Apologists for the drug trade often argue that the upper classes and the political establishment in Bogota would never have opposed the drug trade if it had not enabled former punks and small-time hoods to buy property in the posh neighborhoods, and they may be right.

I believe in reincarnation and communication with the spirits. But I also believe in the founding principles of Marxism-Leninism. Where is it written that you have to be coherent?

Peron had a wise saying. In politics, you can recover from anything except looking like a fool.

An essential part of the magic involves turning everyone into an enemy, to ward off surprises.

These kids who have no place in the world, who nobody has ever made room for, look at least for a place in time, in the present through fashion. It's vitally important to them to look right. When they get money from a job, they spend it immediately on something for their mothers and on clothes. Of course they're not going to have any respect for their fathers, in their shabby old backcountry suits!

For the kids, who in their lives have never known the slightest power, delinquency is a way of looking for power.