Thoughts on medals of Olympic proportions
A few notes from Juan Veils of Notipaco in Colombia on the subject of Olympic medals: No sooner had the Olympic games in Athens kicked off than it appears that Colombia has been virtually guaranteed several medals. Target shooting: 45,000 violent deaths every year have given Colombia direct entry into the finals for a shot at a medal. However, Colombia has a record for hitting the wrong target. They hit the blacks, the Indigenous people, mixed-race and other marginalised people. The contenders are the valiant, patriotic, generous and distinguished infantrymen from the Army who, at a distance of mere centimetres, recently managed to find the heads of three elusive union leaders. Conjuring: To former president Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala for being a ghost from the past who, along with other dried up mummies, has risen from the midst of the moans and fog of the swamp like vital young people pregnant with a radiant creature they call Patria Nueva [the "New Fatherland" movement he will lead in the next elections]. Oratory: The Government's so-called High Commissioner For Peace, "Doctor Tenderness", is the clear winner. The columns of the parliament trembled like those shaken by the biblical Samson under the uncontrollable force of his cynicism, fraud, transgressions and brazenness. Long distance hurdles: A collective triumph for all 29 million Colombians and especially who live in absolute poverty and must endure all sorts of vicissitudes and obstacles simply to survive from day to day. Weight lifting: Awarded to President Alvaro Uribe Vilez for his titanic effort in holding so high his statesman-like image while under his Napoleonic reign the country bleeds and misery, hunger, corruption and cronyism flourish. For optimism: To those of us who in spite of all the dead, the cronies, the demagogues, the inequalities, the misery, the sycophants and supporters of the status quo still believe in the possibility of the joy and triumph of life, the Olympic medal that we so desperately seek.* * * Unofficial Translation