It´s a mad house down here...politics are blowen up....Time to educate the masses. I´m not even sure where to start when I think about all the events and everyone that is involved. I´m curious to know what has been covered in the news in the states. The day that I arrived Dec. 2nd. politics were already heated because the neighboring Chavez was trying to pass a controversial referendum that would grant the president the right to stand for re-election indefinitely as well as increasing the term to 7yrs. The referendum stood as the major step for a unified socialist revolution according to the prez. But the referendum didn´t pass. These past few months Chavez has been involved with trying to free former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez , Clara Rojas and her three year old son Emmanuel. These hostages are in the hands of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia formed in 1964). Colombias oldest and one of most powerful and wealthiest guerrilla groups in the world. Towards the end of December the FARC had agreed to negotiate with Chavez and release the three hostages in exchange for hundreds of their comrades in prison. The Colombian Prez (Uribe) was totally against this switch because it would only encourage the guerrillas to kidnap more and undermine the morale of the security forces that are trying to capture the Farc. Even Oliver Stone is down here. But whats crazy is that the hostages were kidnapped over six years ago. The latest news is that the boy who was going to be released (Emmanual three years old )it turns out the rebels never had him because when he was born they secretly took him to an orphange in Bogota where he was later adopted. All of this was revealed because a FARC member returned to the orphange in search for the boy while they were in the negotiating process. And also with the help of John Pinchao who was held hostage for nine years by the Farc, escaped his captors early this spring and helped in identyfing the little one. The following day DNA test confirmed that Emmanuel was the boy who is now adopted by a family in Bogota. His mother remains to be a hostage and he was actually born during all of this by a FARC leader and so its possible she was raped. So as everyone in Colombia remains glued to their TV´s it´s then reported that negotiation has stopped.Uribe now makes a stand that foreigners leave Colombias problems to Colombia. This is just the tip, there remains to be hundreds of men and women who have been kidnapped. In 2006 there were 687 kidnappings down from 1440 in 2004. Colombia remains to be one of the world´s worst humanitarian hotspots. It´s been at war for over fourdecades, one of the longest civil wars in LatinAmerica´s history with millions caught up in the crossfire between soldiers, leftist rebels, cocaine smugglers and far-right paramilitary militias as well as 3.8 million people displaced. The second-highest rate of internally displaced people in the world after Sudan. Colombia has topped the table for landmine deaths and injuries according to the Landmine Monitor followed by Cambodia and Afghanistan. Colombia is a country with so much sadness "cien anos de soledad" and has always lived through periods of intense violence ever since its independence from Spain in 1810. I feel so much sadness but also hope for a country that I love so much.My heart goes out to all the innocent victims.