| COLOMBIA,
A POSITIVE COUNTRY
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
•
SPANISH AID FOR MALAMBO: Aid
in the amount of 1.5 million Euros (some $4,500 million Colombian
pesos) was announced
by the government
in Valencia, Spain for the Villa Esperanza Comprehensive Plan,
located in Malambo, in the Department of Atlántico. Within
the framework of this project, 430 houses are being built, the
old school is being remodeled, health kits will be created, and
training will be provided to the population on health issues.
This aid has been channeled through the Spanish Federation of
Religious Educators (FERE). The program aims at improving the
situation of the thousands of people displaced by the internal
armed conflict.
• RESOURCES FOR PROTECTED AREAS: the government of Holland
and the National Park Unit signed a cooperation agreement for
$20 billion Colombian pesos. The resources contributed by that
European country will benefit national parks and the Colombian
Amazon. Of that amount, $8.5 billon will finance the conservation
of the natural parks and $11.5 billon will be designated for
strengthening environmental plans in the Amazon. The resources
will favor 14 protected areas in the Colombian Amazon and Orinoco
regions and in the parks: Tuparro, Amacayacu, Cahuinarí,
Chingaza Chiribiquete, La Macarena, La Paya, Picachos, Sumapaz,
Tinigua, Río Puré, Alto Fragua and the Puinawai
and Nukak natural reserves. The project will also strengthen
participation, planning, and decision-making in the regional
systems for protected areas.
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
• OUTFITTING LIBRARIES: from December 6th to the 24th
the Ministry of Culture will deliver supplies for 150 libraries
to an equal number of municipalities in 17 Departments across
the country, thus meeting the goal set for 2004. The libraries
benefiting this year will receive close to 330 thousand books,
as well as recording equipment, a VHS, a DVD, a television, a
movie set with more than 40 movies (children’s, Colombian,
and Latin American movies), and a computer to administer the
bibliographic catalogue records. The international cooperation
that Colombia has received in this area is close to $3.5 billon
pesos. The President’s goal for his term is to take this
educational and technological aid to more than 500 sites in vulnerable
zones of the country.
• FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE CAF: The Andes Fomentation Corporation (CAF) approved a credit for
US$150 million to support
financing for the Program for Road Infrastructure and Regional
Development (Plan 2,500) by means of which the government will
pave 2,500 kilometers of highways across the country. Those resources
will be part of a trust mechanism, designed by the government
as part of the system for financing this program by which secondary
and tertiary roads will be improved in all municipalities and
Departments. The mechanism improves the credit quality of bonds
issued by a capital market trust, with the backing of economic
rights on future fiscal periods of the Nation.
• HUMANITARIAN AID FOR CHOCÓ: the national government
gave $550 million Colombian pesos in humanitarian aid to families
in three municipalities who were victims of the earthquake last
November 15. The three sites benefited were: Litoral del San
Juan, Bajo Baudó and Medio Baudó. The first 80
tons of aid delivered by the government included 1,718 grocery
kits, 859 cleaning article kits, and 859 kitchen kits, in addition
to 2,000 sets of tableware, 173 kits for destroyed homes, and
686 kits for damaged homes. The National System for Prevention
and Attention to Disasters, the Ministry of Social Protection
and Housing, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Ministry
of Territorial Development headed up this humanitarian aid.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
• ENCOURAGING QUARTER FOR THE
ECONOMY: the Colombian economy grew by 2.57% in the third quarter of
this year without taking
into account illicit crops, and by 2.43% when they are included.
For the first nine months of this year the sector that registered
the most growth was construction with 8.60%, followed by the
manufacturing industry with 4.99%, commerce with 4.90%, transportation
with 4.28% and the financial sector with 3.72%. Gross National
Product (GNP) grew 3.68% for January to September of this year
in comparison to the same period in 2003, without taking into
account illicit crops.
• UNEMPLOYMENT DOWN IN OCTOBER: In October the unemployment rate on the national level decreased
from 13.6% to 12.4% compared
with the same month in 2003. In numbers, there were 2,856,000
people unemployed in October of 2003, while in the same month
of 2004 that figure lowered to 2,565,000. In other words, 291,000
Colombians obtained jobs. In terms of underemployment, the rate
went from 32.8% in October of 2003 to 31.8% in the same month
of 2004, which means that the number of those underemployed decreased
from 6,907,000 to 6,574,000 people.
• PRODUCTIVE WORK: a total of 1,288 women who are heads
of households, residents in Cúcuta, now have access to
training in different productive activities, which allows them
to improve their quality of life, obtain income, and think about
starting their own companies. That training is the result of
an agreement between the National Service of Learning, SENA,
and the local Mayor’s office, to provide opportunities
for the most vulnerable population segments in the capital of
Norte de Santander to get involved in the labor market and create
new businesses. The mothers who are heads of households are trained
in the areas of bakery skills and food processing, computers,
beauty, clothing manufacture, woodwork, and handmade items.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
• NUMBER OF DEMOBILIZED COMBATANTS
INCREASES: during the
month of November, 333 members of the illegal armed groups put
down their weapons. Of that amount, 188 demobilized combatants
belonged to the AUC, 107 to the FARC, 32 to the ELN, and 6 to
dissident groups. The Department with the highest number of demobilized
combatants recorded was Boyacá with 63 cases, followed
by Casanare with 51, Antioquia with 34, and Meta with 20. With
the 333 demobilizations in November, there have been 3,274 people
who have left the terrorist groups to date in 2004, and 7,584
during the current government, including 1,042 members who have
demobilized from the Cacique Nutibara Block of the AUC and 452
from the Bananero Block, in Antioquia.
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR
COLOMBIA: during the Uribe administration new agreements have
been signed for regular international
cooperation in the amount of US$291.5 million. This represents
162% of the goal set by the government for obtaining international
cooperation resources, which had been calculated at US$180 million
for the entire term. In particular, during 2003, agreements were
signed for US$73 million, while in 2004 agreements have been
signed in the amount of US$218.5 million. Among the new agreements
signed, projects with Spain, Japan, the United States and the
European Union are noteworthy. Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland
are the three new countries that have begun to cooperate with
Colombia during the current administration.
• EXPROPRIATED LANDS: the national government delivered
a total of 1,181 hectares of land to 80 low-income peasant families
in the town of Guaduas in Cundinamarca. The lands are part of
three farms that belonged to the deceased drug trafficker Gonzalo
Rodríguez Gacha, which, after the application of the Law
of Extinction of the Right to Ownership, were delivered to the
Anti-Narcotics Department. The names of the farms are Cabo Verde,
La Alaha and La Gaviota. In Cabo Verde (883 hectares), 50 families
were located who will engage in ranching, and growing corn and
basic foodstuffs, while 30 families will live in La Alaha and
La Gaviota, two neighboring properties of 298 hectares. During
2004, the Ministry of Agriculture has handed over to 292 families
a total of 5,123 hectares of lands confiscated from drug traffickers.
The goal of the President for his four-year term is to deliver
150,000 hectares to low-income peasants.
(FIN/PCO/CIE)
December 3, 2004
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