Despite President Uribe’s attempts to discredit it, Colombia’s opposition obtained victories throughout the country in Sunday’s local elections.

President Uribe never tires of giving moral lessons, and, of course, the issue of Sunday’s elections for mayors, governors and other local authorities could not avoid becoming a target of his teachings.

Pese a los intentos del presidente Uribe por desprestigiarla, la oposición obtuvo una victoria a lo largo y ancho del país, en las elecciones locales y regionales que se celebraron ayer.

El presidente Uribe no se cansa de dar lecciones de moral, y, por supuesto, el tema de las elecciones para elegir alcaldes, gobernadores y otras autoridades locales que se están llevando a cabo hoy en todo el país, no podían evitar convertirse en el blanco de sus enseñanzas.

On October 3, a peaceful mobilization of peasant farmers of the municipality of Orito, Putumayo department, blocked the main road going into that municipality’s urban center. The reasons for the protest have to do with what is now an old issue in Colombia: the consequences of indiscriminate herbicide fumigations, one of Plan Colombia’s most clever strategies for getting rid of the country’s rural population through diseases, destruction of legitimate food crops and the environment in general, and forced displacement.

According to statements by the protest’s leaders to W Radio, the fumigations are leaving them in a state of complete misery, while they continue to wait for the government to start applying truly effective and mutually coordinated alternative development strategies.

El pasado 3 de octubre una movilización pacífica de campesinos del municipio de Orito (Putumayo), bloqueó la vía de acceso al casco urbano de ese municipio. La razón de la protesta tiene que ver con un asunto de vieja data: las consecuencias de las fumigaciones indiscriminadas con glifosato, una de las estrategias más ingeniosas del Plan Colombia para acabar con la población rural del país, a través de  enfermedades,  daños a los cultivos de pancoger - así como al medio ambiente, en general - y el desplazamiento forzado.

Según declaraciones de los líderes de la movilización a la W Radio, las fumigaciones los están dejando en la miseria total, mientras aún siguen esperando - por parte del gobierno - la aplicación de estrategias de desarrollo alternativo, verdaderamente eficaces y concertadas.

Dear Readers,

For two years, many people have asked me why I write for Narco News. “Narco what?” they ask me, their eyes opening wide. “What a weird name,” they say. “It isn’t a newspaper for drug dealers, is it?” “Who reads it?”

And before I can respond, they begin to tell me about the importance of working for a “recognized” publication, one that would guarantee me “protection” and would “back me up” (with bullet-proof vests, a good salary, and other armaments). And, what’s more, they assure me that “everything would be easier” for me if I would just start not to care about the situation of a country that seems to be without salvation, like Colombia, or if I would accept with stoic joy that all those who are born without money should just reproduce and die, punctually following the demands of the establishment.