

Just a two-minute walk from Viva Buenaventura mall, down a steep, dusty, gravel road, there’s a shanty town where Mr. Mina lived with his mother, step-father and two of his siblings. Sitting near the entryway weeks after her son’s death, Mrs. Elizabeth Lizalda Palacios says, “I keep thinking he’ll come in the door … come into my room … and give me a hard time about losing weight like he always used to tell me.”

The two were very close, even for a mother and son. Mr. Mina worked with his mother selling fruit in the city center. According to her, he was a fan of the Real Madrid soccer club, liked to go out dancing with friends, and adored his nine-year-old sister as well as his dog — a scraggly dachshund mix that kept peering up from behind its over-sized food bowl as we spoke. 

According to an official close to the investigation, Mr. Mina had no prior criminal convictions. 

On November 21, the day of the first national protests, Mr. Mina left his home at 6:00 PM, according to his mother. She gave him a call at 9:30 PM when he hadn’t returned home. “Mom, I am here at the [Viva Buenaventura mall] waiting for a girl,” Mrs. Lizalda says he told her. She warned him that things could get dangerous there as the protest progressed. 

A few minutes later, Mrs. Lizalda heard bursts of gunshots ring out from blocks away. Minutes after that, Mr. Mina’s brother received a phone call and left the home with his step-father. When he returned shortly after, said Mrs. Lizalda, he stopped in the doorway and sobbed. “Something happened to Wilber!” Mrs. Lizalda recalls crying out. 

She said she made her way up the hill, two minutes walking to the mall, where she saw her son lying lifeless on the pavement.

Two months after Brayan Alexis Vargas Gomez turned 17, he moved from his small town of Pitalito, Huila to Buenaventura, a 12-hour journey by bus. He followed his best friend and his best friend’s wife (who is also Mr. Vargas’ sister) to the port city to work in a bakery. 

“His boss told me he was always very respectful,” Mr. Vargas’ mother, Deicy Gomez, told Latin America Reports in December while sitting in the home of the owner of the bakery where her son worked. 

A hard worker, kind and always smiling, is how Mrs. Gomez described her son who she said was also her best friend. Although they were apart, Mrs. Gomez would speak to her son daily on Facebook Messenger where he’d send her videos of himself playing soccer with friends in his adopted neighborhood. And in October, he sent for his mother and surprised her with a vacation to a nearby beach as her birthday gift. 

According to an official close to the investigation, Mr. Vargas had no prior criminal convictions. 

On the evening of November 21, Mr. Vargas and his friend and co-worker at the bakery (referred to by the pseudonym Charlie because he is a witness in an ongoing investigation) were settling in for the night when a mutual friend knocked on their door. 

“Hey, let’s go to [Viva Buenaventura mall], there’s a lot of people gathering,” Charlie recalled their friend saying during an interview with Latin America Reports in December.  

Shortly after arriving at the protests in front of the mall with Mr. Vargas, Charlie recalled that protesters began throwing stones. “Everyone began to run in all directions,” said Charlie. During the confusion, a burst of gunshots rang out. “I told him: Brayan run … Brayan run!” 

Charlie said he quickly lost sight of Mr. Vargas. 

Turning around to head back toward where he last saw Mr. Vargas, he said he heard people screaming, “They shot a child, they shot a child!” (A video posted to social media allegedly depicts this moment). 

Charlie recalled seeing Mr. Vargas lying on the pavement, with a member of the security forces about 10 meters away. “Whoever throws rocks, we’ll shoot,” Charlie alleged the member said. Charlie yelled out for people to stop throwing rocks as he bent down to take Mr. Vargas in his arms and apply pressure to his wound. “He was dead I think … He didn’t speak, he didn’t move.”

A Forgotten City 

Despite being the 12th most active port in Latin America and the Caribbean and generating 27% of Colombia’s import tax revenue, the people who live in the port city of Buenaventura have been forgotten.

