Of the other 30 one has to take into account the votes that were bought, those that were stolen, those that were sold and those that were swindled, those that were forced to vote and those deceased voters who still registered their votes. Such are the miracles of Colombian democracy. The bursts of music mix with the bursts of machine-gun fire. The average killing every weekend is between 30 and 50 - mainly the young and women. Here to be young and poor is to invite death.
Death squads stalk the streets shooting, kidnapping and 'disappearing' girls and boys.
Nobody says anything, nobody knows anything, nobody hears anything. Fear closes the eyes, the mouths and the ears whilst the government washes its hands and promises exhaustive investigations which generally come to nothing. Nobody can explain how it is that these murderous squads can pass along the streets which are full of armed police, detectives, soldiers, secret police agents, ordinary police agents and military barracks. Standing beside them, hand in hand with the powerful, are the drug traffickers who are simply another strain of the bourgeoisie and who have contaminated the whole political and economic environment. Much of the aforementioned violence has its roots in the drugtrafficking world and its roots.