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Colombia's Pacific region
哥倫比亞太平洋地區
More than perfume, please
拜托，不僅僅是牛糞上噴香水
The poverty-stricken Pacific eludes attempts to improve it
哥倫比亞貧困的太平洋區域逃避改善這一現狀的嘗試和努力
A grim view of the ocean
眺望海洋，神情嚴峻
FOR decades, Colombia's masters have told the world, and their own citizens, that they cherish being a Pacific power—and they truly want their poor Pacific region to catch up with more vibrant places, for example on the Caribbean coast. Getting anyone to believe that is harder.
數十年以來，哥倫比亞的領袖就曾向世界以及本國國民宣告，他們珍視作為一個太平洋國家的身份，他們衷心希望本國貧窮的太平洋地區能夠追趕其他像加勒比海岸更具活力的地區。然而，要讓人們相信這一點似乎更難了。
The latest rallying cry was sounded in the port of Buenaventura by President Juan Manuel Santos on October 25th. He unveiled new details of a 400m development strategy for the Pacific coast, including a pledge of 12m to provide drinking water for every resident of the city. Admitting that people had heard all this before, he vowed: “This time...it is not a strategy that comes from the capital...it will be implemented and supervised from here.”
10月25日總統胡安·曼努埃爾·桑托斯在布埃納文圖拉港（哥倫比亞太平洋岸的最大港口）喊出最新的口號。他宣布了一項金額高達4億美元的太平洋海岸發展戰略細節，其中一項是保證為該市所有的市民提供飲用水的1200萬美元資金。他承認以前的政府也說過同樣的話，但是他發誓：“這一次，這以發展戰略不是來自中央，將會切實實施并由本市監督。”
Yet as Colombia booms—the central bank forecasts growth at 5% for 2014—the Pacific part lags. In Buenaventura, the country's second biggest container port, huge ships sail past wood-slat houses where taps flow for three hours a day at most, children are ill-fed and violence is rife. Unemployment in the port exceeds 40%, and elsewhere in the forested, mountainous region things are worse.
然而當哥倫比亞全國繁榮發展之時——中央銀行預測該國2014年經濟增長率為5%——太平洋區域有滯后了。在全國第二大的貨柜港口布埃納文圖拉，巨型貨船穿行于木板板條訂成的房子中間，這里，自來水每天最多僅有3小時出水，兒童營養不良，暴力非常普遍。該港的失業率超過40%，在該區域森林覆蓋的山區情況更加嚴峻。
Governments have tried to help. Over the past 40 years there have been master plans, policy papers and road maps. Some focus on infrastructure, some on ecology, others on poverty. But they tend to peter out. That is despite the fact that in foreign policy, Colombia holds dear its status as a Pacific nation. It has dreamed for two decades of joining the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum, whose members account for 63% of its trade and 50% of foreign investment. And Colombia founded—along with Mexico, Peru and Chile—the Pacific Alliance trade group which has slashed tariffs.
政府為此做過努力。在過去的40年，總體規劃、政策文件以及公路線路圖相繼出現。有的聚焦于基礎設施建設，有的立足于生態環境保護，另一些則致力于削減貧困。然而所有的這些似乎都不了了之了。盡管哥倫比亞在外交政策上非常重視其作為太平洋國家的地位。20多年來，哥倫比亞一直夢想這加入亞太經合組織論壇，哥倫比亞與論壇成員國的貿易額占該國總貿易額的63%，論壇成員國對哥的投資比例高達50%。哥倫比亞與墨西哥。秘魯和智利聯合成立的太平洋貿易聯盟為該國減輕了關稅。
As part of the latest Pacific plan, authorities have dusted off old projects, including one for a pipeline and a railway to stretch from oilfields in the east to Buenaventura. Another calls for a “corridor” to link the Caribbean and Pacific by river and road through Choco province.
作為最新的太平洋計劃的一部分，政府抹去了一切舊項目，這包括由東部油田至布埃納文圖拉的石油管道和鐵路，另一個是經由喬科省連接加勒比海和太平洋被稱為“廊道”的河流及公路系統。
Such plans need to offer economic gains for ordinary folk and protection for the area's biodiversity, says Luis Gilberto Murillo, a man from Choco whom Mr Santos has asked to head the latest initiative.
穆里約，桑托斯任命指導最新計劃的喬科省人稱，這樣的計劃應該要為普通民眾增收服務，為保護該地區的生物多樣性服務。
But there is mistrust between Pacific residents and the capital. National power-brokers balk at letting light-fingered local authorities handle funds. A provincial assembly member from the country's north was banned from politics by Colombia's inspector-general for 13 years after voicing these suspicions in a way deemed racist; he said, in 2012, that “investing money in Choco is like putting perfume on a turd.”
但是在太平洋地區居民及首都政府之間橫貫這不信任的鴻溝。國家權力代理人不愿意讓手腳不干凈的地方政府人員經手資金。來自該國北部的一名省議會成員自從以一種種族主義的方式質疑政策之后，被哥倫比亞總監剝奪政治權利長達13年之久。2012年他聲稱：“向喬科省投資無異于給牛糞噴香水”。
Meanwhile Pacific locals resent plans made in Bogota. “The plans aren't for us, they are for big businessmen,” says Mario Riascos, a community leader in Buenaventura. Acceptance by residents is crucial, as 84% of land in the Pacific region is subject to collective-title rights granted to black and indigenous groups. The introduction of such rights in 1993 was seen as a triumph for the poor, but business leaders say it hurt growth. A port manager in Buenaventura says it makes life much harder for firms needing access to land.
同時，太平洋地區的居民也地址哥倫比亞首都波哥大的計劃。布埃納文圖拉的社區主任馬里奧·里亞斯克斯稱“這些計劃根本不是為了我們，而是為了那些大商人”。要使當地居民同意這些計劃相當不易，因為太平洋地區84%的土地受黑人及土著人所有的集體支配。1993年引入的該項權利被視為是窮人的勝利，但是商業領袖稱這將不利于經濟增長。布埃納文圖拉的港口經理人這使需要土地的公司經營陷入困境。
Already the grand plan sounds hollow to some. On November 4th Buenaventura residents protested because some districts have had no water for ten days.
現如今，如此恢弘的計劃在一些人看來依然空洞無力。11月4日，由于有些區域已經連續10天沒有飲用水，布埃納文圖拉居民進行了抗議。 譯者：占文英
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