ANIMAL » Colombia

Fashion Week, Colombia Style

Tabatha McGurr — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:50:43 +0000

For their latest story in an ongoing documentary segment called “Fashion Week Internationale,” Vice takes to the streets of the worlds big-booty and cocaine capital, Colombia.

The series compares the worlds of high fashion Colombian modeling – where mounds of fake yip center the runway and “sleeker, more European” style girls are preferable – and then the more authentic catwalks featuring curvy women, both in naturally and surgically altered forms.

Many of the women in the latter group are accused of having the “narco-aesthetic,” a term made popular with the continued glorification of Colombia’s most infamous icon, Pablo Escobar. At one point the interviewer even takes a trip to his brother Roberto’s house, but I was far more interested by urban pole dancing and the close-up imagery of botched ass implant surgeries. Shit is loco.

U.S. Continues ‘Pyrrhic War’ On Drugs

Bucky Turco — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:30:02 +0000

According to Reuters and others, the U.S. government is stepping up its cocaine eradication efforts in Colombia—HA! Yet, somehow, despite all the aid sent ($6 billion in the last 11 years), military assistance, and intelligence, the South American country still manages to be the world’s leading supplier, just like Afghanistan is for heroin. How is that wherever we deploy the most anti-drug assets, the more drugs there are? Must be a coincidence or something.

Guess How Many Died In This Plane Crash?

Bucky Turco — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:46:13 +0000

A Boeing 737 crashed after reportedly getting struck by lighting while landing at an airport on a Colombian island Monday. The aircraft broke into three pieces as it skidded down the runway and amazingly, only 1 of the 125 passengers died. (Photo: Richard Garcia/AP)

Colombians Seize World Cup (of Cocaine)

Bucky Turco — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:22:19 +0000

You know the World Cup has reached a fever pitch when even drug dealers are getting in on the buzz. A replica World Cup trophy molded from 24 lbs of cocaine was seized at Bogota airport in Colombia. The sculpted coke was bound for Spain. Illicit drug smuggling statuette or victorious omen? Paul the Octopus is feeling it too.

Coke Production In Colombia Nearly Wiped Out

Bucky Turco — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:23:01 +0000

Maybe the War on Drugs is working? According to a study by the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime, Colombia only produced 390 metric tons of cocaine in 2009 compared to 430 tons in 2008. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before the coke trade is all but eradicated. |Business Week|

Blu Puts BogotÃ¡ on Blast

Will Sherman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:40:41 +0000

Blu continues covering BogotÃ¡ with sobering street art. Following his cutting commentary on cocaine, the Italian wall animator painted this machine gun, turning Colombians into cadavers in the government’s pursuit of “libertad y orden,” or “liberty and order.”

Photo by Hey Presidente

Colombia Considers Backwards Drug Policy

Bucky Turco — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:14:48 +0000

While a general consensus is building in the United States to legalize weed, the cocaine capital of the world, Colombia, is moving in the opposite direction. The President of the South American country “wants to ban the personal use of cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy,” despite a “1994 Constitutional Court ruling that said the prohibition of drug use violated the right to the “free development of personality” set forth in Colombia’s Constitution.” |CSM|

Colombia To Remind NYC They Grow More Than Just Cocaine

ANIMAL — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:27:28 +0000

To show New Yorkers that their country has more to offer than just kidnappings and drug cartels, a consortium of Colombian interests are organizing the distribution of 100,000 “fresh cut” flowers to the public next week. Street teams will hand out roses and carnations by the thousands to the public at Penn Station, Grand Central, Times Square, and on Wall Street to promote a collaborative Land of Flowers campaign that aims to promote the South American nation’s booming floral industry. Apparently, Americans aren’t just buying their coke, but their fresh cut flowers too with Colombia exporting $1 billion worth to the U.S. in 2007.