NEW YORK—New Yorkers with Columbian heritage celebrated 198 years of independence from Spain on Sunday at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. On a hot dusty day in the center of the park the music blasted from the main stage as hundreds of Columbians danced and waved the yellow, red and blue flag of their homeland.
The celebration this year has an added poignancy, as only two weeks ago the Govt. of Columbia, through a bit of savvy slight of hand, obtained the freedom of 15 hostages from the FARC, the violent rebel group that is said to be responsible for many of the estimated 3,000 kidnappings a year in Columbia, and has funded itself largely through ransoms on these kidnappings and taxation of illegal drug trade.
But Sunday was a day of celebrating the rich cultural heritage of the South American country, and so the Epoch Times asked revelers at Flushing Meadows “What do you love about Colombia?
