- Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate fears
- Luxury Western goods line Russian stores, three years into sanctions
- Wallace and Gromit return with comic warning about AI dystopia
- Philippine military says will acquire US Typhon missile system
- Afghan bread, the humble centrepiece of every meal
- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- 'Draconian' Vietnam internet law heightens free speech fears
- Israeli women mobilise against ultra-Orthodox military exemptions
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Tens of thousands protest in Serbian capital over fatal train station accident
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- Daniels throws five TDs as Commanders down Eagles, Lions and Vikings win
- 'Who's next?': Misinformation and online threats after US CEO slaying
- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- InterContinental Hotels Group PLC Announces Transaction in Own Shares - December 23
- Melrose Group Publicly Files Complaint to the Ontario Securities Commission
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin to talk gas deliveries
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
- Atalanta fight back to take top spot in Serie A, Roma hit five
- Mancini admits regrets over leaving Italy for Saudi Arabia
- Run machine Ayub shines as Pakistan sweep South Africa
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin
- Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 35
- 'Incredible' Liverpool must stay focused: Slot
- Maresca 'absolutely happy' as title-chasing Chelsea drop points in Everton draw
- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Mbappe back from 'bottom' as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- France kept on tenterhooks over new government
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- 'Nervous' Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
- Lonely this Christmas: Vendee skippers in low-key celebrations on high seas
- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- 2 US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire' incident: military
- Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth, Chelsea held at Everton
- France awaits fourth government of the year
- Germany pledges security inquest into Christmas market attack
- Death toll in Brazil bus crash rises to 41
In Bogota, trash of the rich becomes lifeline for the poor
They appear at nightfall, dragging heavy carts from dustbin to dustbin in the affluent northern suburbs of the Colombian capital Bogota.
Informal recyclers, they rifle through the trash of the rich looking for waste plastic, glass bottles and cardboard they can sell for a handful of pesos.
It is back-breaking work for little reward, but a salvation for thousands in a country where one in eight city dwellers is unemployed, and the poverty rate approaches 40 percent.
"This life is hard, but it is my only option to survive," Jesus Maria Perez, 52, told AFP.
Men, women and even children: these waste pickers are the face of the misery that candidate after candidate for Sunday's first round of presidential elections has vowed to eradicate.
Many, Perez included, are among the estimated 1.8 million migrants to have fled neighboring Venezuela in search of a better life in Colombia -- Latin America's fourth-largest economy but one of the world's most unequal.
In 2020, according to the Bogota city council, 25,000 of the capital's eight million inhabitants worked as informal rubbish recyclers.
On average, each earns between 12,000 and 18,000 pesos ($3 to $4.50) daily for their efforts, according to Alvaro Nocua of the "Give Me Your Hand" association set up to help this community.
- Human work horses -
For Perez, who used to be a cook in Venezuela, it is a struggle to meet his daily goal of 40,000 pesos -- about $10 -- to cover his one meal a day, a bed for the night and parking for his wooden cart.
He has no horse or donkey to pull the heavy burden: the Bogota municipality banned the practice eight years ago to combat animal abuse.
And as few can afford a self-propelled vehicle, it is people who do the heavy lifting, pulling their carts for kilometers every day.
Whole families take part in the endeavor; the parents wading through the garbage as little ones wait in the cart, playing among the rubbish.
Bogota produces nearly 7,500 tons of waste every day, of which as much as 16 percent, municipal data shows, is recycled by people like Perez.
Nearly 80 percent of Colombian households did not recycle or even separate their waste at home, according to 2019 figures.
- A small income -
Martha Munoz, 45, runs a small recycling station where she buys waste from the informal collectors before reselling it to one of 15 large centers in Bogota.
"Many of those who come here live on the street; this allows them to have a small income," she told AFP.
Munoz said she raised her seven children with her recycling income -- one is a lawyer today and another an engineer.
Perez's expectations are shorter term.
On the day AFP met him, he had managed to earn only 25,000 pesos, just over half of what he needs.
Subtracting the rent for his room in a filthy boarding house in a rough neighborhood and expenses for parking his cart, Perez is left with just 1,000 pesos -- about a quarter of a US dollar.
To make up the difference, he sets out again, this time to sell candy and bin bags on the street.
In this way, he collects enough to pay for his first and only meal of the day: a small sachet of rice with a bit of meat.
According to the World Bank, Colombia is one of the countries with the highest income inequality and biggest informal labor markets in Latin America.
Colombians go to the polls Sunday for elections in which deepening economic woes -- which gave rise to deadly protests last year -- are a key campaign issue.
P.M.Smith--AMWN