Colombia's Congressional Elections

From the armed military police walking around, you'd think that Colombia was going to war. Instead, they're just defending voters against possible acts of violence by FARC and other paramilitary groups.


Today, Colombian voters will choose 102 Senate seats and 166 representatives in the legislative elections. This election may shed light on the presidential election which is to be held at the end of May.


The infamous FARC (Fuerzas Amardas Revolucionarias de Colombia aka Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) threatened the safety of voters and politicians, as they do nearly every year, so the government stepped up security (armed military officers were at every polling station) and police officers coated the streets. In order to protect it's democratic process, Colombia also placed a temporary halt on the sale of alcohol and motorcycle rental, and even closed its land borders. 


I think I've figured out everything but the sale of alcohol. The motorcycle rental ban is to prevent drive-by shootings, which motorcycles are often used for by these paramilitary groups. Travel is restricted so people can't vote more than once. Alcohol still confuses me. Alcohol obviously can get in the way of making sane decisions, but if you want to cause trouble, you don't need alcohol to do it. Plus, people could always plan ahead and buy alcohol to drink in their own home. I can't seem to figure out the logic, but I do appreciate the safety measures put forth in order to allow Colombians their democratic right to vote. {Picture above from local supermarket aisle says that alcohol consumption and sale is prohibited from 6pm on Friday until 6am on Monday according to the Dry Law in effect throughout all of Colombia}


I hope that FARC and other rebel groups didn't interfere too much in these elections. There's no way drug trafficking didn't influence politics at all in this race. At least 90 legislators are under investigation of being linked to right-wing paramilitary groups. One candidate offered subsidized housing to his potential voters...seems a little suspect to me. This persuasion technique, however, is much less severe than what's been done in previous years.


One of my older friends told me of his recollection of the 1990 presidential election when 4 presidential candidates were murdered before election day. I read today that in an election 8 years ago there were over 200 political kidnappings. I couldn't even fathom the fear Colombians must have gone through during that time. These rebel groups will do (and have done) anything in their power to control the vote. This year in Tolima, where my birth family is from, they set a bus on fire, and in Cali, where most of my birth family lives now, they tried to set off a car bomb.


But their attempts at scaring people away from the polls this year are not working. President Uribe has done an amazing job the past few years (even though many didn't like that he tried to change the constitution so he could run for a third term) fighting FARC and other paramilitary groups, and the significant drop in violence and kidnappings in Colombia is attributed to his tight, fearless security measures. The rebels may have a less obvious way of swaying the vote this year, but when the results come out tomorrow, Colombia should know which direction the country is heading.