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Uh, well there's a few words here that stand out as being misleading: "social leaders and community organizers". This could mean so many things. And depending on what kind of community organizer you're talking about, many of them are *not* at any risk or in any danger.
The main reason people get killed in Colombia is because they're interfering with someone's business. Most peasants don't fall into this category, peasants being people who are living and working on farms. Most farms are involved in legitimate agricultural business - coffee, plantains, oranges, etc - and these are pretty standard businesses. Actually I would argue the peasants there are treated better than our migrant workers in California. And to use the word "peasants" is also misleading. They aren't "serfs". Nobody is forced to work on a coffee farm.
But, if you're talking about country folk who happen to be on land used for illicit cultivation, then yes, of course there's problems. It's organized crime, so what do you expect. Same thing happens in Mexico with country folk who live in drug trafficking routes.
If you are an activist who is trying to protect people who are working on lands controlled by drug traffickers, of course you're going to get killed. Why would you even do that in the first place?
No matter how you look at it, community organizers are not "being killed every day." .... The people who are being assassinated every day in Colombia are people who are involved with or interfering with illegal business.
Are you even Colombian because you sound very uninformed. Colombia is not Mexico. Both have drug trafficking problems but that’s about it. I wonder where you get your information from. You make a lot of assumptions thinking that Colombia is like Mexico. It isn’t. It’s not just drug traffickers or illegal businesses who kill peasants, country folks or whatever feel like calling them. Get informed instead of displaying your lack of knowledge of the region please.
And if you think it’s ok that someone removes you from your land at gunpoint because they decided that they want to plant coca in your land or pollute your water sources with mercury and other heavy metals then I have nothing more to say to you. Having 6 million displaced people in the country is no freaking joke. It’s not only bad for those who leave but for the cities where they settle. The country is a freaking mess with cities like bogota Cali and Medellin full of slums because those people had to leave their lands with nothing.
Ok maybe not then but right before it became so popular. Don't get me wrong I would still like to see Medellin. Lots of beautiful places in Colombia, I wish I could see them all.
I have been in some pretty dangerous cities. The only place I have had guns pulled on me and been caught in shoot outs was in Los Angeles California back in the early 90s.
I like when movies or tv series show the every day life of people during wars or economic depressions. When we hear about past events like the wars, the Great Depression we tend to think everybody back then was miserable and in harms way and that’s really not the whole truth.
I lived in Colombia during those years. Sure there were times I heard gunshuts or things like sounded like bombs but most of us lived regular lives. It was only a few days of our lives when we experienced something tragic. I have fond memories of going to school, hanging out in my neighborhood, traveling to other cities. Those were the happiest days of my life. It was not like we were locked up in our homes waiting for Escobar to shoot us.
Probably what I miss is the kindness of people. The “paisa spirit” You would play with a kid you just met and their mother would be offering dinner for you and your other 8 friends. And these were not even rich people. Of course there were nasty people like rapists, thieves and killers but for the most part people were generous and “servicial”.
I know people claim colombia is better now but I don’t buy it. As dangerous as it was back then we didn’t have bus routes that stopped working because the neighborhood gangs are killing the bus drivers if they don’t pay “their daily fee” about $7 USD a day. We have that now in comuna 13 in Medellin. Street sellers and Bodega owners didn’t have to pay those bastards a monthly quota to avoid getting killed. I don’t like what Medellin has become. Yes and tourists going there for prostututes and drugs doesn’t help either.
Last edited by Irene1999; 08-01-2018 at 11:46 PM..
I know people claim colombia is better now but I don’t buy it. As dangerous as it was back then we didn’t have bus routes that stopped working because the neighborhood gangs are killing the bus drivers if they don’t pay “their daily fee” about $7 USD a day. We have that now in comuna 13 in Medellin. Street sellers and Bodega owners didn’t have to pay those bastards a monthly quota to avoid getting killed. I don’t like what Medellin has become. Yes and tourists going there for prostututes and drugs doesn’t help either.
When it come to the homicide rate Colombia is without a doubt "better" now than it was in the 1990's.
I have been in some pretty dangerous cities. The only place I have had guns pulled on me and been caught in shoot outs was in Los Angeles California back in the early 90s.
