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WORLD NEWS Friday 6 November 2020
“Toothless Cindy” raps on Colombian buses to make ends meet

By MANUEL RUEDA Volcan, who frequently runs
Associated Press into Alfonso on the Transmi-
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — lenio. “She lives up a steep
With her pink cardigan and hill and we’re trying to find
thick glasses, “Toothless her a place to rent that is
Cindy” is becoming a mu- closer to the bus stop.”
sical sensation on Colom- Alfonso presses on despite
bian public transport. the obstacles and deliv-
When the music starts ers her routine in which she
blasting from her portable encourages commuters to
speaker, the 69-year-old laugh because “humor is
turns into a prolific rapper, for free.”
whose rhymes crack up Some take selfies with the
commuters on the Trans- toothless grandmother,
milenio, Bogota’s crowded and others have posted
and crime-ridden public videos of her singing on
bus system. Marlene Alfon- buses that have gone viral
so’s nickname — “Cindy on Twitter.
sin Dientes” in Spanish — This growing recognition
comes from the fact that comes as some Venezu-
she is missing most of her elan migrants also make
teeth and she says she headlines in Colombia for
can’t afford false ones. committing crimes that in-
“I’m trying to make some- Marlene Alfonso, a 69-year-old Venezuelan grandmother who goes by “Toothless Cindy,” clude robberies on public
thing of myself,” she sings accepts coins from commuters as she sings about Venezuelan migrants’ lives in hopes of tips buses.
while riding on a bus from commuters on the Transmilenio, the crowded and crime-ridden public bus system in Bogota, In Bogota, which is home
Colombia, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.
packed with commuters Associated Press to more than 350,000 Ven-
heading into downtown. “If ezuelans, Mayor Claudia
you can’t give me money, tacks. buskers or street vendors. to not feel defeated,” Al- Lopez recently said that
give me a kiss, that will fix “Its tough to make a living Alfonso says that she was al- fonso said after finishing a some migrants are giving
my crooked neck.” here,” says Haileen Volcan, ready performing for tips in set of songs. “Our hearts her “headaches” and that
Marlene Alfonso, who calls a 32-year-old Venezuelan her hometown of Caracas, have no wrinkles in them. “we should immediately
herself ‘’Toothless Cindy,” with five children, who sells long before she arrived in I’m 69 and there’s still a lot deport anyone who comes
or “Cindy sin Dientes” in puzzles for kids on Bogo- Bogota. She worked mostly of juice to squeeze from this to commit crimes.”
Spanish, is one of dozens of ta’s buses. “But if she can on subway cars, where her orange.” The declarations were ap-
Venezuelan migrants who hop on buses and work, a shows earned her an invi- But being a street rapper plauded by some of her
work on Bogota’s public young woman like myself tation to a local television isn’t easy. Alfonso suffers supporters, but also reject-
bus system every day, sell- can sell things too.” program. from glaucoma and can- ed by national immigra-
ing items like pens, or per- More than 1.7 million Vene- Two years ago, she moved not see out of her left eye. tion officials who said that
forming for tips. zuelans currently live in Co- to Colombia because rap- She doesn’t have enough only 4% of crimes reported
Her advanced age, comi- lombia, where they have ping in Venezuela’s sub- money to go to a specialist in Colombia are commit-
cal lyrics and unusual attire moved to escape their na- ways no longer helped and moves around with a ted by foreigners. The Inte-
for a rapper have helped tion’s economic and hu- her to make ends meet. stick to avoid falling. ramerican Commission on
her to stand out. She has manitarian crisis. Accord- Alfonso says she can make The grandmother can’t see Human Rights also reacted,
become an inspiration for a ing to immigration officials, about $8 a day from tips the buttons on her speak- asking Lopez and other
group of migrants that has only 720,000 have a resi- on Bogota’s Transmilenio. er’s remote control prop- public officials in Colombia
been mostly welcomed in dence permit, which forc- It’s enough to pay rent and erly, so she asks commuters to refrain from declarations
Colombia, but has also suf- es many migrants to work send some money home to for help to play the right that could “exacerbate xe-
fered recently from discrim- for less than the minimum her daughter. tracks. nophobia towards Venezu-
ination and xenophobic at- wage or make a living as “I’m showing people how “We worry about her,” said elans.” q

Hundreds march in Haiti after outrage

over student’s murder

By EVENS SANON pay the large ransom de- he mismanaged the econ-
Associated Press manded by her captors. omy and failed to hold
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Human rights groups con- accountable those who
— Hundreds of protesters – tend the incident highlights siphoned billions in inter-
many dressed in school uni- the nation's worsening se- national aid into bank ac-
forms – marched through curity crisis. counts overseas. Now the
the streets of Haiti's capital "I am worried," said Katy Caribbean nation is also
Thursday to demand an- Jean-Joseph, 19, who grappling with growing
swers after the kidnapping marched while carrying concern over Moise's de- Students in their school uniform kneel chanting anti-government
and murder of a young a photo of Sincère. "What cision to delay legislative slogans during a protest march to demand answers after the
woman that has incensed happened to Eveline could elections and instead insist kidnapping and murder of high school senior Evelyne Sincère,
in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020.
the nation. have happened to me." first on a constitutional ref- Associated Press
High school senior Evelyne Haiti has been rocked by erendum. Meanwhile, the
Sincère was found in a trash street protests demanding United Nations and rights violence by armed gangs country that has struggled
heap Sunday after relatives President Jovenel Moise's groups in Haiti are warn- whose crimes are largely to buoy its weak national
said they were unable to ouster on allegations that ing about a rising tide of going unpunished in a police force. q