For those of you interested in Colombia

Post-independence and republicanism
Main articles: La Violencia, El Bogotazo, National Front (Colombia), and Colombian armed conflict (1964–present)

The Gran Colombia.Internal political and territorial divisions led to the secession of Venezuela and Quito (today's Ecuador) in 1830. The so-called "Department of Cundinamarca" adopted the name "Nueva Granada", which it kept until 1856 when it became the "Confederación Granadina" (Grenadine Confederation). After a two-year civil war in 1863, the "United States of Colombia" was created, lasting until 1886, when the country finally became known as the Republic of Colombia. Internal divisions remained between the bipartisan political forces, occasionally igniting very bloody civil wars, the most significant being the Thousand Days civil war (1899–1902).

This, together with the United States of America's intentions to influence the area (especially the Panama Canal construction and control) led to the separation of the Department of Panama in 1903 and the establishment of it as a nation. The United States paid Colombia $25,000,000 in 1921, seven years after completion of the canal, for redress of President Roosevelt's role in the creation of Panama, and Colombia recognized Panama under the terms of the Thomson-Urrutia Treaty. Colombia was engulfed in the Year-Long War with Peru over a territorial dispute involving the Amazonas Department and its capital Leticia.

Soon after, Colombia achieved a relative degree of political stability, which was interrupted by a bloody conflict that took place between the late 1940s and the early 1950s, a period known as La Violencia ("The Violence"). Its cause was mainly mounting tensions between the two leading political parties, which subsequently ignited after the assassination of the Liberal presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on April 9, 1948. This assassination caused riots in Bogotá and became known as El Bogotazo. The violence from these riots spread throughout the country and claimed the lives of at least 180,000 Colombians.

From 1953 to 1964 the violence between the two political parties decreased first when Gustavo Rojas deposed the President of Colombia in a coup d'état and negotiated with the guerrillas, and then under the military junta of General Gabriel París Gordillo.

After Rojas' deposition the two political parties Colombian Conservative Party and Colombian Liberal Party agreed to the creation of a "National Front", whereby the Liberal and Conservative parties would govern jointly. The presidency would be determined by an alternating conservative and liberal president every 4 years for 16 years; the two parties would have parity in all other elective offices. The National Front ended "La Violencia", and National Front administrations attempted to institute far-reaching social and economic reforms in cooperation with the Alliance for Progress. In the end, the contradictions between each successive Liberal and Conservative administration made the results decidedly mixed. Despite the progress in certain sectors, many social and political problems continued, and guerrilla groups were formally created such as the FARC, ELN and M-19 to fight the government and political apparatus. These guerrilla groups were dominated by Marxist doctrines.


The Palace of Justice siege (1985).Emerging in the late 1970s, powerful and violent drug cartels further developed during the 1980s and 1990s. The Medellín Cartel under Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel, in particular, exerted political, economic and social influence in Colombia during this period. These cartels also financed and influenced different illegal armed groups throughout the political spectrum. Some enemies of these allied with the guerrillas and created or influenced paramilitary groups.


The Colombian armed forces around the dead body of the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar.The new Colombian Constitution of 1991 was ratified after being drafted by the Constituent Assembly of Colombia. The constitution included key provisions on political, ethnic, human and gender rights. The new constitution initially prohibited the extradition of Colombian nationals, causing accusations that drug cartels had lobbied for the provision; extradition was allowed again in 1996 when the provision was repealed. The cartels had previously promoted a violent campaign against extradition, leading to many terrorist attacks and mafia-style executions. They also tried to influence the government and political structure of Colombia through corruption, as in the case of the 8000 Process scandal.

In recent years, the country has continued to be plagued by the effects of the drug trade, guerrilla insurgencies like FARC, and paramilitary groups such as the AUC, which along with other minor factions have engaged in a bloody internal armed conflict. President Andrés Pastrana and the FARC attempted to negotiate a solution to the conflict between 1999 and 2002. The government set up a "demilitarized" zone, but repeated tensions and crisis led the Pastrana administration to conclude that the negotiations were ineffectual. Pastrana also began to implement the Plan Colombia initiative, with the dual goal of ending the armed conflict and promoting a strong anti-narcotic strategy.

During the presidency of Álvaro Uribe, the government applied more military pressure on the FARC and other outlawed groups. Mostly through military pressure and increased military hardware from the US most security indicators improved, showing a steep decrease in reported kidnappings (from 3,700 in the year 2000 to 172 in 2009 (Jan.-Oct.)) and intentional homicides (from 28,837 in 2002 to 15,817 in 2009 according to police).[31] Guerrillas have been reduced from 16,900 insurgents to 8,900 insurgents.

