Pioneering Spirit

A new era of travel has arrived in Colombia with the arrival of new 'ultra-low' budget airline, Spirit.

On 8th May Spirit Airlines, based in Miramar, Florida, opened a new route between Fort Lauderdale and Cartagena on Colombia's north coast. The airline says it is celebrating the new route with introductory fares of $49 USD to be followed with everyday value season fares of $119.

The route to Cartagena represents the airline's first experimentation with the country and, if successful, could bring momentous change to both the national economy and the freedom of movement of its people.

For years the Colombian air travel market has been dominated by its two major domestic players, Avianca and the smaller Aerorepublica, but with prices out of reach for most ordinary Colombians air travel has mostly remained a preserve of the elite.

Spirit, which has based its successful low cost model on companies such as Ryanair, says it is planning to include Bogota as a destination in 2008 and is studying the possibility of including other cities in the future.

The news will be greeted with jubilation by both the Colombian diaspora within the United States and for those nationals seeking to expand their horizons overseas. With the arrival of Spirit, many Colombians will now feel the world is somewhat closer than before.

Extradition

The DEA have finally got their man. The 42 year old recognised as one of the most powerful of the jailed paramilitary leaders, Carlos Mario Jimenez, alias Macaco, has finally been extradited from Colombia to the US where he will face drugs charges.

Jimenez is thought to have been at the head of the now demobilised AUC, known in Spanish as the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, or United Self-Defences of Colombia. The organization he formerly ran has long been linked with drug trafficking and money laundering as a means of personal enrichment and for the procurement of arms to continue the supposed struggle against left-wing guerrillas.

Before extradition was finally granted by the Supreme Court in Bogota, Jimenez himself was a resident of Colombia's most notorious jail, La Combita, where US authorities allege he continued to control illegal activities.

President Alvaro Uribe, in his quest to ensure continuing stability in Colombia, has long been operating a system of demobilization and rehabilitation of former paramilitary and guerrilla members. Members are promised light sentences and immunity from extradition if they confess to their crimes but in the case of Macaco it seems being in jail was no barrier to further illicit activities.

Speaking at a meeting for businessmen in Medellin, Mr Uribe said, "We're not going to reward people who revert to crime."

Caribbean Revolt

After rioting in the capital over food prices, Haiti’s Prime Minister has been thrown out by the country’s 27 senators.

In a country ranked poorest in Latin America and the Caribbean, prices have risen over 100% in the last year and with most of the population living on an average income of only $2 per day widespread discontent has finally turned to violence.

On 5th April four people were killed while clashing with security forces in the southern town of Les Cayes, and one United Nation peacekeeper has also been reported killed in recent unrest.

The Haitian president, Rene Preval, who has the power to remove the Prime Minister, has called on the population for calm:

"To those who are stirring up violence, I order you to stop because it is not going to solve the problem.”

Seeking to ease the problem, President Preval has promised to finance 15% reductions in the price of rice using international aid and revenue from the private sector.

Despite executive assurances, there are reports of shops shut, roving armed gangs on the streets and widespread looting. The airport has been closed to international flights and many families have locked themselves at home while the troubles continue.

Haiti, like many Caribbean nations, relies heavily on imported food in order to feed its population, and with already impoverished agricultural land and dense population, the rising price of rice in the last year has brought the country to economic breaking point.

Analysts suggest this could be the first of many problems in the world’s poorer countries as supply for staple food crops outstrips demand and global prices rise.

High Fever

Governor Sergio Cabral of Rio de Janeiro is to consider contracting foreign medics to deal with the current severe outbreak of dengue fever affecting the city and its environs.

With current medical resources stretched to the limit, more help is expected to arrive from other states from within Brazil, but Governor Cabral has not ruled out requesting the help of Cuban doctors who dealt with their own epidemic in the 1980s.

Cases in Rio state this year are currently close to 37,000, with 67 deaths reported so far, and with medical services currently overwhelmed by the number of people affected there has been much official finger pointing.

President Lula said on Monday night that all levels of government were to blame for the extent and impact of the health crisis while Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao blamed Rio's municipal authorities, citing the failure to spray against mosquitoes early enough to control the outbreak.

Dengue fever, like malaria, is a tropical infection spread by infected mosquitoes that often breed near stagnant water. Symptoms include muscle cramps, headaches, weakness and fever. It is hemorrhagic in tendency, sometimes resulting in bruising and internal bleeding and in rare cases it can prove fatal.

From 630,000 reported cases in 2007 in Latin America, 183 resulted in death.

Bid for Freedom

As tensions continue to simmer between Ecuador and Colombia, French president Nicolas Sarkozy has meantime reconfirmed his commitment to the liberation of kidnapped former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.

According to Bogota’s El Tiempo newspaper, Mr Sarkozy sent a message to FARC leader Manuel Marulanda – known in Colombia as ‘sureshot’ – requesting her immediate liberation. The French president referred to the reportedly frail state of Miss Betancourt and emphasized the responsibility of the rebel group for her ultimate safety:

“Don’t waste this opportunity which has presented itself, it would be a grave political error, a humanitarian tragedy, a crime. You would be responsible for the death of a woman.”

Mr Sarkozy’s Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, confirmed there would be a temporary suspension of the military effort against the rebel group, commenting, “A humanitarian medical mission is in progress for the kidnapped citizens.”

