Colombian Hearts Campaign Draws Signs, Protests, and Animal Hearts?
For the past few days, I've held off on writing anything else about the Colombian hearts campaign, which appeared on D.C. streets in early September.
Just a recap: The creators of the campaign say it promotes tourism. Detractors say it's a ploy to improve the country's image in Washington and ultimately press Congress to pass the Colombian Free Trade agreement. Naturally, there have been protests. And signs posted.
And animal hearts left dangling from the fiberglass sculptures. (And for the record: I have no idea who's responsible.) I received the following report from a friend:
"I passed one of the Colombia hearts yesterday morning (Thomas circle) and next to it someone put an actual heart – maybe pig or cow (where do you even get those?)...it was super gross."
Later, I actually saw a picture of one of these animal hearts dangling from the yellow statue in Adams Morgan. Delightful.
Colombia: This all turned out really well, huh?
Image by Katie Campbell
5:05 pm
If you beleive all americans are stupid, fat gum-chewing egotitistical people then all colombians are bad. Yet the truth is not that simple, and for every bad colombian there are 100 good ones, and for evry drug addict in the U.S there are 10 or more people in Colombia becoming rich, there are also as many deaths. As the bible says: "whoever is without sin, cast the first stone"
10:40 pm
I am not without sin, but unlike the Colombian president and his followers, I am not a cold-blooded killer or a lying, corrupt organizer of death squads.
11:33 am
Oh hi, Cary,
Maybe then you're like Chavez, a cynical hypocrite with a penchant for providing material and ideological support to narcoterrorist guerrillas responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Colombia.
You claim Uribe is a lying murderer? Prove it. Otherwise you sound just like Chavez and his XXI Century Socialism. Let me know if you've been to Venezuela lately, see how that wonderful socialism has been working out for them.
Here's a hint: It's hasn't. Venezuela is well on its way to becoming a totalitarian state.
Regarding this campaign, the protest against it seems nothing more than a smear campaign against Colombia. It's despicable. There's a reason NGOs aren't trusted in Colombia. In the past, many so called NGOs have been proven to be nothing more than supporters of the narcoterrorists. Their many reports to the US congress detailed the "atrocities" committed by the Colombian military while giving the guerrillas a wide berth. Does it come as no surprise then when the three Americans were rescued from the guerrillas that the ruse used was that an NGO helicopter was transferring the kidnapped to another camp? How close have NGOs worked with the guerrillas so that the guerrillas felt safe giving up their most precious hostages to a supposed NGO helicopter?
And now we have another NGO doing nothing more but smearing the name of Colombia. Did you know that the assassination of trade unionists in Colombia has been on the decline, thanks in part to the protection granted to them by the government? But that's not what you hear in D.C., you just hear about these damn NGOs and yet another smear campaign.
Colombia has pretty much met the requirements imposed for the signing of the Free Trade Agreement, contrary to what some may have you believe. Why the FTA still hasn't been approved is beyond me. It's all politics, as usual...
10:12 am
Thirteen years ago, the Museum of Art in the Americas (http://www.museum.oas.org/about/location.html)-- a wonderful little gallery at 201 18th Street NW -- sponsored an incredible outdoor exhibition of Columbian-born Fernando Botero's monumental bronzes on Constitution Avenue.
1996-97 season
Fernando Botero: Monumental Bronzes
Tuesday, September 24, 1996 - Friday, November 01, 1996
References: additional information
3:27 pm
It looks like they might need to grammar-check their hearts too: "Fernando Botero is world's most valuable Latin America artist alive"?
4:52 am
It is so sad to see how a campaign that's suppose to create awareness and might help to change the image that we have. it's an excuse for a group of stupids that the only purpose is to damage more the already deteriorated image of the country.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!
this was an opportunity to show the world a different face, BUT LIKE ALWAYS, there is a bunch of people doing the wrong think and ruing everything
it is really sad to see idiots like that damaging the few positive things that we get to see overseas about our country...
thanks you nailed it.