Radical Avenue

An April morning drizzle poses no threat to visitors at the Botanical Gardens. The jungle canopy keeps park benches next to the lily pond warm and cozy. Peaceful interludes get interrupted quickly in Medellin. Groups of inquisitive children in matching polo shirts emblazoned with school colors are everywhere.

Colombian youngsters like to test pink skinned strangers on their mastery of the English language. Hello. What’s your name? How are you? What time is it? I enjoyed the Botanical Garden’s bamboo forest, orchids and butterfly exhibit, but the entire place is a plant lover’s nirvana.

One of the water parks in Medellin is located next to the municipal airport. Parents watch Taca and LAN commuter flights leave while kids dive into the wave pool. Every barrio has a heavily forested block or two, usually fed by a stream cascading down from the Andes. And the birds of these woodlands display their colors proudly. Bright red, yellow and green feathers, even the pigeons look more fluorescent in Colombia.

After hours crowds congregate in the clubs and restaurants of Parque Lleras. Sports lovers watch soccer matches at the new stadium. The local taxis will take you wherever you need to go, but please don’t slam the doors. It is considered highly impolite.

Medellin offers accommodations for all budgets. I recommend the Black Sheep Hostel in Patio Bonito or the InterContinental in El Poblado if you’ve got some extra spending money. You can dine every day on white linen, at KFC or on a folding table in a one room tienda. But don’t leave without trying a glass of freshly squeezed orange and mango juice with a hint of lime. Scintillating.

Once again I find myself distracted by the fetching young ladies in the white uniforms with golden trim. The cleaning crew in the Museum of Antioquia bears a striking resemblance to their cousins over in the metro station, the same spotless white shoes and stockings, the same efficient manner, brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, hands constantly in motion. Cleanliness seems to be an obsession in Medellin. I feel curiously obliged to leave a gum wrapper behind on a bench somewhere.

The third floor of the museum is dedicated to Medellin favorite son, Fernando Botero. In the bullfighting room, one of the matadors has a tiny demon hovering just above his right ear. I wonder if some angry bull got the better of this poor fellow. The museum also features an exquisite display of antique gold jewelry and an extensive collection of contemporary art from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The scene on Botero Plaza just outside the Museum of Antioquia is more chaotic than the rest of Medellin. You’ll laugh at the tourists amusing themselves around comically disproportioned nude sculptures, sway to the rhythm of bands playing accordions and guitars and catch a sales pitch for cotton gloves in five brilliant colors, one for each finger.

A couple of blocks to the west, the restaurant called La Terraza serves up tasty consume soup with a small arepa. Diners enjoy their lunch on the upstairs terrace and see reflections of the crowd passing by below in the plate glass exterior of buildings across the street.

When you drop a 200 Peso coin into the offertory box at the old white church near Botero Plaza in downtown Medellin, a miniature yellow bulb will illuminate beneath one of the faux candles in the quiet display. It works differently in the Mission church at San Juan Bautista, California. At the Mission you must first drop a copper into the box and then use a match to light a single candle.

I’m not sure which approach I prefer. In San Juan Bautista, I ponder the staid traditions handed down religiously through generations. In Medellin, I wonder why the Paisas go their own way.

On Sunday, transportation officials partition four lane roads into two lanes for cars and two lanes for bicycles. Bikers climb through the financial district on Poblado Avenue, and then stop for fresh cut mangoes while mechanics repair cycles along the side of the street. It takes patience and a keen eye to spot the green and yellow parrots flying overhead in peaceful Medellin. Professional bikers opt for the screaming Andes mountain trails waiting just outside of town.

Workers in trimmed white uniforms polish the silver metal doors of electrical panels while you sit in the Medellin metro stations. But you never get a chance to watch them for very long, as the trains buzz through every five minutes or so. This trains running on time idea might really catch on some day.

Smiling faces greet awkward visitors at every turn through the barrios. It’s safe, serene and ahead of the times here.

It seems fairly certain that any serious US response to the humanitarian crisis in Colombia will have to wait until after the next president takes office. The 3.8 million Colombians currently living in exile have failed to penetrate the presidential bubble. And don’t bother asking Dick Cheney about this tragedy either. It’s not something he reflects on while fly fishing.

Dropping the remaining tariffs on products shipped between Colombia and the United States would certainly provide a revenue boost to the merchants now paying those taxes. But violence from the forty year old drug war in Colombia still scares away investors. The conflict has crippled the region and a free trade agreement won’t matter to millions of impoverished Colombians.