Two thirds of the city’s 400,000 residents live in poverty; unemployment exceeds 65%; potable water is only available for most residents for just eight hours each day, and a new high school hasn’t been built in the city in 44 years. To boot, extreme violence has bedeviled the region for decades as illegal armed groups vie for control of lucrative drug shipment routes. 

Residents said that there hasn’t been nationwide outrage surrounding the deaths of the two young men because the rest of Colombia has forgotten about Buenaventura. 

“Look at the boy from Bogotá that was killed by [Colombia’s anti-riot police]. How many news stories have been written about him?” asked Mrs. Lizalda in her living room. “How many people have spoken out against his death? But for the two boys who were killed in Buenaventura, nobody has spoken out. . . Let’s raise our voice. Raise our voice Colombia.”

This article was originally published on Latin America Reports

Jim Glade is a writer for Latin America Reports based in Medellín, Colombia. His work has been featured in Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, TechCrunch and more. Contact him with story ideas at jim@espacio.co

The post Two young men killed by security forces during Colombia’s national protests appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Fracking in Colombia has been on hold since the high court declared the potential risk of environmental damage was too high. But now the door may be opening again for exploratory pilot projects.

June 7 will be another big day for fracking in Colombia as the State Council holds its first public hearing on whether pilot projects for fracking might be allowed. The day will also see protest marches throughout the country – and even abroad – against the controversial process.

So is fracking legal?

The legality of fracking in Colombia right now is not clear cut. Put simply, the question of whether to frack has been buffered between conflicting resolutions and declarations from the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Ministry of the Environment and other entities for about five years.

For example – and without getting too bogged down in the details – when the National Hydrocarbons Agency granted exploratory permits back in 2016, the Ministry of the Environment was still insisting that fracking was not allowed. Then, in 2018 the high court ruled that an overriding principle – that there needed to be absolute certainty no environmental damage would be done – trumped any other concerns and the pilot exploratory projects were put on hold.

The anti-fracking lobby may have won that bout, but fracking has by no means been ruled out. The high court decision is being challenged and a panel of experts has recently released its preliminary findings.

Unconventional deposits or yacimientos no convencionales (YNC), are small pockets of oil and gas that cannot be accessed by conventional means. Fracking is a method of releasing them by forcing sand, water and chemicals into the rock at high pressure.

Related: Fracking in Colombia: What the frack?

The pro-fracking organisations, including the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the National Hydrocarbons Agency, EcoPetrol and ExxonMobil, all argue that fracking is both necessary and feasible. Moreover, they believe that the strict regulations in place in Colombia make it possible to frack without causing serious environmental damage.

In a recent La Republica discussion panel, Fernando Sarria, president of ExxonMobil, argued that “it’s been eight years since the regulation of fracking began to develop and it’s a regulation that has been developed in a consensual way.”

But Héctor Herrera Santoyo from the anti-fracking group, Alianza Colombia Libre de Fracking told us back in September that fracking – in any form – had to be banned. He said, “There is no evidence of fracking extraction activities that have not had an impact on the environment.”

In addition to the risk of water and subsoil contamination, he raised the issue of climate change, pointing to the “catastrophes caused by the climate crisis such as extreme weather events, droughts, floods, disappearance of water sources, environmental displacements and so on.”

Herrera stated: “Reserves of unconventional hydrocarbons must be left in the subsoil, so as not to generate greenhouse gases.”

It is not hard to see why the government would like to find a way to frack safely, since the Minister of Mines and Energy, María Fernanda Suárez recently announced that Colombia only has 6.2 years of energy sufficiency ahead – and fracking, no matter how controversial, offers the country an energy lifeline.

Which of course is at the heart of the debate. Is it actually possible to frack safely and how much will the government compromise in the interests of energy security?

The reason that many publications are saying that the controversial extractive process has got the green light is that this was one of many questions addressed in the 1,500-page National Development Plan 2018-2022 (PND) that was approved by congress on May 3.

