Daryl Cagle, ubiquitous newspaper cartoonist, went to Colombia for a conference with South American cartoonists. He posted a report from this blog:

The Colombian cartoonists are a spirited bunch, with crazy one-word pen names such as Mico (monkey), Chocolo (corn-on-the-cob), Matador (killer) and Bacteria.

Mico is also a national TV star; he dresses up like a woman, holds an umbrella and talks about politics with his actor partner on a popular show that he writes each week called “Tola y Maruja.”

Bacteria took his name to honor his mother who died from a bacterial infection soon after giving birth to him. Some of this Colombian stuff is pretty strange.

Cagle also covers the fact that Colombian papers are struggling and their cartoonists get paid very little. It’s like looking into a slightly sexier drug kingpin-riddled mirror.

Cagle adds:

There were lots of questions about censorship and about where cartoonists “draw the line” on topics they won’t touch. I encouraged everyone to think of editorial cartoons as a barometer of freedom. In many countries, cartoonists never draw their leaders; cartoonists in Venezuela aren’t allowed to draw Hugo Chavez; cartoonists in Cuba never draw Fidel Castro. In Colombia the cartoonists ridicule their president Uribe every day and their lack of respect for their president speaks well of healthy press freedoms in Colombia.

Whole post is here.

Pictured are Cagle and Rayma from Venezuela.