For more than a decade, Seven Days’ Hackie column has told the stories of passengers in one cabbie’s car, but the most interesting profile this week may be a real-life driver’s.
Burlington-based American Taxi Corporation (A Taxi Corp) is owned and operated by Juan Carlos Vallejo, a man who said he may run for president in Colombia in 2014.
Over a decade ago, when Vallejo was a law professor at the National University of Colombia system in Medell?_n, Colombia, he said he “lived and breathed” human rights issues.
Reporting about Colombia’s internal issues in front of several international assemblies, the professor-turned-driver said he also defended the rights of laborers, racial minorities, members of the LGBTQ community and union leaders.
There, this was considered to be punishable by death or exile, Vallejo said.
“I was doing three ‘jobs’,” he said. “Teaching, defending and campaign.”
Another event that could postpone the 2014 Colombian presidential elections is the Colombia peace talks. For the past 50 to 60 years, a guerilla terrorist group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of America or FARC, have terrorized the people of Colombia.
Since last October, the Colombian Government and FARC have been trying to negotiate a peace settlement.
If the negotiations are not settled by November, it is unlikely that the elections will continue on as planned. The election date is May 25, 2014.
While the U.S. has brought him refuge, there were some challenges involved with being away from his country and loved ones, he said. He added that he missed cultural aspects of his home country including the food and the climate.
“You don’t know how I suffered here during the winter,” Vallejo said.
As for the Colombian candidacy of 2014, nothing is final yet. “It is a great people and very rich country,” Vallejo said. “I am very sad. But I think the people will change the situation