What’s Colombia sick of hearing about during the World Cup?
Cocaine. And so am I.
Colombia has been kicking some serious butt in the World Cup stakes lately – they beat Greece in their opening World Cup match and then won against the Ivory Coast – but while Colombians are no doubt in a state of World Cup euphoria, the celebrations have been tainted by out-dated and underwhelming commentary about the country.
There’s a petition circulating on Change.org at the moment following comments made about Colombia on an Australian radio show. I don’t want to create even more publicity for the program, so I’m not going to name them here, but the hosts made comments like, “Is Colombia really famous for its coffee?“, “If you mention Colombia the next thing people generally mention is cocaine“ and even “Everybody has it, is on it, I hear of people going backpacking and say it’s crazy.”
This has resulted in groups, made up of both Colombians and Australian locals, petitioning for an apology. Unfortunately, national radio isn’t the only culprit, though; big-name celebrities have also been taking stabs at Colombia recently, with English comedian Russell Brand taking to Twitter to comment on a photo of a Colombian fan, saying, “Cocaine is good for confidence”.
“@blahzil: This is brilliant from one of the Colombia fans! pic.twitter.com/I7brSdFlnZ” Cocaine is good for confidence.
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) June 14, 2014
Colombians are sick and tired of being synonymous with cocaine and, frankly, so are expats who have been calling the country their home for years. And there are many of us, just take a look at travel company SeeColombia.Travel for example, which is made up almost entirely of expats who have fallen in love with the country and decided to stay. Or, read the observations made by award-winning writer Vicky Kellaway who decided to call the country her home after making an impromptu visit.
One response to all the cocaine-talk tedium is an open letter which has gone viral online. It’s called Open letter to the world: Drugs are not a joke to us and it’s a letter addressed to the world as if written by Colombia itself.
“Drugs are not a joke to us,” the letter reads.
“The war between the Colombian and other foreign governments and drug producers and traffickers has brought us poverty, displacement, rape, death corruption, discrimination, abuse, torture [and] hunger.
“We, the people, have been in the middle of this war for decades, and we have suffered a lot.”
In a 2013 article published by the Economist, it was reported than while in 2000 Colombia grew 74% of the world’s coca leaves, from which cocaine is made, the stats had decreased to 42% in 2011, only just in front of Peru.
The same article also claimed that a White House report found that when it comes to producing cocaine, Colombia produces less than both Peru and Bolivia. This was considered an “historic” finding by Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Richard Gil Kerlikowske, far less so for many others who still haven’t seen beyond Colombia’s past.
Thank you, sarepa, for this article. Honestly, I’m tired of the constant prejudices and drug jokes about Colombia as well. Often, when I introduce myself as a Colombian, there’s an allusion made to either violence or Cocaine. But things are changing. Sometimes, the person I’m talking to has other associations with this beautiful country; when he or she has been there or knows someone from there and that’s when people generally start talking very positively about Colombia. There’s so much more to Colombia, it’s such a diverse country full of joy and warmth and wonderful people who know how to get up again when they fall. Especially now, during the World Cup, Colombia has the chance of showing the world about how unitedly a country can celebrate and motivate its team. Colombia es pasión!
I agree with you aNa, the country has changed and continues to change so much, it’s so disappointing to continually hear uneducated and ignorant views about the country. Usually I find people say things in jest, but I just find it annoying, really. Thanks for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it. Let’s see how Colombia goes in the game tomorrow hey! 🙂
Very nice article. Thank you for standing up for Colombia. Another issue occured, similar to Russel brands unfortunate twit this one had involved a unicef embassador from the netherlands. She twitted a photoshoped image of two colombian football players sniffing. She had to resign as unicef image, look her up in twitter as @NicoletteVanDam
I heard about that too, Sebastian. Just unbelievable and so disrespectful.
Im so tired of hear this always when I introduce my self when im travelling in overseas, I just cant believe how people when they dont know anything or they havent been in Colombia r so ignorant ame make those jokes.
Many of my friend from overseas have been visiting Colombia lately and they cant believe how beautiful and safe os here, some od them decided to stay herefor longer and r in love with colombians, scenaries, food and everything.
Having come back to Australia after living in Colombia, I too usually get those comments or offensive jokes about cocaine and drugs. But the more extranjeros that visit the country and share their stories about their travels, the less the jokes about drugs are going to be the norm. Well, at least, I hope!
i am a Colombian that has lived in Australia for most of my life.. i consider myself more Colombian than Australian and take extreme offence when someone makes one of these drug jokes or asks in ignorance “do you guys still like, live in huts?” no, we don’t. it’s occurring less and less, but it is still there and it is usually the more ignorant and uneducated people that make these kind of jokes now.
we should educate them and show them all the amazing things Colombia has to offer. it really frustrates me that the world will only ever focus on the negative things.
i am very excited to see Colombia in the world cup, we finally have a chance to show the entire world how passionate and proud we are to be Colombians. i really do hope this world cup not only amounts to a more positive image for Colombia but also to unite the country and give them the idea that it’s their country and no one is going to fix it for them… and to take pride of their land and take a stand against everything wrong with the country and take a step toward ending this hell my fellow Colombians have had to endure.
You’re so right Miguel, and now more than ever there are so many expats living in Colombia doing just that – fighting to change the perception of the country, through blogs, travel companies, books and websites. It’s great to see.
Thank you for you kind and supporting words, people like you are the ones who really have found Colombia Magic Realism. We really are offended by this, but you have to be in our streets, in our beaches, old towns and with our families to know that in fact we care little about these people, we care to draw smiles, to show that we try to be better every single day… What is important to addressed here, is the lack of education even in this First World Countries, the deep thoughts of producers as the mean characters of this story is a bad signal of misinformation, we can produce, yeah, but they consume… By basic economics we know that if you do not consume something, the producer has to close down its business… So, we need to join strengths to educate people, we are stronger together.
Truly yours,
Mauro
Seria una buena idea que los colombianos (y otros hispanos) dejen de vender cigarros que compran en “Duty Free” a a ” la mala ” cuando llegan a Australia, ya que esto solo le da fuerza a que los gringos los sigan acusando de ser narcotraficantes. jajajajja no hay que ser hipocrita no?
I am not only sick about the drugs topic, but also people saying that If any Colombian player makes a mistake on the match will get kill when he gets back to Colombia. Everyone remembers what happened to Andres Escobar, but they don’t understand the violence we were experienced back on those days. Its so sad that these kind of things occur in our country but Its even worst that people joke about it.
Colombia is magical beyond comprehension , difficult to explain in words and only understandable through the eyes and senses of those that were able to experience this incredible magic this incredible country that Colombia is.
That’s a great article, thank you so much.
I can’t believe how people from other countries are still saying the same thing about my country, they should show more respect and obviously more education, some of them can barely locate Colombia in the map and even some of them think that Colombia is part of mexico, so if they don’t even know this things how could you think they can make opinions about economy or drug in our country.
The first world countries should be more educated before making such notes.
Thank you, Sarah. As a colombian in foreign lands, I have grown sick and tired of always being asked the same thing: Did I bring a kilo with me on my bag?