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Carolina Giraldo contributed with this article

This morning I woke up with the intention to join my love to go to this march, because I had several reasons for not attending the 4 February march, among them work and other personal issues. From the latter, time said I was right (because of the second re-election campaign and the exacerbated, absurd nationalism), because despite the 4-F march was massive and maybe spontaneous, it responded to the then current situation (not for that legitimate in its contempt against the disgusting FARC) and it was taken advantage from by the government and its friends quite well. That was more than predictable because of the media and official support it received.

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* Photos by Germán Quimbayo and Carolina Giraldo / Special for equinoXio

It was a march quite different from the one on 4 February. Here, it was not the anger only against one armed organization, but against all the violence which took this country over, against the lack of memory, against indifference, against impunity, against corruption, against anything which has made Colombia a worldwide example of violence.

Here there was no single slogan. There were a lot of them, as many as the suffering of years, as many as the humiliations received by the victims every time they ask for justice and redress, a crowd messed with chaotic but true slogans, because today the ones who have suffered the pain first-hand and the ones who do not want the horror of the premeditated, cruel, coward death have marched…

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The great tragedy of Yiya B., from Srebrenica, does not only derives from having lost her family in 1995 but to ignore what happened to them. In November 2007 she learned that her son (14) had been massacred in the worst way when some of his bones where dug up from a common grave. She still does not know anything from her husband and her sorrow grows as time passes by.

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The International Criminal Court is not a joker used to threat, to get rid of someone or simply to show you’re doing something.

The statements by Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, ratified on the OAS by its ambassador Camilo Ospina, regarding to file a lawsuit against Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to the International Criminal Court “for sponsoring and founding genocides”, leave a lot to be desired.

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(Foto: Amy March / Flickr, licencia CC-BY-SA)

Just like one year ago in our Spanish-language version and for the first time in English, equinoXio wishes to pay a tribute, fair and deserved, to the best half of humankind. Today, we just remember you more than usual. Welcome to this small special:

• Is Colombia ready for a woman President? by Rafa XII
• The gender doesn’t define the job by Nacira Badran
• Let’s rescue the princesses by Magda Liliana Escobar
• There are a lot of women expecting bad news by Álvaro Ramírez Ospina

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In Latin America, Argentina was a pioneer in 1974, when María Estela Martínez (Isabelita) de Perón was sworn as President when his husband passed out, and today the country of tango has again a woman as a chief of State, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Its neighbour Chile lives the same with Ms Michelle Bachelet. In Central America, Nicaragua was ruled by Violeta Barrios de Chamorro and Panamá by Mireya Moscoso. Even closer to Colombia, in Ecuador, Rosalía Arteaga was chosen as interim president.

Faced with the big advances women have achieved in Colombian politics since the establishment of feminine vote in the 1950s, it’s worthy to wonder if we are prepared for a woman to become President of the Republic.

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Photos: Nacira Badran, special for equinoXio

Some day Enith Fernández and her three partners of “Artesanías Ruth” -a small craftsmanship workshop that they established three years ago with a few amount of cash-, arrived to San Felipe’s Castle in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, to participate in a trade exhibition with all their products but without more money. As the event finished, they left in the same situation.

That day the luck was not on their side. They didn’t sell anything and they didn’t have any money to go back to zone known as “Zarabanda” in the neighbourhood “Olaya Herrera”, where they live. At that moment they thought it was the end of the group and the work that they had carried out.

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Recently, I was seeing a football game among girls of certain grade of elementary school, and thinking about what I wanted to write for this day, it was noticeable that many of them played in the court as well as any boy. But at the same time, I realized that as the game finished, all of the girls ran to the bathroom to look at them on the mirror and getting ready before going back to their next class. It was something instinctive. I believe that nobody did it because somebody made them to do it or because it was a rule of the team. Rather, It was simply a part of their essence: To be feminine.

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The killing of FARC guerrilla’s number 2 commander, Raúl Reyes, triggered an apparently unexpected diplomatic crisis between Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Though it’s quite hard to catch up with the events (even in our Spanish-language version), we’ll try to work hard to bring you a decent coverage. Here’s our articles on the crisis so far:

• 05 March: Easy! Easy on the crisis!
• 03 March: Colombia will not send troops to borders to Ecuador and Venezuela
• 01 March: FARC number 2 has been killed in combat near Colombia-Ecuador border

You can also follow our coverage on our Spanish-language version. Or, if you’re in a hurry, check out these resources:

• Wikipedia: 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis
• Global Voices Online: Colombia: The Unsettling Conflict with Ecuador and Venezuela
• Global Voices Online: Ecuador: Breaking Diplomatic Ties With Colombia
• Google News Search

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As hours pass by, Colombia crisis with Venezuela and Ecuador gets worse and the initial good sense by Colombian government is turning into a rowdy spirit which does nothing to its solution.

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