| COLOMBIA,
A POSITIVE COUNTRY
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
•
ANDI, OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ECONOMIC GROWTH: the dynamism and solidity
of this year’s economic growth are favorable and determining
factors for the prediction that in 2005 the growth rate will
be above 4%. To this, according to the Director of ANDI, Luis
Carlos Villegas, can be added a greater confidence in the country
on the part of national and international investors. The industrial
association also perceives that 2004 was not just a year of greater
growth rates, but also a year of economic recovery.
• NEW CAMPUS FOR A COLOMBIAN
UNIVERSITY IN FLORIDA: close
to 35 million Hispanics residing in the United States will have
the possibility of accessing superior education at a distance
starting in 2005, thanks to the opening in Florida, USA, of a
new campus of the ‘Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia’ (the
National Open and Distance University) (UNAD). Five majors approved
by the State of Florida are offered, including: Computer Engineering,
Business Administration with an emphasis on Industry, Social
Communication, and Psychology.
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
• NEW FOREST RANGER FAMILIES
IN 12 DEPARTMENTS: a total
of 15,430 families from 25 municipalities were added to another
19 thousand in the country to eradicate illicit crops in their
regions and to sign collective contracts with the national government
as Forest Ranger Families. On this occasion, the contracts were
signed by families in 25 municipalities in the Departments of
Norte de Santander, Guaviare, Putumayo, Huila, Boyacá,
Cauca, Caquetá, Córdoba, Arauca, Antioquia, Nariño,
and Magdalena. At the end of the time period established for
the eradication of the crops, delegates from the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime will verify the work, to subsequently
sign individual contracts with those families.
• RESOURCES FOR VULNERABLE AND
DISPLACED POPULATIONS: the Ministry of Social Protection assigned
resources in the amount
of $71,300 million to be distributed across the country, in order
to guarantee health attention to vulnerable populations and populations
displaced by the internal conflict. Fifty billion pesos were
assigned to vulnerable populations, and $21,300 million for displaced
people. In the first case comprehensive health attention will
be financed that is required by people who are not affiliated
with any institution in the health social security system.
• GOVERNMENT ASSIGNS LAND TO
DISPLACED PEOPLE: President Álvaro
Uribe Velez delivered on Thursday 447 hectares of land, located
in the municipality of Ansermanuevo in Valle del Cauca, to 20
peasant families that are victims of displacement. The properties
were in the power of the Narcotics Council and make up part of
a project for agrarian reform in benefit of the families affected
by this phenomenon. The peasants made a commitment to carry out
productive agricultural projects on these properties. To do that
they will have the advice and support of the Colombian Institution
of Rural Development (Incoder) and of the government institutions
specialized in financing primary producers.
• MUSICAL TRAINING FOR DISPLACED
CHILDREN: the Social
Solidarity Network and ‘Fundación Batuta’ (Baton
Foundation) are joining forces to provide musical training, in
Orchestra Centers, to more than five thousand displaced children
to teach them to play non-symphonic instruments such as sistras,
xylophones, and metalophones, among others. The national government
has the goal for 2005 to train more than 20 thousand displaced
children by extending the project to the Mayors’ and Governors’ offices,
and thus have the possibility of opening more Orchestra Centers
in cities close to displaced population settlements.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
• METROCABLE ATTRACTS TOURISTS
IN MEDELLÍN: the
Metrocable of Medellín, inaugurated in the month of July
as a solution to connect the Metro to some 120 thousand inhabitants
of 11 densely populated neighborhoods in the northeastern zone
of the capital of Antioquia, is now the first destination that
visitors to that city request. In the month of December that
system, which uses cable cars in which 10 passengers can travel,
moved more than 40 thousand people, generating in the hotel sector
a great interest in using the Metrocable for tourism.
• DEFICIT FISCAL DECREASED: the
good international prices for oil, which permitted savings
in the country, contributed
to the fact that the deficit fiscal in 2004 reached 2.3% when
the initial goal of the government was to decrease it to 2.5%.
The main growth in expenses was found in the non-discretional
expenditures of the government: pension payments, transfers to
the regions, and interest on the debt.
• GOVERNMENT PUT A BREAK ON THEFT
OF GASOLINE: with the
participation of the Police and Armed Forces, the Procurator
General of the Nation, and the Attorney General’s office,
the strategy designed by the national government was able to
reduce the theft of hydrocarbons during 2004 by 49% with respect
to 2003. The formation of an Elite Group specialized in this
type of crime contributed to the reduction in theft, which in
economic terms means that the Colombian government has cut annual
losses by close to 52 million dollars.
• EARNINGS FOR THE DIAN: 2004 was a good year for the
Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales (Department
of Taxes and National Customs) (Dian). According to its director,
Mario Aranguren, in the first eleven months of the year the goal
for collections was 34.2 trillion pesos and they were able to
collect 35.4 trillion pesos. The goal for collection was surpassed
by more than $1.2 trillion, in good part due to the actions undertaken
by the institution to fight evasion and late payment, two aspects
that were reinforced in 2005.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
• BATALLÓN IN THE SIERRA
NEVADA MOUNTAINS: last weekend the High Mountain Batallion
in the Sierra Nevada Mountains
of Santa Marta began work, and the Joint Caribbean Command began
operations based in Santa Marta. One of the first results obtained
by the Batallion was the return of displaced families, who placed
their safety in the hands of the 1,200 soldiers who make up the
batallion.
• 140 INDIVIDUAL DEMOBILIZATIONS
IN DECEMBER: in the course
of December of 2004, 140 members of the illegal armed groups
demobilized, with which 2,962 individual demobilizations have
been completed in 2004. Thus reported the “Programa de
Atención Humanitaria al Desmovilizado” (Program
for Humanitarian Attention to Demobilized Combatants) (Pahd),
highlighting that during the current administration 9,897 members
of violent groups have laid down their weapons, in both individual
and group demobilizations. Of the 140 people who laid down their
weapons this month, 62 belong to the FARC, 64 to the AUC, 12
to the ELN, and two to dissident groups.
• WEAPONS HANDED OVER BY THE
AUC TO THE GOVERNMENT: the office of the High Commissioner of Peace
revealed that 3,988
weapons were handed over to the government by the 2,624 demobilized
combatants from the AUC. They were taken to various Army Brigades
and are in the custody of the Office of the Attorney General.
Likewise, the government announced that in January of 2005 another
two group demobilizations were carried out.
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• THE GOVERNMENT MET THE GOAL
FOR EDUCATION FOR 2004: more than 256,000 girls, boys, and young
people all over the
country were able to have equal access to elementary and high
school education this year, which represents an increase in coverage
of 85%. This figure implies that the national government met
the goal fixed to create 250 thousand new spots in schools in
2004. For next year the objective is to open 400 thousand new
spots in elementary and high school schools across the country,
for which programs will be developed that focus on students in
vulnerable, disabled, and displaced populations.
(FIN/MLBH/CIE)
December 31, 2004
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