Residents
of El Centro, Cartagena's historic central
district, could be forgiven for rubbing their
eyes twice yesterday if they spotted an entourage
of foreigners including a woman in brightly
coloured traditional Guatemalan dress walking
from Teatro Heredia to Plaza Bolivar. It was
none other than Rigoberta Menchú, the 1992 Nobel
Peace Prize winner, author, and proud defender
of the Mayan culture and human rights. Rigoberta
is in Cartagena as one of the international
delegates for the III Cumbre Mundial de Ministeros
de Medio Ambiente, a conference convened
for Ministers of the Environment from more than
140 foreign governments. Followed by reporters,
TV cameras and curious locals, she stopped and
asked to enter the Palacio de Inquisicion, where
she spoke in a hushed tone about how many indigenous
and creole lives had been lost for 'no creer
en dioses impuestos', which translates as
'not believing in imposed gods'. At one point,
she passed a building under restoration where
workers downed tools to talk to her and shake
her hand. However her warm welcome came to an
abrupt end when she arrived at the conference
venue, Cartagena's Centro de Convenciones...
 In
front of the Convention Centre were around 50
angry placard-waving and slogan-chanting protesters
from ASPROLIG, a pressure group representing
people from the Bajo Sinú region. ASPROLIG was
formed in opposition to the URRAI hydroelectric
scheme. Their list of grievences include displacement
of families, rising salt in the subterranean
water table, drying out of wetlands, and destabilization
of waterways, both during the contsruction of
the dam and as permanent damage after completion.
They were also protesting about spraying of
cotton fields with insecticides and weedkiller,
which is polluting the Sinú River, contaminating
the supply of drinking water for people and
livestock.
Inside the convention, Colombian President Andrés
Pastrana signed a Memorandum of Understanding
with Canada aimed at reducing greenhouse gas
emmisions, and referred to the 900,000 tonnes
of chemicals which have been sprayed on illegal
drug crops in the last 15 years. He described
the spraying programme as the lesser of two
evils in the face of the escalating drug problem
that Colombia and the world faces. He urged
farmers to take advantage of the crop-substitution
alternatives the government is offering. He
also linked the drug growers to the guerrillas,
and called on the rebels to stop destroying
water aqueducts and other essential infrastructure,
saying they were guilty of crimes against all
Colombians, rich and poor.
Perhaps he could have talked with Rigoberta,
who earlier in the day had said to a group of
listeners in the street that the way forward
for Colombia was to no se utilice la guerra
contra la gente más humilde de este pais ,
- stop using the war against the poorest in
this country.
posted 15 February 2002 by Glen David Short,
a freelance writer based in Cartgena. His new
adventure travelogue, "An Odd Odyssey: California to Colombia
by bus and boat" .has just been published
by Trafford Publishing.
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B A C K -
Text
and Photos Copyright 2005 Glen David Short |