The PND is a kind of roadmap for the coming four years that tackles economic, social, environmental, and other challenges. And within one of its supporting documents, there are two paragraphs that open the possibility of fracking. As fact checking site, Colombia Check explains, “Although the government plan does not open the way for the exploitation of unconventional deposits, it does leave a window ajar to study the possibility of doing so.”

Up to now the fracking battleground has been over the exploratory projects, with the pro-fracking side arguing that pilot projects are essential. What may become clear on June 7 is whether the pilots might be allowed which would take fracking in Colombia a step closer.

Colombia is not alone in trying to square the circle of a reliance on – and need for – oil and gas against the environmental dangers of fracking. However, two things in particular stand out here: the existence of páramos and the economy’s heavy dependence on hydrocarbons.

It’s on hold in The Netherlands. France, Uruguay and Australia, along with certain states and provinces in the US, Australia and Canada, have banned it completely. And other countries, like China are proceeding with care.

The post What is going on with fracking in Colombia? appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Crawling up my arm is the biggest beetle I’ve ever seen, but for some reason its stately progress and scratchy claws are vaguely reassuring. It doesn’t have any visible teeth or stingers. In fact, this gentle giant seem quite chilled perching on my shoulder as I stroll around Puerto Nariño, a village in the Colombian Amazon.

‘Que cucarron,’ – what a big bug – comments a man selling grilled fish as I walk by, quite proud of my new companion. Some local lads had given it to me after I stopped to watch them poking it with a stick down by the river port. A jungle guide hanging out at the hostel then gives me a clue to its identity: escarabajo hercules, the hercules beetle.

It turns out to be well named. The bug is a Latin American example of the rhinoceros family of scarab beetles, and one of the strongest creatures on the planet, and according to some studies able to lift 850 times its own weight, equivalent to a person hefting 60 tonnes.

Related: Diving into the Amazon

The well-armoured beetle uses its horns for defence and to rake through leaf litter on the forest floor where it feeds. Its calm disposition makes it a suitable – though rather unusual – household pet, and I later read that live specimens are worth up to USD$3,000 in Japan.

Not this one though. I guide it down my arm, then gently shake it off my wrist in some forest outside the village. It takes a while to let go, hugging me with its barbed legs, but then realises it’s better off in the forest.

So we go out separate ways. I’m heading back to the hostel for lunch. The hercules beetle lopes off into for a snack in the undergrowth of the Amazon. I hope it enjoyed our brief encounter as much as I did.

The post Hercules beetle: Meet the hug bug in the Colombian Amazon appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Eulalia is Ecuadorian and has lived in Spain for three years. She does live-in domestic work and cares for an elderly couple. She migrated out of a need to support her parents and granddaughter, however after she left, she only saw her mother once before she passed away. Eulalia says she’s been gone long enough and wants to return to Ecuador.

Norma is from Paraguay and has been working for nine years as a domestic worker in Spain. She sees herself as an “eternal migrant,” as she has worked for the last 20 years outside of her country, always in some kind of caregiving role. Like Eulalia, she travelled in search of new work opportunities to support her family.

Martha is 48 years old and has spent six years living on the outskirts of Madrid. She cares for the children of a Spanish family. She has worked as a domestic employee, always live-in, in Germany and Spain. She says that not long ago her visa expired, so her migration status is now irregular. That’s why she hasn’t returned to Colombia, where she was born. According to her, European families “see us as very caring people,” and for that reason, they prefer to have Latina women care for their children.

These three stories are the centrepiece of a documentary produced by the Network of Latin American and Caribbean Women in Spain (la Red de Mujeres Latinoamericanas y del Caribe en España). The documentary depicts, through the life paths of Eulalia, Norma and Martha, the common conditions that affect domestic migrant workers. The three protagonists travelled from Latin American countries to Europe. All three left their families in their home countries. All three are live-in workers, which means they live in the same space as their employers. All three want to return to their countries.

