Dunno what Syriana is, but I do know that most of the movies/stories that come out of Colombia are true bullshit, and never get the whole picture.Joe Camacho wrote:To be honest, the only thing I know about Colombia is from a movie called "La virgen de los Sicarios"... I don't really recommend it to anyone.
And I just saw Syriana, made me think I'm not the only one with this beliefs.
Lately I've seen that in Spain and France a documentary called "La Sierra" is really getting to people. It's a short film that shows the life of certain "paramilitary" groups on the outskirts of Medellin, wich used to be the home of the biggest drug cartels, now, just another city.
I'll try to resume what goes on here. It's like there where 4 parties:
1.)The guerrillas: They say they fight for freedom, but anybody with two fingers of forehead knows it's pure crap. We don't know what they're doing anymore, because it's obvious that the military can't fight them, and that they're never, EVER taking control of the country. They're two great groups: FARC, which translates Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, which are the SECOND biggest kidnappers and killers in the world, and the other one is the ELN, National Liberation Army, wich seem tired of 50 years of guerrilla fighting and it seems that want to end it all.
2.)The paramilitary: Supposedly a disbanded group already and with supposed ties with the actual REELECTED president (we like to follow the US steps) Alvaro Uribe, they were originally a faction created by landlords to protect their lands from the guerrillas. 30 years after their creation, they play the same dirty games as the guerrillas (except they don't kidnap), but they fight them too. As I said, it's a group that's disbanding itself, but is far from desintegrated.
3.)The military: The state military. They're supposed to help citizens, but they do something that looks more like fighting the Guerrillas (it's not the same, really, think about it). There are a lot of scandals about the military ALSO abusing it's power and killing citizens, but it is kinda rare. What I DO know the military does is be a force of repression against ANY type of conflicting ideals, and I MEAN ANY TYPE. The student movement ( I didn't know how to translate that), for example, which are basically university students in protests against many of the goverments decisions, has suffered dissappearences, deaths and threats since it appeared in the 50s. I for one, believe the claims: The military do in the top leaders.
4.)The people: So, we're in the middle. All three are a threat so one takes carefull action on what he does.
We pretty much live normally over here. I went to school, I graduated, I'm studying in a University, I have a girlfriend, I work my ass off so I can update my PC every now and then and have enough to someday buy a house (or an apartment)... yet, you know everything is there, that a wrong step might someday put you up against one of those four groups, and you know that you can only really try to step aside and see if you'll get ignored when the time comes.
It's really hard to change things over here.