In a totalitarian system, the function of journalism and the media in general is nothing but propaganda. Orwell emphasized that information is chosen solely according to the interests of those in power. So, while I covered the terrible earthquake in La Guaira, Venezuela, in article #39 of La Licorne, I'm now going to talk to you about the fascist subjugation of Colombia, from my position as a witness and, almost, one might say, as an unwitting "war reporter".

My concept of "totalitarian surge" describes the subjugation of populations through terror. Here I give you a firsthand account, from the Caribbean coast of Colombia, about a situation you will hardly ever hear about in the Western media.

I had planned to write this 39th article for La Licorne (The Unicorn) about an important episode in the Florentine Academy this year, but I decided to postpone it due to current events. It is not in my nature, nor is it my policy, to let myself be unsettled by "the noise of the world". If I am making this exception, it is because it is a significant one.

He is one of the most endearing characters of the Carnival: he embodies self-saturation, mocks conventions, and ridicules the upper class. The mask is easily recognizable, with its elephant ears, enormous nose, and large eyes. The character is said to represent the wealthy man who exploits the working class, and the slave owner.

I have never attended more funerals in my life than in the last ten years in Colombia; the reason is not an increased mortality, but the fact that death here, where I live, concerns many people beyond the deceased's loved ones, family and friends.

Nothing can replace, for the traveler, that feeling of arriving at the end of the world when he sets foot on Providence Island, located in the Caribbean Sea, off the eastern coast of Nicaragua.