Miss Betancourt, who possesses dual French-Colombian nationality, was taken prisoner 6 years ago while campaigning near San Vicente de Saguan, Caqueta province, and is said to be suffering badly from Hepatitis B in an unknown jungle location.

For the Colombian government, the last few months have seen unprecedented progress in terms of hostage release and in the structural weakening of the FARC leadership. Mr Uribe, one of Colombia’s most popular presidents of recent years, has been credited with a growing improvement in national security and confidence although rural areas still suffer the effects of insurgency and in the cities high levels of crime make life difficult.

The Aftermath

As widely predicted, tensions between the nations of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela have calmed after a week of turmoil.

In the end the matter was resolved at a regional summit with Brazil playing a major role in calming tensions between its northern neighbours. Shaking hands with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Ecuador's Rafael Correa stated, "With the commitment of never attacking a brother country again and by asking forgiveness, we can consider this very serious incident resolved."

The outcome is positive in more ways than one: as well as defusing a potentially disastrous regional conflict, it shows the increasing solidarity and efficacy of a unified league of South American nations.

Colombia in particular can move forward with optimism after the latest events. The government appears to have succeeded in their aim of further weakening rebel group FARC and of placing on the agenda the contentious issue of cross-border rebel activity.

A risky gamble indeed to have gone into Ecuador's territory, but one which seems to have paid off particularly given the latest blow delivered to the FARC.

Just as the nations gathered at the peacemaking summit news emerged that another notorious rebel leader, Ivan Rios, had been killed at the hands of one of his former commanders. Pedro Pablo Montoya murdered his boss, a member of the rebel Secretariat, ostensibly to gain a $2.5 million bounty offered by the Colombian government.

Debate is currently underway in the country as to whether such a cold-blooded character should benefit from such a large and official reward. Critics would say it sends out a message that terror may be beaten with terror; more realistic observers would point out that in Colombia more than most places, the means justify the ends.

Colombia and a short history of the pre-emptive strike

In the wake of the strike launched against the FARC, both Ecuador and Venezuela have reacted indignantly and threatened Colombia with legal action and military retaliation.

The incident itself consisted of an aerial and groundforce action just inside Ecuadorian territory which resulted in the death of Raul Reyes, one of the most powerful and oldest commanders of the rebel organisation. But while Ecuador cries foul and claims its sovereignty has been violated, the demise of Reyes represents a huge blow to the guerrilla group which for over 40 years has terrorized Colombians.

Ecuador can claim with justification that its rights have been infringed in this instance and the matter looks set to go before the OAS, the Organisation of American States and possibly the United Nations. Colombia, armed with good intelligence it seems and in the midst of an internal conflict, employed a tactic which we have seen throughout the history of nations: the pre-emptive strike.

Perceiving themselves threatened, states have long used the method to stun and disable their opponents in order to head off danger. And as history shows us, law-abiding best intentions and the stark choice of survival rarely make the best of friends in times of crisis.

What better example than that of Pearl Harbor? Choked of supplies and raw resources by the Americans on one side and threatened with a belligerent Russia on the other, the decision was made in 1941 that Japan would seize the vital oilfields of south-east Asia. It was thought at the time that only the American fleet could pose a significant threat to Japanese intentions, so a brilliant strike was conceived: to knock out the US naval aircraft carriers while at anchor in a single surprise blow. Thus could the Japanese disable a dangerous opponent without the risk of costly full frontal war. As we know the strike itself, while daring, ultimately failed in its objective of neutralising enough enemy aircraft carrier capacity. In America, the only emotions greater than moral indignance were the sense of profound shock at the nature of the attack and massive relief that all had not been lost.

In May 1967, Egypt massed troops and tanks on its Sinai border in response to rising tensions between its enemy, Israel, and the surrounding Arab states. With Syria, Jordan and Egypt building up their forces north, east and south, Israel found itself almost totally surrounded and facing the prospect of military annihilation as the world looked on. What followed has become legendary in military history: a devastating surprise attack which left all three Arab armies shattered, shocked and in total disarray. The Israeli airforce crippled its Egyptian counterpart in an overwhelming surprise strike and the army swiftly followed up by seizing the Sinai peninsular in the south and Golan Heights from Syria in the north. Jordanian forces were forced quickly from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, leaving the borders of Israel largely as they are today. Israel, seen as something of a pariah by many, is regularly criticised by countries in more peaceable regions for its aggression and readiness to strike. But Israel sees itself as living constantly on the brink and remembers all too well what it means to have destruction brought upon its people.

Controversy still rages over the Royal Navy's sinking of the ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands war of 1982. In early May the British nuclear powered hunter-killer submarine HMS Conqueror detected the warship close to the Burdwood Bank, south of the islands. Although outside the declared exclusion zone of 200 miles by radius from the centre of the Falklands, Prime Minister Thatcher consulted with her staff and decided the warship and its group presented a clear threat. On May 2 two torpedoes hit and sank the ship resulting in the deaths of 323 men. Despite the fact that the threat to the fledgling and precarious task force was effectively eliminated, the case quickly became a cause-celebre for anti-war activists. To this day criticism is directed at the warlike British leadership of the time.