How can we explain these shared experiences? What factors are behind these three journeys? The complicated relationship between migration flows and hospitality care was first highlighted by the sociologist Arlie Hochschild, who coined the phrase ‘global care chains’. These networks are predicated on an increasing demand in the Global North and the precarious economic situation of women in the Global South. For Hochschild, a typical example of a global care chain looks like this: a woman from Asia or Latin America wants to provide a better future for her family and so migrates to a European country to work in domestic services. In turn, this migration generates a deficit of care in countries in the Global South, particularly for the families of migrant women. This scarcity results in the unpaid labour of other women; usually girls, teenagers, or older women from the same family or social group. Eulalia, Norma, and Martha, in leaving their families in their home countries, become the first link in a chain that is formed by them and by the other women who now care for the people they would have looked after – such as children or parents.

Related: Venezuelan migrants in limbo

The concept of global care chains does not only describe South-North interchanges, they can also develop between countries within the Global South, or between rural and urban contexts. In these different scenarios, all of the care chains are feminised phenomena. As feminists have been saying for more than a century, the division of labour is not just a question of class, but also a question of gender. For this reason, domestic labour and caretaking tend to be attributed to women, girls, and feminised subjects.

But why talk about care chains? What’s so important about this idea? Care chains help us to understand the way in which migratory exoduses support a gendered division of labour both  transnationally and nationally. In Latin America and the Caribbean, more than a third of migrants are domestic workers who work informally, without a fair salary, and are victims of economic, physical, and psychological violence. The problem, therefore, is not that migrants work as caretakers – in fact, many feminist fights have sought to recognise this as dignified work when given sufficient labour guarantees. The problem is that it is their only alternative in a world that still looks down upon this labour.

Some – like Eulalia, Norma, and Martha – work as ‘live-in’ employees, blurring the line between work and private lives. Live-in domestic employees work as many as 18 hours per day for an insufficient salary. In one part of the documentary, Eulalia says it clearly: “You’re there for the whole day, always available for them.” This limits any possibility to have a personal life, as it subjects the women’s behaviour to the vigilance of their employers. Even those who don’t live in suffer negative consequences: the majority live on the outskirts of large cities and spend close to 20% of their salary on transportation.

As the care chain develops, so it becomes more complex – though the complexities vary from situation to situation and country to country. Researchers Camila Esguerra and Friedrike Fleischer found that it’s not only the high demand in urban areas or Global North, but also the internal armed conflict that pushes Colombian women into care chains. Due to the multiple effects of the conflict, women have had to flee their territories, most ending up displaced in urban centres. No matter their work experience, the majority of these women find only one path forward: working in domestic services and subjecting themselves to a precarious salary for long hour. While Colombia has a legal framework that guarantees labour rights to domestic workers, official numbers show that 85% of domestic workers remain within the informal economy  – and this number could be higher due to underreporting. Those that enter this informal labour market must turn to neighbours, women in their families, or to the family wellbeing program (Bienestar Familiar) to care for their children, parents, or older relatives.

Cases like Colombia illustrate the implications of global care chains for women in the Global South, from rural environments, or from ethnic-racial groups. They show us that care chains are not only characterised by the gendered division of labour, but also by a racial division. According to Esguerra and Fleischer, the racial order established in the region generates disproportionate effects on the experiences of afro, indigenous, and rural women who, facing displacement and discrimination, only have access to poorly compensated work as caretakers. The consequence, then, is that these women end up being considered natural for this kind of work in urban centres.

Understanding such dynamics, then, is important because it discourages us from labelling migrant women as care givers par excellence. By understanding why certain women from certain regions end up doing certain work, we can start to recognise the fact that the majority of domestic workers are migrants in precarious situations. It allows us, for example, to be critical of the fact that various classified ad sections in Colombia have announcements like, “Live-in Venezuelan Needed” or “Looking for a Venezuelan Woman for Live-In Work.” In other words, it helps us not to accept labour exploitation as a response to the vulnerability of migrants.