Trickle Down vs. Rising Tide
President Reagan justified tax cuts for wealthy Americans under the theory that well funded entrepreneurs would grow the economy through their wise investments. However the “trickle down” effect did not make up for lost federal revenues and the deficit grew during Reagan’s presidency.

On October 3rd, 1963 in Heber Springs, Arkansas President John Kennedy described how public works projects benefit an entire nation.

These projects produce wealth, they bring industry, they bring jobs, and the wealth they bring brings wealth to other sections of the United States. This State had about 200,000 cars in 1929. It has a million cars now. They weren’t built in this State. They were built in Detroit. As this State’s income rises, so does the income of Michigan. As the income of Michigan rises, so does the income of the United States. A rising tide lifts all the boats and as Arkansas becomes more prosperous so does the United States and as this section declines so does the United States. So I regard this as an investment by the people of the United States in the United States.

Since the United States is Colombia’s leading trade partner, this rising tide approach to public spending could also apply to our investment in Latin America. The Colombian free trade agreement currently pending in Congress however relies on the trickle down plan. It offers tax cuts to wealthy Colombian merchants as a panacea to the countries’ problems.

Reagan is the lazy farmer who dumps all of his seeds in the most fertile corner of the field. Kennedy prefers to carefully till the entire field and spread the seeds around evenly. Some of the plants will die in either case, but Kennedy’s egalitarian approach will result in a more bountiful harvest.

In Kind Aid
According to the World Economic Forum, Latin American countries have fallen behind European and Asian nations when it comes to internet network readiness. Upgrading information systems infrastructure in Colombia would give more Colombians access to the World Wide Web and an opportunity to trade directly with Americans here in the States. I’m sure eBay wouldn’t mind the extra traffic.

Providing foreign aid in the form of public works projects has the added benefit of preventing corrupt local politicians from diverting public funds to private accounts. Put people to work wiring up remote villages and self serving politicians will have a much harder time appropriating that investment for their own purposes. The local governor may insist on having the new server farm named after his favorite polo pony, but that shouldn’t hold things up too much.

Colombia, humanitarian crisis, foreign aid investment, trickle down, rising tide

The US State Department estimates that Colombia ranks second only to Sudan in the number of internally displaced refugees. Up to 3.8 million Colombians live in exile, more than 5% of the population. Our country fuels this humanitarian crisis with $500 million in annual military aid, which is used in a drug war pitting the Colombian military against cocaine distributors and their militias. In the meantime Washington haggles over free trade agreements. Talk about misplaced priorities. A free trade agreement won’t help the Colombian refugee community anytime soon.

Does the conflict in Colombia really matter to the US? Well, the Colombian government recently seized 66 pounds of uranium from that nation’s largest rebel group, something the US government considers “disturbing”. Indeed.

Radioactive material in the hands of our enemy is never good news, and they’re probably not using it for clean energy production. The situation is just another example of a dangerously inept US foreign policy. The United States should fix its counterproductive relationship with Colombia.

Better Avenues for Investment
Here are some alternative ways to spend $500 million a year:
1) Humanitarian aid in the form of food, shelter, medicine and other necessities for displaced Colombians.
2) Research into the medicinal benefits of the cocoa plant, which has powerful analgesic qualities but which is also highly addictive.
3) Treatment for drugs addicts, so that they can get back to living productive lives.
4) Education programs to warn kids about the dangers of drug abuse.
5) Schools in remote Colombian villages, where education serves as a socio-economic equalizer, thereby giving poor communities leverage against dangerous local militias.

Treat the Illness
If every ounce of cocaine on the planet vanished overnight, thousands of cocaine addicts would still wake up in the morning needing a fix. Removing the drug doesn’t cure the addiction. Without remedial intervention, addicts will just move on to some other intoxicating substance.

Some people are more susceptible to addiction than others. Effective drug prevention programs help at risk kids before they ever get hooked. Plenty of recovered addicts have conquered their demons with a bit of intestinal fortitude and help from professionals. We can lessen the problem of drug addiction in America through a more therapeutic, less punitive approach.

The Bloody Black Market
During the days of Prohibition, alcohol production and consumption went underground. The ensuing gangster violence in Chicago and New York shocked the nation to such an extent that prohibition was repealed. Now cocktail parties are back in fashion. But drug and alcohol abuse still plagues America. In the modern era however, we’ve exported the intimidation and assassinations to places like Medellin and Cali. That’s why we need a fundamentally different arrangement with our Latin American friends.

Colombia, humanitarian crisis, refugees, foreign aid investment