Medellin

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on May 30th, 2010

I am writing this post from outside the main convention centre in Medellin, Colombia's second city.

It’s currently about 17 GMT - or noon local time. The convention centre is one of the primary polling places in this city.

All morning we have seen a steady stream of people coming and going to cast their vote. I am talking thousands of people.

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Photo: Me blogging at the Al Jazeera live position  outside the convention center in Medellin. Photo: Maria Elena Romero/Al Jazeera 

My colleague, Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera’s Latin American editor, has been presenting Al Jazeera’s coverage from Bogota’s Plaza Bolivar for the past few days and she is there again today to lead our coverage.

By Teresa Bo in Americas on March 24th, 2010
photo from AFP

He said he had to change  his name several times. From rooster, to Granade and to whatever it would keep him safe.

I met him in a town of Medellin. He is a commander of a group known as the Paisas, they are among the new bands in Colombia that control the drug trafficking business and that, in some areas of the country, fight against left-wing guerillas.

In the past they were known as paramilitary groups, now its not yet clear what they have become. I am writing this because he did not want to give us an interview on camera.

So Rooster was a member of the AUC, in English it stands for the Self defence Units of Colombia. Around 30,000 “paras”, as they are known, demobilised in 2006. They were known for the fear they inspired and for the serious human rights abuses they committed. Playing football with the head of their victims was one of the acts they were known for.

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