Finally, care chains are a useful concept because they bring us closer to the broader question of the contribution of women to economic development. On occasion, we forget that many men and women are only able to go work because there are other women that clean their home, care for their children, and cook for them. We also forget that this is not always a labour based in love, affection, or care, but is strenuous, exhausting, and thankless. In 2016, activist and domestic worker Rafaela Pimentel gave a talk where she forcefully stated: “without us, the world would not turn – at least, not your world.” Pimentel’s message is clear. The world – above all, an urban, “developed,” Global North world – would not function without these women; and yet, their work remains invisible, is taken for granted, and is not recognised or paid as it deserves.

María Ximena Dávila is a researcher for Dejusticia, a research and advocacy organisation dedicated to strengthening the rule of law and promoting human rights. This article was originally published on their website.

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Arhuaco spiritual leader, el mamo Lorenzo Seuny Izquierdo Arroyo, speaks about his mission to create a greater consciousness towards the planet.

In the foothills of Sasaima, a warm town a few hours from Bogotá, a spiritual revolution is brewing. At the end of an unpaved dusty road, el mamo Lorenzo Seuny Izquierdo Arroyo has made a home with his family, far from his native Sierra Nevada. He is championing an environmental and humanitarian cause and his tools are traditional medicinal plants, known as medicina ancestral.

“It might look like I’m displaced,” says el mamo whose long dark hair hangs down past his tutusoma, a traditional headdress, and splays onto his robes, “but I came here to exchange knowledge for protection.” By protection, he is referring to la madre tierra which is being damaged to the point of crisis by man. Sacred plants are central to his work as he uses them to create a greater consciousness towards nature and healing in the outside world. These plants, like coca, tobacco and ayahuasca, have long been used by indigenous communities in the Americas as tools for contemplation and connection but are now being used by non-indigenous people. “[The plants] help us find the humanity we have lost,” says Julian, a keen follower of el mamo’s teachings.

A mamo, by western standards, is both a spiritual leader and a doctor. Lorenzo’s face is weathered and kind; his speech is slow and well thought out, if sometimes hard to make out with the coca leaves he constantly has in his mouth. He isn’t one for pleasantries or small talk, but neither is he rude. Rather,  he emits an energy of patience and stillness. The simple finca, which he bought with the help of NGO Colombia en Hechos, is overrun with chicks, chickens, horses and el mamo’s many children. His heavily pregnant wife sits at a reserved distance, by the loom used to make their traditional white robes.

El mamo’s decision to leave the Sierra Nevada and travel to Sasaima came after years of regimented routine and spiritual work. In 2003, while still on the Sierra Nevada, he spent 90 days in a trance contemplating and connecting to nature before arriving in Sasaima in 2008 after consulting with other spiritual elders. Sasaima itself is a strategic point for el mamo’s cause. “Sasaima sits on Seynibyin Ati, the spiritual grandmother who also sleeps under Bogotá,” says el mamo, whose hands are constantly occupied with his poporo, a device that holds a mix of crushed sea snail shells and coca leaves.

Casas de Pensamientos

El mamo Lorenzo has chosen Sasaima – with the support of Colombia en Hechos and CAAENOC, a council of 35 indigenous spiritual leaders from Colombia’s diverse regions – as the epicentre of his cause. They plan to build two Casas de Pensamientos, representing both female and male, and invite leading spiritual leaders to impart their knowledge. “We want to provide healing to those people who normally don’t have access to this kind of knowledge, anyone can come to heal themselves be that Germans, Chinese and anybody who needs it,” says el mamo on the project’s crowdfunding page.

El mamo Lorenzo is Arhuaco, one of the four indigenous groups that call the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta home. According to the international organisation Survival International, with over 30,000 people, this Caribbean mountain is Colombia’s largest indigenous stronghold.

