PABLO ALLISON

Kadir from Bogota, Colombia

I’ve had a series of really interesting conversations with the people I have met in Colombia. It’s still the first 6 days of my trip and I have already been inundated with a million of ideas, I am really inspired with the experiences shared with me.

I cannot help myself from making the obliged comparisons between countries whenever someone tells me that they are fed up with the way politicians are directing this country. 
In a few days time, Colombia will experience reforms in oil prices, penalties for dumping rubbish in forbidden places, defacing private and public property, etc. 
On my way to the airport, a few hours ago, the taxi driver tells me that he reckons Colombia will turn into a Venezuelan nightmare.

On that topic, Venezuela has been in my head for the past week. Everyone I have met seems to be talking about Caracas. It’s dangerous to walk it’s streets, people are desperate for food. The police are the number one thieves and will try anything in order to steal your belongings or ask for money but that is another story I will talk about later on…

So what can I say about Kadir? I have been hanging out with him for the past week… He has shown me a few interesting places around the city such as the infamous area called ‘The Bronx, a set of roads on the edges of the city centre and literally next to the military head quarters which were taken over by drug dealers years ago. The place was a hell-hole. If you are interested in investigating a little bit about it you can see plenty of videos on youtube that documented the situation there. The area has now been cleared up but that just means that the problem has migrated to another nearby location.

Kadir shared his Dad’s life as a guerrilla member of the M-19 back in the late 70’s and 80’s. He was an active member until his death. Supposedly he was involved in a ‘fatal accident’. At the funeral, Kadir tells me that when him and his Mom arrived to the hospital, the place was packed with important people, the likes of Gustavo Petro, the former mayor of Bogota and plenty of other influential liberals who were aligned to socialist and humanist way of understanding life.

Kadir was invited to a gathering with a group of people his age who were sons and daughters of ex M-19 guerrilla members a few years back. An important person affiliated to such group had launched a meeting with them all to discuss and debate the siege of the Palace of Justice in 1985 by M19 forces and recovery of it by Military forces two days later. 
The official story about the operation to occupy the palace was led and financed by Pablo Escobar. Escobar wanted all documents in the hands of the Supreme Court to be destroyed in order to delete any traces that could track the Medellin Cartel.

The Army broke into the Palace 2 days later and reclaimed the building, leaving damage, a massacre and many disappeared people.

During that gathering that Kadir had been invited to, the ex combatant’s main aim that day was to clear the young peoples minds with true facts. He wanted the audience to investigate more about the events and not just stay with the official media’s version. He added an important announcement, which was that if Pablo Escobar had indeed financed the operation, they would have had at least 300 guerrilla members and the weapons would have been of a much higher caliber than the ones they possessed at the time. In conclusion, Escobar did not finance the breaking in of the Palace of Justice.

Whilst riding the bus towards Chapinero, an area north of the city centre, we were both bouncing ideas about why we paint graffiti and what motivates us to do it. He is currently 26 I believe, and I am 35 which means that graffiti does not discriminate on age, race or social strata. We both agreed that it’s such a unique art form that knows no boundaries. In fact, it breaks them and unifies kids from the forgotten impoverished slums of Caracas or Mexico City to the wealthy green surroundings of London or Paris, for example.

Kadir has been painting graffiti for a number of years now. His style reminds me of European lettering shapes. It’s amazing to see how one far away country can influence another. He has travelled to a few Latin American countries to paint walls and attempted to paint the metro systems too.

I identified myself with his way of thinking. He is analytical and careful when expressing his views. He is objective and sincere, loving and supportive at the same time. I spotted those qualities as he was like that to his girlfriend who he treated with love and respect…

As I was about to depart, I shook hands and thanked him for his hospitality and attentive attitude, and hoped to see him soon either here or in Mexico City to keep the conversation and inspiration going…

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