Goodbye money

“Now then mate, I know you’re a London boy and all that, but where we’re going isn’t Leytonstone – they’ll be plenty of dodgy characters and you’ll stick out like a sore thumb.” No good. Louis rolls up his combination of dollars, pesos and pounds into a thick wad, clipping them tight with a shining silver-plated piece resembling a prop from a 50 Cent video. Into the back pocket they go. Nice one mate.

On the upside, Louis is determined when he wants to be and has got us all tickets to see Colombia take on Peru at the Estadio Metropolitano. The national team have their home matches here in a textbook piece of South American strategy. But where in Bolivia they try to starve the opposition of oxygen by playing games at high altitude, the Colombians instead attempt to roast their visitors to death by playing in the infernal coastal crucible that is Barranquilla.

No surprise then that today is a hot one-muchisimo calor- and as dust kicks up around the street corners the battered yellow taxi chugs up outside my apartment. Nixon gets out first, I shout down from my window, and soon with embraces and plenty of cheek kissing we greet the usual posse: friends, colleagues, cousins, friends of cousins and so on. In Colombia where there is fun there are always plenty of participants.

Because it’s a national game there shouldn’t be much trouble on the terraces today and Nixon proves himself as guia yet again, taking us way up to the highest part of the stadium where we get the best view, the most shade and a sparse crowd - it’s perfect. Louis the diehard Spurs fan isn’t content with this kind of thinking though, and rushes off with a couple of lads from Bogota down to the rowdy front. It’s fair enough – he wants a taste of the real Colombia and in that sweaty heaving throng he’ll definitely be feeling it.

Luckily for us, the football is good today. Defence isn’t one of the strong points in South American matches and this particular game is as open as beach soccer. All I can say in the sweltering heat is thank god for ice-cold Aguila, the local beer in this part of the world. Aguila comes with an added bonus - if you don’t like the taste you can check out the bikini-clad girls of all shades and colours they have wrapped around the side of the can. You could look all day...

Soon Peru are flagging, wilting in the tropical heat, and by the end of the match they’re five down to the jubilant Colombians. The worst heat of the day has reduced to a simmer by now, and as we look to the exits Louis comes back up the gangway sullen-faced. They used the usual trick to fleece him of his cash. One of them grabs your ankle, and while you're trying to work out what the hell he's doing, the other guy comes up behind you and it's goodbye currency. Poor old Louis, his first match and all.

Death becomes him?

Claims have emerged that FARC's spiritual leader and founder Pedro Antonio Marín, alias ‘Manuel Marulanda’ or ‘Sure Shot’ may be dead.

The news was reported in Colombia's Semana magazine and if true represents another shattering blow to the crumbling edifice of the leftwing guerrilla organization.

Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos announced in the interview that military intelligence sources had confirmed that the FARC number one died on 26th March at 6.30 in the afternoon.

Minister Santos confirmed that heavy aerial bombardments had been underway for days on presumed guerrilla targets around this date although FARC sources are said to have reported an apparent heart attack as cause of death.

With the veracity of the reports and cause - if any - of death yet to be confirmed, Colombia sits on a knife edge.

Marulanda has led the FARC since it's beginnings 45 years ago and is thought to be nearly in his 80s. With desertions at an all-time high and several high-ranking captains captured or killed, this latest blow could be the beginning of the end for the rebel group.

FARC on the brink?

Could things finally be about to change in war-torn Colombia?

This is Nelly Avila Moreno, the latest high-ranking member of rebel group FARC to hand herself in to the Colombian authorities.

Comandante Karina, as she was known to her comrades, is said to be responsible for a string of murders and abductions over the course of several decades in her native Antioquia province.

Her detention represents another coup for hardline President Alvaro Uribe in his fight against the cocaine and kidnap-funded Marxist insurgents.

Of late the FARC, who have operated freely in the countryside for close to 50 years, have suffered major morale-shattering reversals as prominent members have been either killed or brought in from the countryside.

In March, Ivan Rios - a member of FARC’s seven-man secretariat - was killed by his own bodyguard. The man who had formerly acted as guardian turned assassin and offered up his former employer’s severed hand and laptop as proof of death to the authorities.

The killing of Raul Reyes - another high-ranking captain - in the same month was described by Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos as the “biggest blow so far” to the FARC.

Now safely in government custody, Karina has spoken out on national television, appealing to her former comrades to give up the fight and follow her example by handing themselves in.

And so what seemed unthinkable up until a short time ago - an end to Colombia’s perpetual state of insecurity - now seems to be within reach.

But while the president may justifiably feel he has turned a corner in the fight against internal terrorism, military actions close to the border have lead to simmering tensions between neighbouring Ecuador and Venezuela. Diplomatic relations, particularly with Venezuela's volatile Hugo Chavez, urgently need attention.

Whether Mr Uribe can prove himself as effective in international diplomacy as he has in national defence remains to be seen.

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.