Pollsters who failed, lost ideals, fashion trends or corruption? None of that matters now. The fear that Uribe was able to instill overcame the change of course that other candidates proposed.
I do not intend to speculate or give my opinion about the kind of person Juan Manuel Santos is. Everyone, even those who voted for him know what kind of person he is. Simple and simply, I want to express how I feel about the fact that happened on Sunday May 30, when this man (Uribe’s biggest egg) won the first lap of the race for President of the Republic of Colombia.
A candidate with no ideas
We must start with the basic fact on which Santos’ political shield is on, his party. The Party of the U, so-called “National Unity” is a group of individuals governed by the parameters and the ideas of one person – what need is there to mention him?
It is the first time in Colombia that a possible future president wins the first public office in the country without having his own ideas. The blame for this is of course to the current president, Alvaro Uribe, who personalized politics in the country to a point where Santos now has almost 50% of (perceived) bias. I do not want to doubt that the exercise of democracy and the triumph of JMS was clean, I do not want to doubt.
Santos has done nothing but “boast” on every public appearance (with that slow and frustrating tonw of voice) about what Uribe did, reasons why we should vote for him. Ah? Is there anything more absurd than that? I vote for a candidate who will or has already done, a candidate who proposes workable ideas. I’m not going to waste my vote on candidate, who has a “friend” who actually did something. It is clear that everything has been done because the “biggest egg” knows what is best for him, to hide behind his mother “hen” (aka Uribe) … that is nothing new for Santos.
Sure, Santos was his Minister of Defense and very important for his Democratic Security, but I’d love to hear a single idea that comes from the head of JMS … I’m just asking for that, a very own idea of Santos … ONLY ONE!
An abstinent country
Nothing to do about it. Colombia is a country of abstainers. All retail party political campaigns seeking to captivate this unique group of people who do not care if the “little egg” is cooked, or if we can transform this country. The Green Party expected a much larger vote for their candidate without an overwhelming difference (again, I do not want to doubt), but in the end the results were conclusive. Sadly.
The strength of Mockus, young people, became the target of criticism from all political sectors. We were the most committed to the politics, were the most passionate and the most active, to the point that many people said they had never seen this phenomenon in modern times of our country. We expected a change, we fought for it to happen, and what happened? We went out with a stream of spittle and we were the group with the highest rate of abstention. How sad. If we want our country to change, if we are sucked up tired of this guy and his henchmen, why the hell didn’t we go to vote this Sunday?
Same old Colombia
If Santos does win on July 20th, there will be another four years (NOTE – suddenly eight … and even 12, where Uribe migth be trying again) of more, much more of the same old shit. He said that false positives (indiscriminated killing of innocent people in order to call them as terrorists) were behind him. Yes, of course! Look at this guy, he believes us idiots, or as the “hen” wouldsay “hen”: useful idiots.
Still, if it were true (because as I said, I do not want to doubt), who’s the boss? therefore, Whose fault is it? If there is a serious undertaking financial embezzlement, whether at the back of the Manager, he will be guilty and removed from office, and even judged by the fact. But in this case, a not so serious company (Colombia), nor the manager nor his Secretary were tried, or controversed. On the other hand, he became the most surprised and angry with the situation. Whatever, I do not want to doubt.
Another of the most infamous disputes is the latest government scandal by DAS surveillance against opponents to Uribe, our own Watergate. I do not want to talk about it in this post, because I’ll end up saying things with such anger that could insult more than one, and as the terms and conditions of this blog state, the idea here is not to insult anyone. If my readers ask for it, I will talk about the “Colombian Watergate” on another post which promise to take a deep breath.
Why did they voted for Santos?
Some people actually voted for Santos consciousness (God, I do not want to doubt, but it is so hard for me). These people stood up from their bed or sofa, walked or drove to their polling place, gave in its I.D., left their mark, and X’d the face of the “biggest egg” and the glorious Angelino (his vice president – truck driver look alike – no offense, truck drivers are awesome people), and put their voting card into the ballot box. Yes, it happened … although some do not believe, there was nothing unusual in the process I just described … or was it? (I do not want to doubt).
A large majority of these people (and I say it because I talked to some of them) voted for personal interests or convenience. As many times in Colombia, but this time against all odds, people voted against a candidate not in favor of – a candidate that would bring much benefit to this country. They voted because the family business was going to sink, with Mockus as president, or because it simply did not suit them. But, what is it that they are doing as bad as it suits them, to not have an honest president?
