Colombia, A Positive
Country
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
• CALLE NOW HAS THE MEDAL SHE
WON IN ATHENS: the Colombian cyclist Maria Luisa Calle received from
the International Olympic Committee the bronze medal she won
in the Olympic Games in Athens, after she was found innocent
of alleged doping. In the ceremony to hang the medal on her,
organized by the Governor’s office of Antioquia and the
Mayor’s Office of Medellín, with the support of
the Department’s Cycling League, the athlete was awarded
third place in the women’s track points race.
• SAFE ROUTES FOR THE THREE-DAY
WEEKEND: 17 safe routes
have been programmed by the government for travelers who would
like to drive around the country during the three-day weekend
celebrating the Independence of Cartagena, which begins on Saturday
the 12th and ends Monday the 14th of November. In coordination
with the Highway Police, four routes will have their end point
in Cartagena, two will be established on the highways of Chocó,
and one in the emerald mining zone in Boyacá. Three routes
will end at La Dorada in Caldas, one in San Martín, Meta,
and another in Charalá, Santander, where the National
Tiple (a small guitar) Festival will be celebrated.
• CALENDAR FOR DISABLED PERSONS: high-level government
officials, recognized artists, and international television hosts
appear in the photos for a calendar made by “Fundación
Best Buddies Colombia”. The funds earned from the sale
of the calendar will be invested in the organization’s
charity work. The Vice President of the Republic, Francisco Santos,
singers Shakira, Juanes, and Carlos Vives, CNN anchorwoman Ángela
Patricia Janiot, the Colombian beauty queen Paola Turbay, the
group Bacilos, models Adriana Arboleda and Lina Marulanda, the “chef” and
entrepreneur Harry Sasson, the President of the Solidarity with
Colombia Foundation, Nidia Quintero, the painter Ana Mercedes
Hoyos, and the actor and director Víctor Mallarino, will
all cooperate with the printed calendar project with their photos.
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
• CHILDREN TO RECEIVE A SALARY
FOR GOING TO SCHOOL: in
2006, 45 thousand children and young people from all parts of
Bogotá will receive a subsidy conditioned on school attendance,
which seeks to fight dropping out of school, and which will become
a permanent program at the District Office of the Secretary of
Education. Another program that will be strengthened supports
superior education, currently subsidizing 460 high school graduates
from the district at public and private universities. Next year
it is expected that the program will increase to 1,100 students.
• $55.7 TRILLION PESOS INVESTED
IN SOCIAL REVITALIZATION: this figure allocated by the current
government for the 2003
- 2005 period has met one of its main objectives: social reactivation
through the Seven Tools of Social Investment. So far, 65.9% of
the resources have been invested.
• COLOMBIANS GRADUATE IN SPAIN: 104 professionals, who
have benefited from an agreement signed in 1993 with 17 national
public and private universities, graduated with a bachelor’s
degree from the “Universidad Politécnica de Valencia”,
after five years of study. The methodology consisted in bringing
the programs to Colombia, so that what these researchers produced
would be applied in this country. In addition, the universities
would have the opportunity to invest in the development of their
professors, without breaking their tie to their institutions.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
• 133 COLOMBIANS TO WORK IN SPAIN: at the request of the multinational Carrefour, SENA trained
Colombians to be placed
in different Spanish cities. By means of an invitation to Carrefour
employees in the country, and to SENA students, these people
were prepared and contracted as aids in the areas of check-out,
fish, meats, household goods, perishable goods, bakery, and maintenance.
Others were trained as electricians, and small appliance salespersons.
Those selected will travel between November 25 and January 2006.
• “ARTBO 2005” FAIR IN BOGOTÁ: fifteen
galleries and experts from twelve countries will participate
in the International Art Fair in Bogotá, sponsored by
the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce from November 17 –21,
at the Corferias Fair and Exposition Grounds. The goal of the
fair is to promote the work of established and emerging artists,
and to strengthen the market for art in Colombia. Parallel to
the fair there will be an academic forum on the art market, with
speakers from Argentina and Spain, and with the presence of gallery
curators from Guatemala, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia.
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• THE GOVERNMENT AND THE UN TO
EVALUATE RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: the Ministry of Defense
signed an agreement with Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in
order to determine the effects of the training offered to the
Public Security Forces in the area of Human Rights and International
Humanitarian Rights. In Colombia all the members of the Armed
Forces and the Police have received this type of training. Three
international experts will carry out the study over a three-month
time period, and will deliver the results and recommendations
from the investigation to the government on March 1, 2006.
• GOOD TEST RESULTS FOR MATHEMATICS
AND PHYSICS ON THE ICFES EXAM: results of the ICFES exam were presented by the Institution
as part of its report on the State test results for 2005, which
also reflected that, although public schools are still not among
the most excellent schools, neither are they among the worst.
Likewise, ICFES announced that Juan Felipe Rodriguez Lopez, from
the school “Gimnasio de Los Cerros” in Bogotá,
obtained the best ICFES score for calendar A and B schools in
the nation. The student will receive the Andrés Bello
award for his achievement, and his spot is guaranteed at the
public university of his choice.
• DIPLOMATIC CAREER COMPETITION
2007: the Ministry of
Foreign Relations invites all Colombian professionals interested
in participating in the open competition to enter the Diplomatic
and Consular Career during the year 2007 to sign up at the San
Carlos Diplomatic Academy at Calle 10 No. 5–27 in Bogotá,
in person or via certified express mail, from December 1 – 16,
2005. Thirty students will be selected for the 2006 Annual Diplomatic
Training Course, from which the Academic Council will choose
ten students with scores above 70 to enter as third-level secretaries
at the Ministry, for a probation period. For requirements, go
to:
http://portal.minrelext.gov.co/portal/webdriver.exe?MIval=academia_convocatoria.html
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
• EXPERTS IN ASSET LAUNDERING
CONTROL TO MEET IN BOGOTÁ:
a group of 35 experts in asset laundering control from 17 countries
will meet from the 16th to the 18th of November in Bogotá in
order to analyze progress made on matters such as asset forfeiture
processes, arbitration, and anti-laundering education and prevention,
as applied by the different institutions in charge of these matters
in our country. The Group of Experts on Money Laundering Control
from the Inter-american Drug Abuse Control Commission – CICAD,
from the Organization of American States - OAS - gathers together
the authorities from the Americas who wage war on this crime
phenomenon, whose transnational nature is increasingly evident.
November 11, 2005.
