More on the protests in Colombia

Don and riot police

I will do a series of short blogs because of the incompatibility of my iPad and Blogger.  Last night, the President declared a curfew and all was quiet.  We heard protesters chanting this morning, but no one was allowed into the Plaza, so life looked pretty normal.  We have moved on to Medellin.

We heard many different opinions about the protests and the police response.  Our guide and the Congressman we talked to believe that the campesinos and students are righteous in their demands.  Poverty is so pervasive that increasingly the children of the rich are the only ones who can afford to go to college.  Our guide, who is 42, has a son at the university and she and her husband have gone deeply into debt to pay his tuition.  Her daughter will follow him.  She said they would have to sell their house to pay their debts (but her mother, sister, niece and nephew share the house with them, so they would have to find another place to live also).

Our travel agent felt the police had been very moderate in their response.  He said rumors were that some of the FARC rebels had infiltrated the protests and started the violence that led to 2 deaths and lots of vandalism.  Protesters threw rocks, paint, rotten fruits and more at the police who, by the time we talked to them, were tired and hungry.

We chatted with a woman officer, beautifully made up, covered with jewelry, who seemed to be in charge as, indeed, she was.  She was the colonel of the police unit guarding the Presidential Palace and completely charming and calm as we talked.  Shortly after, the mayor gave the order to clear the square, which led to our encounter with tear gas, called pepper gas by Colombians.  The policemen and soldiers we talked to in various parts of the downtown area also seemed calm and competent, though the morning paper had a photo of one riot policeman hurling back a rock that a protester had thrown at him.

It seems the President has decided to stop negotiating with the protesters.  Probably not a good idea because the police presence needed to keep things calm may be massive and expensive.  But, I don't really know much about the origins of the anger nor the conditions that brought it to a boil.  We will continue to discuss the politics and economics of Colombia with everyone we can to try to learn more.  The people we've met have universally been cordial and warm, police included. 

more "wild day in bogota" photos

protesters leaving Plaza

now running up the street as tear gas billows behind

president leaving presidential palace in his helicopter amid protests

Don

talking to Congressman supporting protesters

Wild day in Bogota--photos

campesinos cheering on protest leaders

police protecting Parliament building

students marching into Plaza

riot

policeman feeding pigeons in Plaza

Tear gas in Bogota makes for an exciting day!

running from tear gas in main plaza

Given the excitement of the day amidst the beauty of Bogota, I will do this blog in 2 parts, starting with the burgeoning protests and police response.  And given the impossibility of using blogger (this infuriating blog program) on my iPad, I will do separate pages of photos with each blog.

Last night, campesinos (farmers) started drifting into the city, some having walked for days to get here.  Then students decided to join them.  So, today schools were closed and university classes were cancelled in hopes of keeping the protests off the campuses.  That gave university and high school students full permission to join the growing ranks of protesters, which they did in earnest and with considerable organization (see the waves of student marchers in the photo blog).

We walked through the main plaza this morning watching the protesters gather as we began our sightseeing in Candelaria, the historic center of Bogota.  Many shops were already closed, fearing vandalism or looting from the younger marchers.  The police had already lined the plaza, protecting the government buildings and presidential palace with barricades and their presence.  The riot police were in full riot gear, armed with tear gas canisters.  They were chatting among themselves, but very watchful, though willing to talk to us with our guide interpreting.  Meanwhile the protest leaders  were blasting their messages throughout the downtown area on loudspeakers, insisting that their demands be heard and their problems solved.

There is not only great rage over the U.S./Colombia free trade agreement, but also over the rising cost of attending public universities.  Teachers participated calling for higher pay.  The poor people of Colombia believe the government is very corrupt and that they pay high taxes while the wealthy are protected from taxation.  The grievances grew when President Santos dismissed them and their protests as trivial.  No more.  The average monthly salary in Colombia is $323.  Farmers make much less.  Many farm children do not go to school beyond primary grades and many farm families have 6 or 7 children, but can't really provide them the education they need to succeed.  Even middle class families say they can't afford to send their children to university, which they value greatly.  So this is the backdrop for the protests.

Early in the afternoon, the police were ordered to clear the square.  We were several blocks above the plaza and watched, first, people walking up the street, then running as fast as they could as tear gas billowed behind them.  Later, we walked back down the street, which by now was filled with trash, the remains of a small fire, some broken glass from bashed-in windows, and police at every corner.  The plaza, which had emptied quickly after the first round of tear gas, filled again later in the day with very angry protesters.  Nonetheless, though they were loud, everyone was peaceful.  We had, however, seen riot police earlier who had been in the midst of the fray, with paint and debris covering their riot shields and uniforms, so they were prepared for more trouble.

We stood watching at the corner of the Plaza, right next to the police.  Soon the riot police moved to the Cathedral steps.  Within about 15 minutes, they were ordered to clear the square once again.  We saw them lob dozens of tear gas canisters into the Plaza.  Hundreds of people started running up our street and of course we joined them.  Meanwhile, 2 more canisters landed in the courtyard right next to us and one up the street between us and our hotel.  If you've ever experienced tear gas, you know how it burns your eyes and nose and makes you cough uncontrollably.

