Well, I am Colombian and I can tell you that I hope Mockus win the presidential election. I was in College when he was the Bogota’s mayor, I saw firsthand the progressive and good change in Bogota when he was in charge, and yes he is different, and his methods are sometimes unusual but they worked.
At that time people was eager to change and adopt a different approach to civil culture and behavior. We are good people; we are a happy nation that just needs a change.
I thanks president Uribe for all he have done in Colombia, the sense of security and the big steps against the FARC, but we as a Nation cannot stop there, we need to finish this road of violence, corruption, and non-tolerance behavior; we need a change, that focus on education (so we can fight social differences), and a clear administration so people can believe that WE can change and make our country a better place (not an easy target).

I´m sorry, I am just not satisfied. I admire and envy your passion but "if all the 40 million decided to be just a little more fair to each other I think you will see the difference" is exactly the kind of rhetoric that worries me. I have read their plan and it is very similar to that statement, optimistic and magical but empty in terms of serious policy. I am Colombian and I lived in Bogota under his administration and he did well, but leading a country is very different. Mockus, if elected, will inherit a country very different from the one Uribe did because these eight years have truly been miraculous, but there are still some very serious and very real issues to deal with. Something close to 15.000 colombians are still in the jungles with Ak 47s strapped to their backs growing coca and kidnapping, extorting and intimidating, and I don´t think they care much about "being more fair to each other", or about mimes or sunflowers or bicycle rides. I know Mockus wants to be like Costa Rica and live without an Army, which sounds beautiful but very much Utopian. And killing each other is definitely not an option, but how would he deal with drug and terror and guerrilla issue? I haven´t heard a peep about that, or about our crazy neighbors (you know who), or about a demoralized Army that does not want to fight any more because if it does it gets thrown in jail by drug funded lawyers and judges.

Saying that "all were corrupted" is a gross generalization so I will not even comment on that. But if Mockus is honest, and I believe he is, how will he deal with the rest of an over sized government that is corrupt and inefficient? Fighting corruption is a lot harder than being honest yourself.

Anyway, I am colombian but cannot vote because I am a soldier, which explains some of my skepticism. I have seen that part of Colombia that most people would rather ignore. If Mockus does win the elections, he will be my president and I will follow his orders and defend his ideas with my life. And if he does win, I only hope that you and all the other "green wave" optimists are right.

I am not following any political party, nevertheless the things by which Mockus is criticized now were practically the same reasons for which he was criticized when he was looking to be Mayor, even so after gaining the selections shows his capacities and now is considered the pioneer of the change in Bogota. He has acted according to the circumstances, but it has been firm when it has been necessary and it has obtained results. Now for anybody it is a secret that the government of Alvaro Uribe also him change the course to Colombia, but later abuse of its power and the confidence of the Colombian people, and it brought new very serious problems to the fulfillment of the law,and it has put the security of the Colombians in doubt in other very sensible fields, during its government blatantly were sold positions public, indiscriminate murders of civilians, briefly the power was concentrate on Uribe's hands.
This requires a change, as you are an army man has to follow to your head the president of the republic, in the same way all the citizens must support the resolutions of the new president as long as these do not break the law, thus to be able to allow that the new policies provide a positive effect and represent that needed change.
It is important to remember that these changes do not go away in a single government, but definitively prepares a new path for new governments.
I recommend this link:
http://www.soyperiodista.com/tematicas-activas/comente-el-avance-encuestas-de-/nota621-el-transfondo-de-frases-mockusianas%20

I do not agree with the statement that Uribe is abusing power or the confidence of colombian people. First of all, if by blatantly offering public positions (or however it is you phrased that) you are talking about the Yidis Medina accusations, you need a lot more evidence to make such a strong accusation. Yidis was sentenced of Cohecho without hearing the people who supposedly gave her notarias in exchange for her vote, violating every principle of due process and rule of law. If by indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians you mean the "falsos positivos" scandal, you are referring to that legal crusade against the army by drug funded lawyers and judges that has offered no evidence against soldiers that are still unconstitutionally being held in prison without any charges officially filed against them. And if there is no evidence against the soldiers, then much less of the president giving and order of killing innocent people for no apparent reason. So you should be a little bit more responsible when you make accusations like that, Uribe did not reduce terror the way he did by "killing innocent people" or gain a 70% popularity rating by "blatantly offering public positions".

Now about Mockus. I read your article, and true, there might be some misconceptions associated with his government plan because, basically, there is none. But these are some of the things that I have heard coming out of his mouth:

1) That he admires Chavez. True, his admiration later changed to "respect", but he said admiration first. I would not like a president who admires a dictator such as Chavez, forgive me.

2) He did not know that the authority that orders extraditions is the president of Colombia. Forgivable, but still a bit worrisome that a possible future president does not know what his job description is on such an important issue.

3) That the attack on the FARC campsite where Raul Reyes was is unconstitutional and that he would send president Uribe and minister Santos to Ecuador to be tried in an Ecuadorian court of law. Then he apologized and said he was not aware that an "acción de Estado" could be tried in another country´s courtroom.

4) That the way to battle unemployment was to ask companies to stop buying machinery and hire more people. I am sorry, unforgivable. That debate was lost during the industrial revolution.

5) That he wants to get rid of the Army and live in peaceful coexistence like Costa Rica. Please.

I could go on, but I don´t want to bore anyone. Just look past the media hype and listen to what the candidate is actually saying and think really hard if you want this man leading your country.

The candid revelation of your affiliation to the military really provides readers with all the elements to understand your rethoric, I guess this Astroturfing technique is being refined: such confessions are not to happen again (Im sure your boss intructed you on that) and the rest of soldiers commenting on message boards all across the internet will stick to their script, right?

Not really. As a matter of fact, you said so yourself, saying that I am a soldier defeats the purpose (actually, the definition) of astroturfing, if that was the case, and it is not. (I had to look that term up. I´m not a politics professor, I´m afraid). The Colombian Army is the most loyal in Latin America (not a difficult prize) but there has not been a coup here for well over a century and the military in Colombia is not allowed to vote or actively participate in politics, because we defend and follow the orders of whoever gets elected. We are, however, allowed to think. And speak. Anyway, insinuating that I am following someone´s orders by commenting on this article is ridiculous, and if you knew my bosses you would understand. I know you don´t, so let´s just say that we are not the most enlightened army in the world and I am probably the only member of the institution who reads this magazine. And if you believe that "my boss" wanted me to do something like that because Mockus´ political adversary was recently our defense secretary, you would be surprised if you knew soldiers´ general political inclinations in my Army.