QUE SE VAYAN!

I keep of hearing figures of the exodus of the Colombian population to foreign lands. They are moving away to escape the violence a civil war torn country offers and its lack of opportunity.

The people that are leaving the country tend to be well educated, or from the middle or upper classes of Colombian society. All willing to work hard where there is opportunity, which is what they can’t find here, an opportunity to earn a decent living within a stable environment.

Where there is war and depression the first to leave are the intellectuals, the educated and the well to do. The poor are the only one’s that have no choice but to stay patriotic. Fortunately over 55% of the Colombian population lives at the poverty level, it is then safe to say that there will be enough patriots around to keep our nation status instead of being downgraded to village.

So far the figures are that approximately two percent of the population has left the country, these are only the legal figures. Most countries that suffer difficult times find their populations and money taking a walk. Mexico has long been the victim of labor exodus to the US. Russians are not only leaving their country they are also not marrying. Marriage being the atomic unit of the social structure this can not be good in the long term. Russians are also refusing to be born, the rate of deaths to the ratio of births is higher, which means that the Russian population is shrinking by process of attrition. Ireland has had a history of economic, calamity or terrorism driven exoduses. The potato famine certainly helped to push many to foreign lands. An Irish bartender once told me: “All the good Irish have already left Ireland.” If so Ireland may actually be the only purely bad place on earth. Interestingly, Ireland is currently going through some beautiful economic growth, not bad for bad people.

Even the number one economic power in the world has gone through hard times. But the interesting thing about the United States of America, and not the only case, is that Americans, when there is a depression at home don’t leave the country, they change jobs or they move within the country to where the jobs are, regardless of what those jobs might be. They stay home! Some might say: but the US is a big country, moving from California to New York, is the equivalent of moving to another country and perhaps even a totally different culture. I would simply point out that during the great depression from sea to shiny sea America was all the same poor broken down country, and the exodus never externalized.

The paradox and problem that Colombia faces today, is that the people that are leaving the country are also the ones that have benefited the most from the establishment. Colombians that have made their money in Colombia are leaving with their money. Colombians that have been educated and given the most opportunity are leaving. Colombians who have had good jobs are leaving. People that have been well trained and well paid are leaving. People with political and media influence are leaving. And the problem is, that they are leaving when their country needs their expertise the most.

They are abandoning Colombia because of the lack of security, lack of stability and lack of opportunity. And to all of them I say: QUE SE VAYAN! If they are so bright and intelligent why don’t they help us change Colombia? If they don’t see opportunities here why don’t they help us create them? And if there are all these problems in Colombia how are they, as bright members of the better educated and better paid, not responsible? Colombia’s political and economic problems did not rise out of the farms, they rose out of the cities where they are managed. To them I say: QUE SE VAYAN!

Colombia has one fundamental problem, its people want peace but don’t want to pay the price. Its people want jobs but they don’t want to create them. They want to work for someone else and they want a title, Doctor, professor, gerente, a title is nice. As Colombians we also seem more concerned with going to the supermarket tomorrow than where we are going to be five years from now. We need instead to learn how to demand more from ourselves and our government; to learn how to employ ourselves, and to create skilled jobs that make a difference. We need to forget that we have been taught to work for someone else. Colombia needs planers, promoters, developers and doers. Most Colombians going abroad want just a good job, and so to them I say: QUE SE VAYAN!

RC