[It is with hesitation that I post this here due to some of the controversial subjects. However, it is what it is and that is, my opinions and experiences. The portion about today's strike was gathered from conversations with paisas and several newspaper articles. The entries are posted to a whatsapp group and occasionally reposted here.]
Thursday, November 21, 2019
My brother thinks I obsess over food. And he is correct. But not the way one may think. I’ve lost about 10 pounds since I came to Colombia. My issue with food is that I’ve grown to dislike most typical Colombian food. I often joke that it’s all the same and made from one underground central kitchen which supplies the restaurants. However, that problem has mostly been solved. I found 2 people to prepare American style dinners. One person is my former teacher’s daughter and makes very reasonably priced meals. The other person is the loco (but good “loco”) French guy who cooked in finer restaurants in France. Due to the cost, I only get 1 meal per week from him. Coupled with the occasional Colombian meal, problem basically solved.
The Christmas lights in Sabaneta park light up around 9pm. Why so late? Anyway, it’s a sight to behold. I showed a photo of the church all lit up in my last writing. That was from 2018. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it hasn’t changed a bit in 2019.
Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, is not a holiday here. Still, a bunch of restaurants serve traditional Thanksgiving meals. I heard that in general, the meals are not very good and the turkey is nothing like in the US. However, there is a restaurant that good write-ups from past Thanksgivings. It is located right in the center of gringo-land, parque Lleras in Poblado. It is also in a sports bar which will surely make dinner conversation difficult, especially considering the football games which will be on a zillion screens. Anyway, I made reservations having little alternative.
Tensions have been rising throughout Colombia and is climaxing today with the first national strike in 3 years. Like everything else in Colombia, the purpose(s) of the strike are confusing. There is no one group organizing the strike and there’s no single reason. There’s a lot of frustration here, mostly financial – cost of living (good for foreigners, but Colombians suffer), a VAT increase as well as issues with the health care system and corruption. President Duque is not a very popular man – his disapproval rate hovers around 70%. [Does that make you feel better DJT?] One of the impetuses for the strike was to pay young people 75% of the minimum wage. In addition, it was proposed by former President Uribe, a Duque lackey, to reduce the working week which may impact people’s pensions. Last, there was another unpopular proposal to increase pension contributions.
Other sources of dissension include the murder of over 100 indigenous people since Duque took power. And lots more examples of violence including murders of social leaders. Student protests went on for two months and only ended a few months ago. The strikes ended as a result of promises made by the government which have not been implemented.
Venezuelans have been allowed to immigrate to Colombia basically without any controls or limits to the number of persons allowed. Some see this as the right thing to do considering the alternative to Venezuelans is to stay in a country completely out of control. I have mixed feelings. It’s a huge strain on an already fractured economy. It is common to see Venezuelans with small children at their side begging for money in the streets. It is very sad. However, some Venezuelans take advantage and basically rent and drug children (so they’re quiet) in order to garner sympathy. Personally, I give a few hundred pesos here and there with mixed feelings.
The marches are scheduled to start at 9am, a few hours from now as I write this. There will almost certainly be some violence – the only question is how much. The big scare is that Colombia will follow other Latin American countries on the road to communism which has only led to disaster elsewhere.
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