For a moment I’ll put myself on the feet of these people, some of which I know. If my family is in danger of being investigated, tried or you may lose your job or denounced by this or whatever reason, then why not vote for the “biggest egg” that must be cared for? But is there no other way out; again, what’s so serious that will prevent my family continue their lives as normally as they do?
The fear that Uribe injected in Colombian society was so great that today we are 15 days away to probably have his most aggressive clone coming to power. And today Arias says he wants to be Mayor of Bogotá (Oh, God … will be the subject of some other day … I better not waste my time thinking about Uribito). The guerrilla and the armed conflict itself are among the most important problems in Colombia, but they are not the only ones. In fact, these problems stem from some much more serious, lack of access to quality education, the degrading health care, social inequality (which in this government grew even more), unemployment and poor rural activity, to name a few.
Colombia succeed reaching an economic growth of 8% in Uribe’s government. Very important achievement, of course. Parallel to this event, this government’s success (I do not say it sarcastically, I really mean it), also increased inequality in the country. The Gini index in 2008 was recorded at 58.5 points, placing the country as the ninth most unequal in the world, exceeded only by six African countries, Haiti and Bolivia. So, do we want the rich to be richer and the poor getting their letfovers?
Santos campaign on Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger
We know that Mockus swept on social networks. As some “Saints” (Santos followers) said: “Mockus won on the Putumayo, Facebook and Twitter departmanets”… hahaha… so, funny. But days before the first round Saints made some movements which deserve a section in this post.
One of my university companion to whom I will baptize “Noemi”, to not reveal real names, when the campaign began she favored Mockus, then turned to be a staunch follower of Santos – in fact, she had for her BlackBerry Messenger display the logo from the Party of the U . The week of the election, suddenly that dissimilar rasta “U” changed by a red box carrying with it the slogan “Better Is Possible” (German Vargas Lleras’ campaign slogan). Up to this point and in less than a month, Noemi, my friend, had three changes of candidate preference. I do not know who Noemi voted for, but last Sunday night being in favor of Vargas Lleras, she still filled his Facebook profile with messages like: “Now we go for it all. Santos President.” She even began to send messages on her BlackBerry which showed her great happiness because Santos had won, laughed on Mockus fans and even those who had voted for Vargas.
What happened Noemi (my friend) – couldn’t you make a suitable decision and ended up cheering for the one who was winning along the campaign?
Another message that I was captivated by its uniqueness, was one which I received in my BlackBerry, which they said we had to be very careful (as if there were a threat) with Mockus because he said he would establish the “carrot law” throughout the whole country until 2 am. As soon as it arrived, I answered back with a longer message, in which I told all my BlackBerry contacts not to be so ridiculous, was it a factor for choosing a president – we need to party until 8 in the morning brutalizing our brains off, in order to have a President who is worth it. I imagine that this thread was started by a desperate JJ.
Immediately I sent the message, one of my contacts, whom I’ll call “Pincher” wrote: “Who are you?”. Ironically, “Pincher” and I were classmates and he added me to BB Messenger over four months ago. When I was about to answer I realized that he was not in my contact list anymore. I felt so sad, so humiliated, so desolate, so overwhelmed, so anxious and so disoriented because “Pincher” had removed me from his BB Messenger contacts, I was about to throw away my phone because without “Pincher” on my BlackBerry it was impossible to keep on living.
And now … “llegó la hora, llegó, llegó”
Today, as many more, I painted my Facebook profile picture green, and although some consider that we have delirium of being Hulk and do not accept replies to their messages, then I must be blunt. We will continue struggling to feel well represented, because with the “biggest egg” as president I would feel (the word has been removed by the administrator, because he does not want to be part of the Colombian Watergate, doesn’t want his BB Messenger contacts to be hacked, blog to be closed, Facebook profile and Twitter account to be investigated, and cause danger to his mom or anyone else nearby).
Do not confuse me of being Communist or a left-wing ally. I am not, nor do I care to be. Even so, I supported the attack on the camp of Raul Reyes in Ecuador, although I know that was completely out of place, regarding international laws. Moreover, I voted for Uribe in 2006, and although I do not regret it because I did it thoroughly, I do feel very disappointed. Even more interesting, I am supporting a candidate who is a philosopher with right-wing ideologies. Yes, Mockus is a rigth-wing philosopher, do not be an ignorant.
This June 20, the only thing I invite everyone is to come out and vote, to exercise our right and not to let us put their fingers in our mouths. Even to those truly Saints, get out and vote, because that is true democracy, and above all, I DO NOT WANT TO DOUBT ANY MORE.
PS: Hopefully the “biggest egg” bursts, and we will have to clean up the country with sunflowers.
Mundo Contractual 