I found this article and thought it was interesting. In the "News of a Kidnapping", we learned about FARC's influence on the Columbian drug trade. It's amazing to me that such vicious crimes are still taking place in Columbia, and according to this article, Venezuela.
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-07-22/world/colombia.venezuela.oas_1_roy-chaderton-revolutionary-armed-forces-farc?_s=PM:WORLD
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This interesting article is perfectly relevant to and serves as an update to "News of a Kidnapping." It is hard to believe that narcoterrorism and drug traffiking are still the harsh reality in Colombia after so many years. Published in 1996, "News of a Kidnapping" actually chronicles events that took place as early as the 1980s. Although this article provides statistics that make it seem like violence due to drug traffiking is drastically diminishing, narcoterrorism is still quite alive in Colombia. This article further proves that Marquez was accurate in his portrayal of the cyclical nature of Colombia.
I find the most interesting aspect of Columbian/Venezuelan relations, according to this particular CNN article, to be Venezuela's unwillingness to aid Columbia by handing over FARC rebels. Although it seems easy to blame Columbia for perpetuating their own drug traffiking problems, this article appears to argue that actually the Colombians have put forth their best effort to stop their problems--specifically, they elected President Alvaro Uribe in 2000 who has been able to drastically reduce crime surrounding drug traffiking--and that outside sources such as Venezuela are really at blame for not ending these problems altogether. Additionally, it seems as if the United States are also perpetuating the cyclical nature of Columbia's drug problems by creating a high demand for narcotics, which therefore creates the desire for Columbia to increase their narcotic supples. From the viewpoint of a Columbian farmer, it would be hard to decide to suddenly stop drug growth when the market has a high demand at a high price versus starting in the unknown with a crop that may not yield the same amount of money and could then diminish the daily quality of life.
This article also relates the some of Marquez's messages in One Hundred Years of Solitude. Through out all of Ursula's warnings about a baby being born with a pig's tail, in the end the last Aureliano has a pig's tail. The Buendia family never learned anything from their past mistakes, just as Colombia had not during the time when this book was published. The Colombian people have yet to learn from their history and get their act together to create a stable atmosphere in their country.
I think it is so strange that at this point in time, Columbia still has not figured out how to keep their country under control. The crazy drug traffiking that was taking place in "News of a Kidnapping" was almost 15 years ago, and Columbia still hasnt figure out the problem? This seems like their is some definite problems in their country's government. Once again the cycle continues.
In “News of a Kidnapping,” the Colombian government was unmoving in their policies, which did not enable them to solve problems. One of the major problems the government faced was the cyclical nature with the constant supply and demand for drugs. As in "100 Years of Solitude," the Colombian people are not learning from their mistakes; and therefore, these problems are not being solved.
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