Anyone who grew up in Chicano neighborhoods in the U.S. or anywhere south of the border from Mexico down to South America knows what this side of life is about. If you are growing up in a Chicano neighborhood, as I did, there are street gangs and organized crime with the boundary between them blurry in parts. If you are growing up in Mexico there are street gangs, organized crime, bandidos, outlaws, Federales (no distinction between this last one and the previous mentioned groups), and back in the 60s and 70s the mariachis hanging out in Mexico city at night who were every bit murderers and thieves as the rest of them. If you're growing up in South America, there are extremely poor neighbhorhoods with gangs and teenagers running around with machetes, fighting eachother, waylaying passers-by or passers-through, and so forth. Last year in Colombia I was staying at one of my family's house in a small town and a guy was assassinated down the block, almost certainly due to his involvement in some illicit business. This was during the one week that I was there visiting.
This is how things are. Best you can do is be street-smart, try to avoid putting yourself in risky situations.
I like Both but honestly in Latin America I prefer small towns and rural areas.
I think you were asking about towns that are not-touristy... You should be happy in any small town, in this case. Most of them are untouched by tourism. Furthermore, these days with the FARC out of the picture, you can rent a car and drive safely from town to town.
so, for medium sized towns that are untouched by tourism, check out Tunja and Paipa, for example.
For larger towns, Armenia is ok. Someone mentioned Manizales. I like Manizales, it's an interesting city with lots of faldas (hills), kind of like the "San Francisco" of South America in terms of geography.
I like Both but honestly in Latin America I prefer small towns and rural areas.
The south is prob. more for you...not to mention the native american ruins & cultures which are more pronounced. Much fewer tourists and none of the crappy sex desperate types.
I like when movies or tv series show the every day life of people during wars or economic depressions. When we hear about past events like the wars, the Great Depression we tend to think everybody back then was miserable and in harms way and that’s really not the whole truth.
I lived in Colombia during those years. Sure there were times I heard gunshuts or things like sounded like bombs but most of us lived regular lives. It was only a few days of our lives when we experienced something tragic. I have fond memories of going to school, hanging out in my neighborhood, traveling to other cities. Those were the happiest days of my life. It was not like we were locked up in our homes waiting for Escobar to shoot us.
Probably what I miss is the kindness of people. The “paisa spirit” You would play with a kid you just met and their mother would be offering dinner for you and your other 8 friends. And these were not even rich people. Of course there were nasty people like rapists, thieves and killers but for the most part people were generous and “servicial”.
I know people claim colombia is better now but I don’t buy it. As dangerous as it was back then we didn’t have bus routes that stopped working because the neighborhood gangs are killing the bus drivers if they don’t pay “their daily fee” about $7 USD a day. We have that now in comuna 13 in Medellin. Street sellers and Bodega owners didn’t have to pay those bastards a monthly quota to avoid getting killed. I don’t like what Medellin has become. Yes and tourists going there for prostututes and drugs doesn’t help either.
That part of things is really sad.
There is so much more to do in Colombia.
The last thing anyone should be doing in Colombia is doing drugs.
They wont remember the trip
My cousin's wife is from Cali and they run a business with sites in Colombia, the Caribbean and the USA. He is spending a lot more time there now and seriously liking it and always posting these greatly nice photos. I have to be nicer to my cousin so I can tag along with them when they go to Cali.
I only spent a short time there but in the time in 2 cities I was really impressed. There is a lot to do as a tourist. So much that drugs or prostitution should never need come up.
Bogota is cool.
Cartagena romantic and beautiful.
It was pretty evident that many people still have fears about travel to Colombia especially due to all these Narco inspired shows. Of these shows La Nina I thinks actually shows a much more through and accurate pictures of Colombia as it ventures in to many different political and social issues and shows the spectrum of different situations in Colombia.
Anyone who grew up in Chicano neighborhoods in the U.S. or anywhere south of the border from Mexico down to South America knows what this side of life is about. If you are growing up in a Chicano neighborhood, as I did, there are street gangs and organized crime with the boundary between them blurry in parts. If you are growing up in Mexico there are street gangs, organized crime, bandidos, outlaws, Federales (no distinction between this last one and the previous mentioned groups), and back in the 60s and 70s the mariachis hanging out in Mexico city at night who were every bit murderers and thieves as the rest of them. If you're growing up in South America, there are extremely poor neighbhorhoods with gangs and teenagers running around with machetes, fighting eachother, waylaying passers-by or passers-through, and so forth. Last year in Colombia I was staying at one of my family's house in a small town and a guy was assassinated down the block, almost certainly due to his involvement in some illicit business. This was during the one week that I was there visiting.
This is how things are. Best you can do is be street-smart, try to avoid putting yourself in risky situations.
Colombia is not all of South America. The continent has its share of problems, but a Latino neighbourhood in the US or a ghetto in Colombia does not equal the whole continent.
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