Choco: the curse of the yellow rain
Choco took off from the El Dorado Airport Bogotá. «Tómate con paciencia los retrasos de los vuelos internos», I say Colombian and non-Colombian. But, I have not suffered even one in seven had scheduled. I hired a young company, comfortable and efficient. Better than many of our "low cost" European. It has become a serious competitor to Satena, controlled by the Colombian Air Force and subject to frequent changes and sudden cancellations.
Choco Panama bordered to the north and west by the Pacific Ocean; its other borders are internal. It is one of the least populated departments of the country and has the highest rainfall in the world. Temperatures are high all year; slightly less from December to January.
«Tómate con paciencia los retrasos de los vuelos internos», I warn. But, I have not suffered even one in seven had scheduled
In the small room downstairs almost no airport travelers; afros are twelve people and four white. The African women wear shiny gold jewelry; most, medals and amulets. The high presence of African ethnicity in Quibdo is a consequence of trade of African slaves brought by the Spanish colonizers. Since the enclave, They redistributed to the rest of the continent. They are a very devout but superstitious beliefs population. Yet, the Feast of San Pancho-Francisco of Assisi holds the title of intangible cultural heritage and symbolizes the identity of the black community. The Franciscans organized the twelve districts of Quibdo each year, of 3 September to 5 October. It opens with a Mass in the cathedral and traditional dances to music chirimía executed by the Band of San Francisco de Asis. There are carnival parades and floats, daily Masses and a boat ride on the image of the saint by the Atrato River the day 3 October.
The 4 apotheosis party form is closed: the crowd greets the birth of dawn singing devotional hymns and afternoon participates in the great procession of the saint. The body image is so laden with gold that an army must escort along the route. As just, take away the jewels and get into the bank vault until next year. Local artists and artisans are those who perform floats, altars, clothing and ornamentations. In every neighborhood there is a family responsible for maintaining the tradition of the party alive. The most important event of Quibdo strengthens the identity of the department, It promotes social cohesion and promotes creativity and innovation to revitalize and recreate the tradition and respect for nature.
From the air, villages seem clusters of white grapes, rolling canvases, You conches parading on enramadas emerald.
During flight, contemplate the villages; white grape clusters appear, rolling canvases, You conches parading on enramadas emerald. Covering the hills, an ocean of fleecy clouds and thick casts shadows over the jungle rosy and sifts the intense turquoise sky of this rich and painful region of Colombia.
According to the latest news after the triumph of Ivan Duque (Uribe figurehead), the humanitarian crisis has worsened. But, the media and the most powerful television networks prefer to turn their attention day after day with adventure twelve Thai children trapped in a cave. In Choco, ineffective government, the exploitation of landowners, the action of his henchmen (paramilitary or illegal armed groups), common crime, the ELN and cruel attacks, Western shameful neglect and financial elites pressure without nationality kill hundreds every day.
We eat in a hurry. We can not go home after six. Here, the homicide rate exceeds the national average
We arrived at airport the Careño. Brushstrokes of the midday sun this tapestry remind me of Van Gogh. In the reception, Uli Kollwitz me espera, a German who has been here for more than 40 years fighting from the Life Commission, Justice and Peace for these people who die without remedy. Beside him, the priest John Jairo Gutiérrez; wait three young German doctors who have flown with me. Part of a European foundation that works for the dignity of women; They come to oversee a newly built house Istmina in which they will live among 40 and 50 girls, If you do not kill them before.
We get six in the van and headed to the house of Uli and Ursula Holzapfel, where will I live 48 hours. It is a beautiful and simple colonial house built according to ancient canons. a wet heat is palpated and an ornithological commotion liven up my stay with salsa music breathes. There are still a few copies of each other who have not succumbed to mercury with which the gold is mined opencast; but they lack little. On the terrace we await the hostess and Michaela Phister, another worker Life, Justice and Peace; I accompany me to visit some indigenous villages, unobtainable if not with a person you trust.
Illegal control of all skin while indigenous territory, forced to focus on the most impoverished areas, They have come to die here
We eat in a hurry. We can not go home after six. Here, the homicide rate exceeds the national average. Illegal control of all the territory skin, extorting residents and visitors systematically, build invisible borders, impose timetables for mobility, restricting access of foreign, exercise microtráfico drug, They use children as informants and rape minors. Meanwhile, Indigenous, forced to focus on the most impoverished areas, They have come to die here.
-For this, Best stay on our land, the shots are the same ones I will tell an Indian of 15 years with a seven-month baby.
I've been here less than two hours and already grabbed my throat a sharp sting. It is the mercury of transnational mining companies to treat gold, pouring with impunity in the Atrato; Because water is a strong poison.
-The used to wash and wash and rain should be boiled before being used- informs me Úrsula.
To drink, bottled and out; if you can afford. Otherwise, poison.
In the villages, child mothers with babies hooked up to the waist lay in hammocks to not burn calories as they have nothing to eat
Among other indigenous people interviewed Rosa Elena Chamorro, leader Victims Association of Indigenous Peoples of Chocó. Is young, brave, determined; a natural leader. He has spent his entire life threatened with death by landowners, army, paramilitary, political, people who want the Indians to leave their lands and men of their own community, ancestral chauvinist who do not see with good eyes that a woman leader. He studied psychology in secret, when women could not leave home.
Here even the genital-ablation is practiced tells me.
Of that, They not speak our mainstream media. Or that it is an inherited machismo colonizer.
The visit to the Indian villages has been fruitful, but very hard. Child mothers with babies hooked up to the waist lay in hammocks to not burn calories as they have nothing to eat.
My child wears a week with diarrhea, is eight months, I worriedly tells me the wife of one of the leaders. No money to eat or to pay him prescribe medicines in the health center if he could go.
No one could imagine from an airplane how this infernal paradise.
Rain is the air conditioning here, It refreshes and cools the walls and floor. Infecting difficult to accept death.
At dusk, while preparing interviews tomorrow and organize photos and recordings today on the porch, rain begins. It will intermittently and silent throughout the night. Rain is the air conditioning here, which allows survival in the middle of the day, the painting of a bright green vegetation. The breeze sprayed me with this natural spray, It refreshes and cools the walls and floor. Infecting difficult to accept death.
It does not take the soiree to paralyze the peace. The sauce replaces rain birds and impolite manner.
-Everyday, notice that prefer a stereophonic refrigerator or washing machine, when they have to eat dispose of the device in worn clothing, but, as soon as they arrive silver desempeñan- what has Uli.
When men come home drunk, Kurdish of bailadero trepanándose trepanándonos shake and ears with salsa. The gods do not want deaf to hear.
