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September 7, 2006
Why not Arauca this year?
A correspondent alerted me to this press release on the website of the government of the department of Arauca. It's taken me a while to respond, but it's still worth sharing.
Arauca, in northeastern Colombia on the border with Venezuela, is the country's largest producer of oil. It is also one of the country's most violent departments.
- In 2004 it had the highest homicide rate of all thirty-two of Colombia's departments. Though I don't have 2005 statistics, the Bogotá-based Security and Democracy Foundation reported that murders increased still further in Arauca last year.
- All three illegal armed groups are present there - "former" AUC, FARC and ELN - and the two guerrilla groups have been fighting each other viciously this year.
- Despite $100 million in U.S. military aid to protect oil infrastructure in Arauca, guerrillas continue to bomb the Arauca section of the Caño Limón pipeline about once per month (down from 3 1/2 times per month in 2002, the last year before military aid began arriving).
- Guerrillas often declare "armed stoppages" prohibiting all road traffic and leaving populations without basic goods.
- When he first came to office, President Álvaro Uribe made Arauca one of two special "rehabilitation zones" placed under virtual martial law, until this mechanism was struck down by Colombia's Supreme Court.
Arauca is a very dangerous place - but never mind that. While the region's human rights groups decry the climate of fear and violence, the governor's office sees it differently.
Last April, the local government's release informs us, Arauca Governor Julio Enrique Acosta toured the Caño Limón oil facility. There, he announced his intention to open up the oil field to make it "a tourist attraction for locals, visitors from elsewhere in the country, and those from the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela."
The governor "called on tourism enterprises to include a visit to Caño Limón within their package tours, in order to promote Arauca nationally and internationally."
Well, good luck with that.
Posted by isacson at September 7, 2006 5:24 PM
Comments
Tourism supposedly is picking up these days in Colombia. I recently went to a bookstore with an eye to picking up something like "Fodor's Guide" to Colombia. "Hey, if I can't afford to visit the country, at least I can dream," I thought to myself. To my dismay, there was not even one Colombia book in the travel section. I did find Colombia mentioned in a more general guide to South America. It was grouped with Antartica in a chapter entitled (more or less) "Difficult Places to Visit." As I scanned the chapter, I gathered that the authors felt Antartica was a more plausible tourist destination than Colombia.
Posted by: richtiger ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 9, 2006 9:04 PM
Actually, as I think about the South America travel guide, I don't know that the author or authors believed Antartica to be an easier tourist destination. I succumbed to the temptation of a sound bite.
I do recall the author warning tourists that Colombia was the only South American country sufferring from a civil war. I also keep reading U.S. government pronouncements that the violence in Iraq does not constitue a civil war.
So, what is a civil war? Clearly Colombia is not engaged in a civil war like the Spanish Civil War back in the 30's. As Adam has said, repeatedly I believe, the FARC has zero credibility with the people of Colombia. And yet something in me says that--yes--there is a civil war in Colombia which discourages tourism in Arauca or even in Bogotá.
Posted by: richtiger at September 10, 2006 10:05 AM
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