Our guide collapsed against a wall, so I ran back, grabbed her, and ran through the tear gas to our hotel, where we were  in through a side door

We all 3 went to our room, drank a glass of wine, watched as peace enveloped the square.  I'm sure police and protesters were all happy is was over, at least for the moment.  See photos on the next blog.

More photos from Bogota

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Beautiful Bogota

  

What a day in Bogota!  This is a city of 9 million people, with  many different districts and a lovely historic center called Candelaria (where we will plan to stay when we bring a small group here).  Bogota is over 8000 feet high and surrounded by mountains, so has a very pleasant climate.  The weather moved from clouds to sprinkles to sun and now thunderstorms today, keeping the air clean and the mountains clear.

More on Candelaria and its charms in a minute, but first a few of the interesting events of the day.  The U.S. and Colombia have been negotiating a free trade agreement for over a decade and Presidents Obama and Santos just signed the document.  Apparently, President Santos didn't check with the campesinos (farmers) of Colombia because they are livid over the agricultural provisions.

As a result, they've blockaded the roads leading out of the Bogota, with the goal of shutting off the city's food supply.  In the process, they've also created a monumental traffic jam throughout the city.  Our drive from our hotel in the north of Bogota to Candelaria took about 30 minutes this morning.  Our return--same route--took 2 1/2 hours, thanks to streets shut down by striking students at a couple of the universities and some campesinos on the sidewalks, blocked from the street by a row of policemen in riot gear (all quite peacefully regarding one another).

President Santos, who reportedly refused to recognize the farmers' protests yesterday, is now working to resolve their demands and get them to go home to their crops.  The newspapers have photos of thousands of people filling the roadways going to the villages outside Bogota.  Next the teachers went on strike.  Now the students are joining in.  Here is a man with a big problem to solve!

Along the way, we watched (since we were stopped in traffic anyway) an unfortunate cabbie trying to lift his front tire out of a deep hole left when someone stole the manhole cover in order to sell it for food.  Soon a group of men gathered to give him advice and, a few, to try to help lift the front end high enough to regain the street.

Back to charming Candelaria, home to the Parliament, Presidential Palace, City Hall, Cathedral and some wonderful museums.  Our first visit was to the Gold Museum, which shows the history of gold working in Colombia from about the 7th century until the Spanish Conquistadors grabbed all they could and enslaved the indigenous people.  The Museum has beautifully-displayed exhibits of the multitude of fine gold objects made by the different tribes of this region.  These photos on this page   are just a few of the more than 60 I took at the Museum.

We wandered through the central plaza, filled with pigeons stealing the corn sold by the street merchants to tourists--to feed the pigeons.  Just off the plaza is a beautiful church reminiscent of the Siena Cathedral in Italy.  It has Moorish architecture on one side and beautiful stained glass windows of flowers rather than the usual saints.  Just lovely.

Tomorrow we will visit several museums and a mountaintop church called Monserrat.  Since we cannot get to our next destination, Villa de Leyva, because of the campesinos roadblocks, we will stay an extra day here and and extra day in Medellin before heading to Santa Fe de Antioquia, a colonial village outside Medellin.  The area around Medellin is a major flower-growing area, so we will get a chance to see this important crop and learn about its production and export.

Headed to Bogota, Colombia

After a long blogging silence, I'm hoping to get back into the travel reporting groove as we start our trip to Colombia.

Our itinerary takes us to Bogota, the capital, tonight, then to Villa de Leyva, a colonial town, Medellin, site of much of the rebel activity a decade ago, another colonial town, Santa Fe  de Antioquia, and Cartagena, on the Caribbean coast.  Right now, Villa de Leyva is "iffy" since coffee farmers are demanding higher subsidies for coffee.  To ram home their point, they have set up road blocks between Bogota and Villa de Leyva and stoned cars that try to pass through.  So, we may have to find some other places to explore--no problem in a country we haven't visited before.  I'll be blogging descriptions, photos and comments on the places we visit as we go along.

Our purpose is to see if Colombia would be a good place to take a group in the next year or so.  As we always do before we take a group to a new country (new to us) we will check out cities and towns, hotels and restaurants, historical and cultural visits and markets as well as local guides and drivers, transportation options and safety.   We think Colombia will be a particularly interesting visit given its Indian and colonial history and culture.  But, check out this blog to learn more.

We have a busy fall planned, with trips to East Africa in September and Myanmar in October, both with groups.  We have loved visiting both places and are excited to take friends there also.  Next year, we'll be taking a private group to Southeast Asia in January and to South America in October.  No doubt there will also be another trip in between (to replace our postponed trip to Egypt originally planned for next March).  You can see the itineraries for these trips at our website, www.eglobaleducation.com.

Meanwhile, if you're interested in South America, watch for blog postings on Colombia over the next two weeks.