Billh Apr 11, 2013:

This is all rather metaphoric but I think in English we would say something like "... his claimed vanilla flavoured democratic spirit, only to move into the dark field of ...."

anademahomar Apr 11, 2013:

@ Neil Well, I´ll be right behind you on that ridicule queue. I agree with your interpretation. As I understand it, he (Uribe) abandons his alleged democratic stance, which was already murky at best ("castaño-colored" as opposed to clear) and proceeds to a "dark" militaristic one. I´m not saying the writer is not, but if a reference mas being made to Mr. Castaño, I would have capitalized it (color Castaño) to alert the reader to the pun. IMHO

Neil Ashby Apr 11, 2013:

..al campo oscuro Maybe something like on the "grey" side of the force! ;) The orignal is written with some humour / sarcasm. Rather than being openly 'oscuro' (or militant) he was 'brown / grey' because he was involved in politics - hiding his 'darker side'.
Please feel free to ridicule - I know nothing about Columbian politics or history, I;m just wildly guessing.

Raffaele Esposito Apr 11, 2013:

Yo pensaba a la locución coloquial "pasar de castaño oscuro algo" a decir "ser demasiado enojoso o grave"... una idea ;)

patinba (asker) Apr 11, 2013:

Gracias Raffaele Podría ser, pero me gustaría tener un vínculo más claro entre "color castaño" y "enojoso"

patinba (asker) Apr 11, 2013:

Thanks muchly, Andy It might very well be, as Uribe did do deals with Castaño, so it would be something like "Castaño-tainted"?

Raffaele Esposito Apr 11, 2013:

demasiado enojoso... Yo comprendo que, para él el espíritu democrático parece demasiado enojoso, y ahora él quiere algo más aventuroso

Andy Watkinson Apr 11, 2013:

Hi Pat. Absolutely no idea, but could it be a veiled reference to:
Contacts begun in 2002 with the paramilitary AUC forces and their leader Carlos Castaño, which had publicly expressed their will to declare a cease-fire, continued in 2003 amid a degree of national and international controversy.