| COLOMBIA, A POSITIVE COUNTRY
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
· HOW DO THEY SEE THE WORLD?: Colombian young people from
15 to 26 years old who have authored creative works in the areas
of cinematography, video, photography, or cartoons, have until
next June 15th to participate in Sin Formato (No Format) promoted
by the Ministry of Culture. The initiative seeks to stimulate young
creators to show their work and express their concept of the world
through the lens of art. Works will be received at the Ministry
of Culture, National program for Gathering and Stimulus: Carrera
8ª number 8-09, in Bogotá. The parameters for the show
are published on the web page: http://www.mincultura.gov.co/
· HIGH PERFORMANCE: 2,264 athletes with physical and sensory
limitations have signed up to participate in the Primeros Juegos
Deportivos Para—olímpicos Nacionales (First National
Para-Olympic Athletic Games), which will be held in Bogotá from
October 23rd to 30th, with a governmental investment estimated
at $2,800 million Colombian pesos. The athletes will represent
26 Departments, the city of Bogotá, and the Armed Forces.
The event includes three areas: auditory disabilities with 8 sports,
physical disabilities with 12, and visual disabilities with 6.
The event will take place in ‘Parque Simón Bolívar’, ‘Parque
Recreodeportivo’, ‘Unidad Deportiva El Salitre’ and ‘Salón
Presidente de Coldeportes’ in Bogotá.
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
· BRINGING TOGETHER COLOMBIANS IN
THE USA: the government of Mexico offered its support to Colombia
to move toward the adoption
of consular registration, which would benefit Colombians residing
in the United States. Mexico also offered its 45 consulates in
the US for Colombian officials to begin to work on the project.
Consular registration is an identification document issued by Mexican
consulates in the US to its citizens, regardless of their immigration
status, since 2003, and it has allowed them to obtain services
and documents to which they previously had no access. Among available
services are an ID card and the possibility of opening bank accounts.
· HUMANITARIAN INVESTMENT: Plan Colombia, with cooperative
resources, is investing a sum of US$120 million in humanitarian
programs and projects aimed at helping with the problem of displacement.
These resources, provided by the government of the United States,
are managed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Together with the funds from the program managed by the national
government, the country has received a significant social investment.
This year $400 billion Colombian Pesos have been assigned, and
$500 billion more are budgeted to finance the programs Familias
en Acción (Families in Action), Guardabosques (Forest Rangers),
infrastructure projects, and productive projects.
· EXPROPRIATED LAND, FOR SOCIAL
PURPOSES: the national government delivered 6 properties expropriated
from Jairo Correa
Alzate to 61 peasant families with scarce resources, to be farmed
by them. The land, 530 hectares, is made up of the properties El
Tesoro, La Esperanza, El Puente, El Salto, La Adorada and Jolones,
which were handed over by the National Narcotics Council to the
Ministry of Agriculture last year. Twenty-one families were placed
on the Jolones and La Esperanza properties, and they will dedicate
themselves to ranching. The other families were situated on the
other properties to develop agricultural projects such as cultivating
fruit trees and corn.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
· MORE FREQUENT FLIGHTS: Colombia is back on the map of
international destinations, reflected by the interest expressed
by diverse airlines in entering in the country’s market.
This month Aerolíneas Argentinas, Air Madrid and Air Canada
will begin to operate. The Argentinean airline is returning to
Colombia after more than five years of absence. Air Madrid will
enter the country for the first time, and Air Canada will enter
by means of a special agreement that allows it to have provisional
permission to make the Toronto-Bogotá-Toronto route. With
the open skies system, the idea is to increase the flow of tourists
to different cities of the country, initially to the coastal regions
such as Cartagena, Santa Marta and San Andrés.
· A FRIENDLY HAND: the Policía Nacional (National
Police) launched the first cooperative for families of kidnapped,
disappeared, and deceased policemen, Polilácteos (Poly-milk
products), which will be dedicated to the production and sale of
milk products, benefiting 25 families. The Banco Bilbao Vizcaya
contributed $17 million Colombian pesos to the project, and the
Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (National Learning Service) (Sena)
contributed training for five hours a day for a year. The first
clients of Polilácteos will be Police cafeterias, and the
Policía Nacional training schools, but it also hopes for
contracts with chain stores and other governmental institutions.
· COMMERCIAL STRATEGY: in order to advance the Agenda de
Desarrollo Social (Agenda for Social Development) the national
government launched the Sociedades Agrícolas de Transformación
(Agricultural Societies for Transformation) (SAT). Their objective
is to facilitate the marketing of agricultural products within
and outside of the country. This program groups farmers together.
The group names a manager for the new company, therefore not generating
administrative expenses for the government. Another advantage is
that it will allow wholesale companies to buy the harvests of smaller
farmers and, in turn, will serve as a tool for protection against
price fluctuations, guaranteeing the absorption and purchase of
those same crops.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
· MASSIVE DESTRUCTION: the 12th
Brigade in the Larandia, Caqueta installations, destroyed 1,043
anti-personnel mines stored
by the Armed Forces. This is the fifth massive destruction of anti-personnel
mines carried out by the Armed Forces, together with the Vice Presidency
of the Republic, in compliance with the Ottawa Conventions on the
Prohibition of the Use, Storage, Production, and Transfer of Anti-personnel
Landmines and their Destruction signed by the government. In Colombia,
anti-personnel mines constitute one of the greatest sources of
atrocities in the armed conflict, affecting 422 municipalities
located in 29 of the 32 Departments.
· PUTTING DOWN THEIR WEAPONS: the Programa de Atención
Humanitaria al Desmovilizado (Program for Humanitarian Aid to those
who have Demobilized) (PAHD) revealed that during the month of
May 50 minors and 183 adults voluntarily laid down their weapons.
The FARC was the illegal armed group that lost the greatest number
of members, with 119 reported desertions, followed by the AUC with
77, the ELN with 33, and dissident groups with 4. With these 233
demobilizations in different regions of the country, there have
been 1,047 desertions in 2004, and 4,315 so far during the term
of the current administration.
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
· OPERATION WITHOUT PRECEDENTS: The Dirección Central
de Policía Judicial (The Central Department of the Judicial
Police) (Dijin) and the Attorney General of the Nation occupied
50 confiscated properties appraised at $40 billion Colombian pesos.
Among the 50 properties are houses, apartments, companies, country
homes and garages, located in Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena
and in some towns in Cajicá, Cundinamarca, Sopetrán,
Venecia, and Puerto Berrío in the Department of Antioquia.
The properties were confiscated as part of the operation Patria
XXII (Fatherland XXII) and belonged to Juan Gabriel Úsuga
Noreña, confessed drug trafficker extradited in 2001 to
the United States. So far this year, the authorities have confiscated
a total of 470 properties.
· LESS PAPERWORK: the reduction
in forms to be filled out by citizens and businessmen made significant
advances in recent
months. Of a total of 2,676 forms, 18 have been eliminated, 61
have been amended, and 46 simplified in 25 different government
institutions on the national level. In the sector of international
business, and thanks to the implementation of the Single Form,
12 different forms and procedures have been streamlined for the
institutions involved in the process (Ministry of Commerce, Invima,
Dian, Proexport, ICA, and others) And as far as the creation of
new businesses, the anti-paperwork strategy carried out by the
government will be reflected in a reduction from 17 to 4 forms,
and from 56 days down to 2 days in duration.
(FIN/PCO/CP/CIE)
June 4, 2004
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