COLOMBIA, A COUNTRY ON THE
MOVE Prepared by the
Office for the Coordination
of Internal and External Communications
of the Ministry of Foreign Relations
SOCIAL PROGRAMS
· SCIENCE FOR EVERYONE! Colombian young people have obtained
funding from Germany for a project aimed at making science available
to young people. The project specifically makes use of a chart
entitled The adventures of the DNA Gang: researching the mysteries
of genes, which will be distributed to rural schools. The proposal
involves a look at natural diversity throughout DNA. It includes
historical data relating to scientific discoveries, games and
practical experiments that can be carried out using homemade
elements. This initiative consists of three charts aimed at the
three levels of scientific learning: basic, intermediate and
advanced.
· BATUTA FOR CHILDREN: 5000 children from displaced families
will gain access to musical training this year through the Batuta
(Baton) Program Dejate tocar por la música (Let yourself
be moved by the music), an initiative financed by the Social
Solidarity Network in the amount of 2.5 billion pesos ($1.000.000
US dollars). This strategy aims to provide the children with
the opportunity of finding new alternatives for enriching their
lives through musical training.
· AIRPORTS FOR PEACE: The Colombian Government is investing
9.3 billion pesos ($3.7 Million US dollars) in paving, improving
and rehabilitating eight runways at airports in the Chocó,
Antioquia, Guainía, Meta, Amazonas and Santander Departments.
By means of the Vías para la Paz (Roads for Peace) program,
and with the support of Aeronaútica Civil (The Civil Aeronautical
Authority), rehabilitation and adaptation of the runways of Bahía
Solano and Bajo Baudó, in the Chocó, has also begun.
Additionally, work is being carried out at the airports of El
Bagre and Frontino, Antioquia, on the runway at Barrancominas,
Guainía, and at the airports of the municipalities of
Macarena, in Meta; Málaga, in Santander, and La Pedrera,
in Amazonas Department.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND JOB CREATION
•PROJECT COLOMBIA: The National Government has called
on Colombian entrepreneurs to increase their exportable offering
and take advantage of the benefits provided by the USA with respect
to customs duties. The executive branch feels that Colombian
industrialists have failed to make use of the prerogatives offered
by the new law on Andean Tariff Preferences (ATPDEA) which expires
in 2006, and which make up part of the framework of the fight
against drug-trafficking. This aid program, which provides advice
to Colombian small and medium-sized enterprises, coincides with
this country's preparations for the initiation of negotiations
for a Free Trade Treaty with the United States.
•FAIR TREATMENT FOR FLOWERS: The Free Trade treaty that
will be negotiated with the USA will guarantee that Colombian
flowers will be able to enter that market under clear and permanent
rules. These preferences will benefit a sector that sends 85%
of its exports to the USA. It will also serve to guarantee employment
and well-being for almost a million Colombians who depend on
the cultivation of flowers while generating more than 675 million
U.S. dollars per year for this country. In addition, the distribution
and commercialization network in the USA has created more than
220,000 jobs.
•CAN—MERCOSUR AGREEMENT: After eight years of negotiations,
a Free Trade Treaty was signed between Colombia, Venezuela and
Ecuador, the countries of the Andean Community, and Brasil, Argentina,
Paraguay and Uruguay, the countries of Mercosur. Colombia thus
becomes the continent's most important commercial gateway, in
making possible the integration of the North with the South.
By means of foreign trade, this opening will encourage the productive
apparatus to carry out transformations that will make it more
effective and competitive. Mercosur represents a market of 220
million people and is of great importance due to its size and
potential as a market for products.
•PEASANTS’ ORGANICALLY GROWN COFFEE IN EUROPE: Expocosurca
will be responsible for bringing the fruits of the labors of
our peasantry to other countries: how to cultivate the earth
legally in order to produce very high quality products. More
than 1,200 families who cultivate organic coffee now have their
own export company, which has already obtained its first customers
in Great Britain and France. This entity consists of 13 peasant
organizations who as a result have been able to participate in
this business as well as to enter into direct contact with the
final customer. Thanks to this project, the indigenous and peasant
growers, who currently cultivate 1,139 hectares of coffee, will
begin to receive 60% more profits than they had before. The first
export shipment will consist of eight containers, each of which
will contain 250 70 kg sacks.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
· ON BEHALF OF HUMAN RIGHTS: The Presidential Council
for the Equality of Women and the International Migration Organization
(IMO) signed an agreement aimed at preventing and combating the
trafficking in human beings for prostitution. These entities
will carry out activities in order to disseminate information
aimed at the most vulnerable population segments so as to make
them aware of the modalities and mechanisms employed by traffickers
in order to recruit their victims. The information will be disseminated
with particular emphasis on the group of Colombian women between
the ages of 14 and 34 with little education, who are recruited
in order to be sent to such countries as Japan, Spain, France,
Germany and the USA.
· PAYMENTS TO DEMOBILIZED PERSONS: The Ministry of Defense
paid 433 million pesos ($173,000 US Dollars) to 90 demobilized
persons from the illegal armed groups, who upon entering the
Program for Demobilization and Reinsertion into Civilian Life
surrendered weapons along with military materiel and uniforms.
During the month of March, the Program for Humanitarian Assistance
to Demobilized Persons reported the surrender of 227 members
of the illegal armed groups, 104 of whom were from the AUC, 97
from the FARC, 25 from the ELN and one from the dissident groups.
31 of these were minors under the age of 18, while 35 were women.
The number of demobilized persons has now reached 3,877.
· FUNDING FOR REINSERTION: The member countries of the
Organization of American States (OAS) reaffirmed their support
for the Mission to Accompany the Peace Process in Colombia and
offered to request that their governments provide resources to
facilitate the reinsertion into civil society of members of the
illegal armed groups. In a verbal report made to the Permanent
Council, the first such report since the agreement was signed
between the Colombian Government and the OAS, Sergio Caramagna,
chief of the mission, emphasized that its work is of a technical
rather than a political nature and that it will be financed with
outside funds. To this end, the mission is carrying out an international
strategy aimed at obtaining the necessary resources.
