Birthright in the Balance

To most Spanish-speaking peoples, tinto is red wine; to Colombians, it is a tiny cup of black coffee--and a social institution that ranks with the Englishman's tea, the Argentine's mate and the Norteamericano's cocktails. Over their four or five daily tintos in drab little cafes (many cater exclusively to lawyers, bullfight fans, et al.), Colombians make & break governments, trade plantations and gold mines, brood about mistresses and write poems.

For a hundred years and more, a tinto has sold for 5 centavos. Last week inflation-harried cafe owners asked the price control board to raise the ceiling price to 10 centavos (6-c-). From Colombians who had shrugged off other price boosts rose a thunder of protest that boomed across the misty Bogota savannah to echo in subtropical Cali and industrial Medellin.

In Cali, defiant squads roamed the streets carrying thermos jugs, passing out coffee free to all. In Bogota's Cafe El Dorado, a grey-maned lawyer declaimed: "They're trying to tax a tradition--aye, exploit friendship itself!" In La Botella de Oro, a young sculptor shouted: "The birthright of all Bogotanos--a harmless vice, our oldest tradition. Double the price? No hay derecho! (They have no right!)"

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