While some in the UN argue Colombia is violating human rights to achieve peace, most do not argue that increased military pressure has had considerable improvements that have favored economic growth and tourism.[32] The 2006–2007 Colombian parapolitics scandal emerged from the revelations and judicial implications of past and present links between paramilitary groups, mainly the AUC, and some government officials and many politicians, most of them allied to the governing administration.[33]

God Loves Me (A pleasant poem for you pleasant folk)

Run rampant! Set the streets a-flame
To console my heavy heart.
From Kristallnacht to Bastille Day,
I make centuries of revolting art. ;)

So hold the torch
Caught from failing hands,
To burn the skin again.
The smell of cauterizing flesh...
Mmmmm, I'm instilled to sin again. ;)

I beg you now, again once more
Take them to my serene war,
For you, my Ever Precious Whore,
Shall mine me gold! and iron ore.

It's a funny thing that we are posting about fear this week. Not for the obvious fact that Halloween is coming up, but rather because I know exactly what it is I am afraid of. People have lots of little fears that hardly impact the way we function as a collective society. But whether it is subliminal or right at the forefront of our brains, I think we all have deep seeded fears. Fears that eat away at us, and change the way we act and feel. I know what I fear. I might not know exactly but I think I can say I have an idea. Now, after that slew of "I's", I will cut to the point. I fear lots of little things. I fear death and dying, pain and suffering. I feel paranoia creeping across my brain, like the rains of a thunder storm rushing across the rippling surface of a destitute, grey lake of waste. I feel my imagination stalking me in the dark, serial killers, enemies, phantoms of vapour, all wanting to mutilate me and kill me. But these fears always are fantastical in nature and bear no consequence on my life. The fear of life is what keeps me awake. I'm living so carefree. My life is as good as it gets. I just push aside the unpleasantries and focus on doing whatever I want. My fear is that what I'm doing now is like an earthquake caused by the tectonic plates shifting. The effects of my ruckus won't be felt immediately here and I won't fall into a fault line, but one day the tidal wave will come. I'm afraid that life is going to come crashing down on my shoulders as I stand on my beach, drinking in the sunlight of my glorious fantasy. My fear is that when this wave hits i'll be wearing cement boots. Thats why tonight as I write this, I'm taking steps to untie the shoelaces. The first thing I'm doing is getting rid of my cellphone. It is depriving me of essential communication skills and unnecessary at best.

meeting the weekly "Quota" (down under mates!)

The book "Three Day Road" by Joseph Boyden, is full of great quotes because the book is largley written as characters reflect upon their past experiences. The first quote id like to introduce is when the protagonist, Xavier is lying beside his friend Elijah when Elijah injects morphine into himself. Xavier recounts how "since being wounded in our raid, he has given up fighting the morphine." (pg. 192). This marks the beginning of Elijah's transformation. As the story progresses he becomes more and more dependant on the drug to funtion, and his demeanour changes and becomes very malicous. Many men became dependant on morphine during the war, and it was a part of the war that continued to effect people after the fighting had stopped. In the novel, Elijah has a friend named Grey Eyes who is notorious in the company for his morphine abuse. Elijah eventually tells Xavier that on the journey over to Europe, he tried morphine at Grey Eyes behest. For months, Elijah struggled with his fascination over the drug and the out of body experience he had his first time. His knowledge that the drug will turn him into a fiend detters him, but eventually he gives in and becomes a monster. It is this man vs. himself struggle that is embodied throughout the book. From Xavier hesitating to kill, to his aunt Niska and her responsibilities as a holy woman contrasting with her natural desires.

This brings me to my next quote which takes place as Xavier is strangling Elijah to death on the battlefield. ""You have gone mad. There is no coming back from where you've travelled." I press down harder. Elijah's eyes shine with tears. His face grows a dark red. He tries to whisper words to me but I know that I cannot allow Elijah to speak them. I must finish this. I have become what you are Niska.". This quote is significant not only because it shows the extent of Elijah's madness, but it illustrates the unspoken role of Niska's bloodline in their native culture. Niska's father was a shaman of sorts and would direct hunters to prey during times of need, and who would communicate with spirits and proform spiritual tasks. One of these such tasks is to kill individuals who are driven mad (usually by lack of food in the winter) and kill and eat another human. Since Elijah has become obsessed at this point with killing, Xavier recognizes that he must take his life.

The final quote is one that is said by more of a secondary character in the story. The man is a french fur trapper with whom Niska has sexual relations with. "He laughed. "I fucked you in a church," he said, and smiled. I smiled back at him. "I fucked the heathen Indian out of you in this church," he said, but this time the smile was not happy. "I took your ahcahk," he said to me, the smile gone now. "Do you understand. I fucked your ahcahk, your spirit"". This is a powerful moment in the story, and marks the turning point in Niska's life where she realizes she was born into a special bloodline that was not meant for corrupted cities and racist attitudes. She was meant to live as her ancestors before her, and utilize her talents to help preserve their culture that is being swallowed by the white men and their greed.