The Arhuacos live there along with the Wiwas, Kogis and Kankuamos. Although different, they share the same common belief that they are the centre of the universe, the “big brothers” of humanity, responsible for balancing the earth’s energies with their spiritual knowledge that surpasses that of their “little brothers” (everyone else). For this reason alone, it is surprising to find an Arhuaco family settled in Sasaima, but meeting him is refreshing in a world dominated by euro-centrism.

Although fiercely protected, el mamo’s native mountain has constantly been under threat due to its rich oil reserves and recently approved fracking exploration contracts. “What is below supports what is above,” explains El mamo. “The petrol is a giant snake that helps purify, it’s an organ of the earth. Try pulling out your mother’s organs and see what happens to her.” Central to the Arhuacos belief is that everything is interconnected – not only in its function to one another, but also from past to present.

Related: Oil spill wreaks havoc in La Lizama, Santander

Delineating a square, El mamo explains “the wise man says that on each square on earth there are 60 lineages back into the past, like stilts of a house, all of humanity has to look after these lineages, through spiritual work.” Central to this process is the use of ancestral medicine.

The world of ancestral medicine, which can broadly be understood as plants that permit the user to become closer to nature, are varied. Their usage and rituals depend vastly upon culture and extend a long way past the well-known Ayahuasca. Those from Santa Marta use coca in a very different way to those in the Amazon. Part of el mamo’s quest is to discover the knowledge behind all the different plants that nativos (how he refers to indigenous communities) use, which has taken him to the Mapuche in Chile and also to Europe. “To understand them we need to find out the creation myth and why they exist,” says el mamo. “Once we know what they are then we can talk to scientists.” His work has lead him to define peyote, coca and tobacco as ancestral medicine with the vote still to come in on marijuana.

It is a common misconception among foreigners and Colombians that indigenous culture is homogenous. Hence, selling ancestral medicine branded as ‘authentic’ earns the question of “authentic to who?” According to el mamo, the use of ancestral plants and the knowledge that working with them can bring is essential to all, not just indigenous communities.

Authentic to who

From his modest finca, he holds nine-day spiritual workshops, using tobacco and coca, as an entry into reviving a connection with nature. These events aren’t about losing yourself in hallucinations, but listening to el mamo’s and other leaders’ palabras dulces. These “sweet words” are an intention to provide knowledge, without negative language, a philosophy that’s key to how problems are discussed in Arhuaco culture. “When we are angry, we contaminate,” he explains.

In Latin America, ancestral medicine has become very popular with tourists, bringing complications. Fashionable retreats, often involving the famous hallucinogenic Ayahuasca – also known as yagé – make ambiguous promises of energy cleansing and spiritual awakening, often for a pretty penny. Organisations like El Mundo Mágico offer “spirit of yagé” journeys starting from £400. While it is difficult to put a price on a life-changing experience, many travellers have gone off the beaten track, seeking ‘authenticity’ and lower prices.

Horror stories like the death of Henry Miller, a 19-year-old Brit on his gap year who died after having an allergic reaction in the remote department of Putumayo, have highlighted the dangers of unregulated practice. As more individuals seek medicina ancestral, scientific studies have started but still remain thin on the ground, and have not caught up with the rate of use. With proper regulation, perhaps cases like Henry Miller’s would not have happened.

However, el mamo is aware of the dangers and challenges. “We need to make sure it is being done properly and not through vice,” he says, giving the example of how he chews coca every day not because he can’t go without it, but because he respects the knowledge it is bringing him. Indeed, part of the role of CAAENOC is to keep tabs on different spiritual leaders who use medicina ancestral, as they are the tipping point between responsible and dangerous practice. “Ancestral medicine [in its proper use] is a way of life,” explains el mamo, “they are to be respected.”

A common problem is that these plants are viewed through a westernised perception as recreational drugs and are sold as a one-off experience, whereas they are meant for guidance. El mamo’s project is an exciting opportunity for medicina ancestral to enter into a wider discussion with the outside world.

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