Bush came to Colombia today for six hours to meet with embattled Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. In the midst of scandal over many Uribe political allies' involvement with paramilitary groups, who are accused of horrendous human rights violations, Bush met with Uribe to discuss the Free Trade Agreement pending in Congress and the "progress" that has been made under Plan Colombia.
Bogotanos, in return, took to the street. From Wednesday through today protests took place throughout the city against Bush's visit. This week has demonstrated to me the broad-based opposition to Bush's policies in Colombia, and also brought into sharp relief how a small number of violent (anti-Bush) protestors can undermine and endanger collective peaceful resistance. What perhaps you have already seen on the news are the images of protestors kicking, throwing things, etc. What I saw today were about 2,000 non-violent protestors, including kids with their mothers, a man who is about to lose his job at a telephone company because of neoliberalism, a 24-year old who talked to me about the natural and cultural richness of her country, and a high school
teacher who objects to Uribe, Colombia's president, being put into power by paramilitary forces and the US, not by the pueblo - the people. There were also a 100 or so violent youth throwing rocks amidst the rest of the non-violent protestors. As a result, police dispersed the protest after less than two hours with tear gas, and then later water hoses. Here are some pictures of what I saw:
Bush out of all of the galaxy
Do you know why he came? He came to "mess with" you
street theatre, enacting the misery that Bush causes in Colombia, following the tear gassing and dispersion of the march
Demon Bush, Assassin & Terrorist: Out! Out! Out! of our Colombia! We want to be free!
Bush out of Colombia and out of Latin America
