Colombia: 201 Years of Independence · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

As we announced in a recent post, Colombia commemorated its day of independence this past July 20.  The Internet, as expected, was the scene of many opinions and events that varied from pride of having been born in said country to political criticism, even including Anonymous’ actions on the social network accounts of many politicians (including current President Juan Manual Santos).
Twitter opinions
Despite the fact that the country's complex realities are not unknown, there were many who declared “Happy Independence Day” to one another and made their pride of having been born in Colombia public. This was the case for Nicolás Paz Velasco (@npazvelasco) and Erika Mora (@iitamora), who posted:
y a estas alturas solo puedo decir: “yo no elegí nacer en Colombia simplemente tuve mucha suerte” otro #diadelaIndependencia que ya termina!
María T. Gonima (@Mategonima), points out Colombians’ ability to smile:
#I♥Colombia pq a pesar de los problemas, nunca dejamos de sonreír.. #diadelaindependencia
And Cristhian Rojas (@CristhianRojasG) says, euphorically:
Que hoy se quiebren los floreros y se grite INDEPENDENCIA! Que suene el Himno Nacional de la REPÚBLICA DE COLOMBIA. #DIADELAINDEPENDENCIA RT
Nevertheless, many also took advantage of the occasion to post the things that confront them in the country.  Pilar Dique (@Pililu) asks:
Me pregunto, ¿cuál independencia? si lo que parece es que cambiamos de dueños. #diadelaindependencia.
Santiago Rodríguez (@sruls), invites this reflection:
El #diadelaindependencia debería ser un momento para reflexionar si de verdad somos independientes y si después de 201 años hemos avanzado
Michelle Pineda (@MickeyPineda), comments:
Se acabó el #díadelaindependencia, hoy hace 201 años, los que sí eran héroes ya podían dormir sabiendo que una gran parte ya estaba hecha.
And Juanita Cortés L (@JuanitaCortesL), says:
en el #diadelaindependencia los colombianos deberíamos exigir nuestros derechos, luchar por hacer un lugar mejor
A flag in reverse
Many tweets surfaced like those of @MiltonTrujillo, who published an image, via Twitpic, of a flag waving in reverse:
A house with a reversed flag, by @Milton Trujillo and used with permission
Actions by Anonymous
As noted in the beginning of this post, Colombian independence was not a trending topic on the Internet solely on behalf of the citizens in the days surrounding the occasion, but also through the actions of the group Anonymous on the accounts of the country's politicians’. The current President's Facebook account was hacked, as was that of ex-President, Álvaro Uribe on Twitter [es]. On both occasions, the group left a video [es], which according to Adictos Geek's [es] references, they affirm:
Anonymous no pretende desvalorar la acción de los libertadores, pero sí hacer caer en cuenta que celebramos algo que nunca hemos obtenido de una manera totalitaria y que si no hacemos algo no podemos cambiar el pensamiento arcaico que aún tenemos. El 20 de julio Colombia no debería celebrar, debería exigir sus derechos y libertades en todo ámbito”, son las ultimas palabras del mensaje.
The event generated a Trending Topic under the hashtag: #Uribepenetrated. Nonetheless, this was not all, Anonymous later attacked the page of the National Police Force and revealed databases with personal information of police force members.  Given the climate of insecurity and violence that continues to live in certain Colombian zones, many Twitter users have labeled this action as irresponsible:
For more opinions on Twitter, follow these hashtags: #independencia, #Díadelaindependencia,#MasColombianoque.  (#independence, #IndependenceDay, #MoreColombianthan.)