COLOMBIA, A POSITIVE COUNTRY

Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations

ON THE FRONT PAGE

• XVII NATIONAL ATHLETIC GAMES READY: the Colombian Sports Institute, Coldeportes, stated that the staging of the XVII National Athletic Games, which will be held from November 27 to December 11, is completely guaranteed. For that reason close to $42 billion Colombian pesos have been set aside for that event, 50% co-financed by the national government, and the rest from the Governor’s office of Cundinamarca and the city governments of Bogotá, Soacha, Fusagasugá, and Girardot, where the games will be held.

• COLOMBIA, A MODEL FOR INVESTMENT: the economic research area at Bear Stearns, a New York firm specialized in the stock market, recognized that Colombia is a large zone of order and stability in comparison with other countries in the region, such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Argentina. The firm also noted that its recommendation to the organizations it advises is to invest 20% of their portfolios in Colombia, since the country has a good debt profile and offers a high return.

SOCIAL INVESTMENT

• INRAVISIÓN OPENS BIDS: the National Institute of Radio and Television, Inravision, awarded $1,800 million pesos in resources in a public audience to 11 producers, to produce that same number of programs for Señal Colombia. The Institute’s open bid process received responses from 95 producers, but only 11 fulfilled the quality specifications required. The resources that will be used to fund theses eleven productions make up part of the $16 billion pesos that the National Television Commission, CNTV, granted to Inravisión for programming for Señal Colombia.

• SOCIAL INVESTMENT WORKS: at least 3 billion Colombians have directly benefited from the Presidency’s social programs during the last two years. Between 2002 and 2004 these social programs have received investments of close to $2 billion Colombian pesos in 800 municipalities across the country, benefiting 800 thousand children, who receive a bimonthly stipend for nutrition and education. It has also benefited 500 thousand peasants who are involved in projects that guarantee their sustenance, and 70 thousand people who are no longer displaced.

• FAMILIES IN ACTION MOVE FOR COLOMBIA: in August the program Familias en Acción (Families in Action) Plan Colombia, programmed visits to more than 140 municipalities in the country to carry out training workshops for mothers, and workshops for children, young people, and families that will keep the program close to the most pressing needs of the community. In Boyacá, Córdoba, Meta, Caquetá, Sucre and Magdalena, mothers will have an appointment to talk about issues related to their children’s health and education. While in Cundinamarca, La Guajira, Magdalena and Putumayo, children and young people will participate in workshops with cultural activities, and maintain contact between the beneficiaries in the different municipalities.

SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT

• MONEY FOR HOUSING: resources in the amount of $155,185 million pesos were earmarked in the first semester of the year by financial institutions, and other sectors expressing solidarity, to finance Social Interest Housing (VIS for the initials in Spanish) in the country. The funds, given as part of an agreement signed between the government and the financial and other interested sectors, pushed them ahead to 57% of the goal set in the agreement for this year, which is for a total of $274 billion pesos. The government’s overall goal for the period between 2003 and 2006 is to invest $548 billion pesos in social housing.

• ECOPETROL INCREASES PRODUCTION: during the year 2004, Ecopetrol has had a growing tendency toward direct production, that is to say, production carried out solely by the State company. In June, the oil company recorded an increase of 18.47% with respect to the same month of the prior year, going from an average of 108,401 barrels per day to 128,423 barrels per day. According to the indicators, in January this type of production increased by 6.98%. In February the growth reached 10.69%, in March it went up 5.11%, in April 10.24% and in May it increased by 14.146%. While in the first six months of 2003 average direct production reached 111,405 barrels per day, in the same period of this year the average was 123,564 barrels per day, representing an increase of 10.91%.

• TOURISM RECOVERING: in the first six months of the year hotel occupation increased by 1.8% with respect to the same period last year, and by 6.4% with respect to 2002. According to the Hotel Association of Colombia, Cotelco, the national average for occupation in June reached 51.2%, the highest rate in that month in the last five years.

• LOW COST OF LIVING: the cost of living last July decreased by 0.3% compared to the same month in 2003, when it had decreased by 0.14%. The decrease in the inflation rate was achieved thanks to food prices in July, especially due to the good harvest. In the first six months of 2004 the cost of living was 4.56%, lower than that recorded in the same period in 2003, when it was 4.86%. Between July 2003 and July 2004, the Consumer Price Index stayed at 6.19%, when the year before it was at 7.04%.

• THE UNITED STATES CONTINUES TO BE MAIN COMMERCIAL PARTNER: of the US$5,916 million in exports recorded in the first five months of this year, 2,465 million came from sales to the North American country, that is to say, 41.6% of total sales outside of Colombia. In analysis of the purchases made by the United States from Colombia in the first five months of this year, a growth of 9.11% can be seen over the same period in 2003, increasing from US$2,259 to US$2,465 million.

DEMOCRATIC SECURITY

• RESULTS OF PLAN COLOMBIA: thanks to international cooperation obtained through Plan Colombia, illicit crops were reduced by 43% between 2002 and 2003, representing a decrease in production of 80 tons of cocaine, with a value of US$8 billion. The main instrument used to achieve this goal has been fumigation from the air, which will allow Colombians in 2005 to eradicate more than 50% of the coca crops. In addition, international aid channeled through Plan Colombia allowed the Colombian government to strengthen its presence and control across the entire national territory, and to reduce terrorism.

• CRIME RATES DOWN: to date in 2004, the numbers of kidnappings for extortion have decreased to 476. This is 53% less than the 1,019 cases presented between January and July of 2003. From August 2002 to July 2004, 2,780 kidnappings for extortion were committed, while between August 2000 and July 2002, there were 3,432 cases. Similarly, in the two years of the Uribe administration, implementation of the Democratic Security policy has reduced crime, lowering the rate for common homicide by 17.7% (going from 56,738 to 46,723), the rate for the number of massacres by 53.2% (from 363 to 170), for victims of massacres by 56.7% (from 2,105 to 911), for the number of kidnapping events at illegal checkpoints by 52.5% (from 343 to 163) and for the number of people kidnapped at illegal checkpoints by 44.7% (from 1,190 to 658).

• DEMOBILIZATION CONTINUES: So far in August, 72 members of illegal armed groups have voluntarily laid down their weapons, thus completing 1,716 demobilizations during 2004. According to the figures, the illegal armed group the FARC has lost the greatest number of combatants from demobilization, with 43 desertions, followed by the AUC with 25, and the ELN with 4. During the administration of President Uribe 4,984 members of illegal armed groups have individually laid down their weapons. This number is in addition to the mass demobilization of 1,042 members of the ‘Cacique Nutibara’ Block of the AUC in Medellín.

STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY

• HANDING OVER EXPROPRIATED PROPERTIES: the national government handed over three confiscated properties to 39 families who will cultivate corn, yucca, plantains, and raise livestock. The land belonged to the alleged drug trafficker Leonidas Vargas, and includes 2,970 hectares. The properties are located in Palmira, Valle, and La Ruidosa and Puerto Diego, both in Florencia, Caquetá. The families will first be given the land for five years, during which time it will be used to develop productive projects. After an evaluation by Incoder, if the beneficiaries have fulfilled their part of the bargain, they will be given definitive title to the property.

(FIN/PCO/CIE) August 13, 2004