Colombians in the US

While Colombians are one of the largest latin groups in New York next to Puerto Ricans and Dominicans they have connections home. There has been conflict in Colombia for most of my life. I have never known it to be calm there. According to Between Two Nations a book by Micheal Jones-Correa Colombia is different than many other latin countries because it allows citizens to vote even if they are no longer residents. This means that a Colombian living in New York can go to the consulate and register, then come back and vote on election day or go to one of the polls set up by the consulate. Although according to Jones-Correa Colombians think politics are dirty. Which, is understandable. If we take a look at Colombian politics and the in-fighting between rebels and the government and all of the un-rest that is there. In the book it says that about 60% of Colombians abstain from voting and being involved in electoral politics. That is a high number of people to be not be involved in politics. It goes back into their beliefs, if they beleive that politcs are evil then why should/would they be involved. Is this feeling because of politics back home in Colombia or here in the United States though. There is so much turmoil going on in Colombia and the United States plays a large role in a lot of it. It just makes you wonder why people think and do the things that they do.

Will there be War?

With the instability in South America these days it does not seem that war is too far way. Ecuador's President had now demanded the resignation of its defense minister along with some other high ranking officials after the latest armed Colombian raid into Ecuador. Ecuador's president is worried that there are American spies in their ranks along with the invasion of the CIA intruding into their intelligence. This could be very well fact but there seems to be no proof of American involvement at this time. Although the United States has been backing Colombia for several years this would be a new level of involvement. It seemed that issues were going to settle down for a while it seems that it was just the calm before the storm.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080409/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/ecuador_defense_minister;_ylt=Av6r7b3sYaHTT1TEyMsrZLq3IxIF

United States' Involvement in Colombia

Recently Gov. Bill Richardson went on a diplomatic trip to Colombia to meet with Colombian President Uribe; Richardson's goal was to help release three American hostages. While these are not the only American hostages involved in the Colombian wars it does seem to follow the trend of United States involvement in Colombia. President George W. Bush has been involved with Colombia since the beginning of his presidency. Although there are many diplomatic reasons for this there are private sector reasons also. While there has been US involvement in Colombia there have been benefits to US oil companies. Plan Colombia has been enacted since the first term of Bush's presidency. With this plan there has US Army Special Forces deployed to Colombia to protect Colombia's main oil pipeline, and over 100 million dollars for anti-terrorist aid. The help that the US has been giving seems to have helped oil companies such as Harken Energy more than actually helping Colombia. Harken Energy which just happens to have a close tie to the president. President G. w. Bush was on the board of directors from 1986-1990. It just seems fishy to me that we have sent money down there to protect the people and we just seemed to be protecting the oil.

http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia198.htm

Colombia to Free Rebels?

The Colombian government is saying that they will free the guerilla hostages if the rebels free colombian hostages. Ingrid Betenacourt who is a French-Colombian is one of the high profile hostages that the Colombian government wants released. It seems that the tensions of violence is calming down or that dipolmatic discussions are now taking place. This is good news since the past few weeks have been marked with violenve from one group on another. While other countries in South American and Southern Central American such as Ecuador have been threating tensions with Colombia if they continued with their violent trend.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/03/28/colombia.hostages/index.html

Ecuador versus Colombia

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7310100.stm

With upheavel as the main focus of Colombia it continues yet again. The history of conflict is not new nor does it stay the same. Ecuador has been one of three countries that has stood up against the attacks on rebels that Colombia has been pursing. While Colombian officials have gone beyond their own boarders looking for rebels Ecuador is stating now that there will be serious consequences and dipolmatic tensions if any of the latest victims are actually citizen of Ecuador and not Colombian rebels. Ecuador has said that they would not be able to forgive Colombia if Franklin Aisalia was killed during one of the raids into Ecuador. The raid was on Farc rebels in Ecuador and Aisalia relatives are stating that he was killed during the raid. To me it seems that it is not justified that the Colombian government is going into neighboring countries to fight rebels. There seems to be no good coming from these raids. Tensions are getting tighter and it only seems to be getting worse. The Colombian government needs to think before they act and try diplomacy with Ecuador not fighting. There will need to be a group effort to create peace not more trouble.

UN and Colombia

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080315/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/colombia_paramilitary_killings;_ylt=AvzPVv_gnrxuWAY_0ZpKOP23IxIF

The UN is now calling for an ivestigation in the deaths of 6 Colombian rebels. These were protesters to the government and parliament death squads; they were political activist and human right activists. These people were all linked to the protests on March 6. Although many Colombians did not join in on the protests thousands did. The outside scrutiny is now growing larger as Colombia seems to be almost ruthless when it comes to its rebels. When will the violence stop and at what cost to the rights of the citizens?

Ivan Rios

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/03/07/colombia.farc/index.html

The Colombian government has now killed two rebel force leaders in Ecuador. Is it justified the Colombian government to go to Ecuador and kill these rebels? Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua leaders do not think so. Colombian officials aploigized about killing the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia along with twenty other rebels. Although Ecuador's President has said that the apology is not enough and Ecuador and Venezuela have both moved troops to the boarders of Colombia. Could this spark a war in South America? The balance in South America is very fragile and it seems that Colombia is tilling the balance in what would look like a negative way. Hugo Chavez, who is the Venezuelan President has ordered a blockade of Colombia that could cost Colombia billions. It seems that although the Colombia government is willing to do anything to send the rebels a message but it also seems that the leftist countries that are surrounding it are not going to tolerate the message being sent. It seems that effort to mediate between the rebels and Colombia by outside parties such as Ecuador and Venezuela have broken down. What will happen next?