Colombia,
A Positive Country
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
• OLYMPIC MEDAL BACK IN THE HANDS
OF MARIA LUISA CALLE: the International Olympic Committee will
return the bronze medal
to the cyclist from Antioquia, Maria Luisa Calle, that she won
in the past Olympic games in Athens. After the test, Maria Luisa
was accused of doping by consuming heptaminol, and her medal
was handed over to the US cyclist Erin Mirabella, fourth in that
race. This is the first time in the history of the Games that
a medal was given back to an athlete. Calle can now compete once
again in international tournaments.
• COLOMBIAN ENVIRONMENTAL SEAL
PRESENTED IN BIOEXPO: the government presented the Colombian
Environmental Seal during
Bioexpo Colombia 2005, a meeting in which 264 expositors and
10 invited countries participated. The seal is the national mark
that identifies products that use manufacturing processes that
respect the environment and the biodiversity. The member countries
of the European Union, who demand the green seal that identifies
food products produced without using chemicals, have already
adopted this strategy.
• MAÍZ, CENIZA Y CAL, IN MEXICO: distancing themselves
from media stereotypes, seven Colombian artists are showing Maíz,
ceniza y cal (Corn, ash, and lime), in the Scivias gallery, in
Parques de la Herradura, Huixquilucán, Mexico. The works
take a profound look at the country, and, according to the artists,
are painted with the colors of Colombia – the green of
the mountains, a very blue sky, and the flow of the rivers.
• ENCOURAGING READING: to encourage
reading, the Ministry of Culture began a campaign in 2003 to
promote literary circles,
and the program has the goal of becoming a seedbed for new libraries.
An invitation will be extended on October 25 to give an award
to the best literary circle organized in Colombia. Fundalectura
will send a sign-up form to every municipality, with an orientation
and the guidelines for the contest, which will end on January
31, 2006. The Embassy of France and Fundalectura will award the
best groups with 50 collections of French literature, and the
book, The Readaloud Handbook, by Jim Trealease.
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
• DISPLACED PERSONS FROM FLORENCIA
TO RECEIVE 2,882 HECTARES: with a $2 billion peso investment,
Incoder granted lands located
in the Los Andes property in Florencia, Caqueta to 150 displaced
families. The productive project also includes the permanent
grazing of 400 young cattle and dual-purpose cattle (meat and
milk), as well as the allocation of 20 hectares to grow flowers,
heliconias, and foliage. In the last month, the government has
doubled the distribution of lands to peasant and displaced families
in the country, by delivering 11,234 new hectares.
• HOUSING SUBSIDIES FOR 1,066
HOUSEHOLDS: the government
gave out subsidies for low-income housing in the amount of $8,057
million, and 94 housing units at a value of $1,869 million for
low-income families in Medellín. The assistance for new
housing and on-site construction totals $8 million. For housing
improvements, the amount is $4,387,250. In the entire country
the government has subsidized a total of 269,103 low-income housing
units, at a value of $2.6 trillion.
• 7,421 DISPLACED FAMILIES ENTER
FAMILIES IN ACTION PROGRAM: a total of 7,421 displaced families
that live in Cali can benefit
from education and nutrition subsidies granted by the presidential
program Families in Action. Families with children under the
age of 18 who are included on the Sole List for Displaced Persons
as of May 31, 2005, can go to the El Pueblo Coliseum to sign
up and begin to receive the subsidies.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
• TOURISTS FROM CANADA TO ARRIVE
IN COLOMBIA: Cartagena met its goal of winning back the heart
of the tourism market
in Canada. Between December this year and May of 2006, 4,140
tourists are scheduled to come from that country. According to
the calculations, each hotel in the city will generate close
to 90 jobs monthly, of which 29 will be direct employment, and
60 indirect, in sectors such as guide services, restaurants,
and ground transportation.
• COLOMBIA TO HELP FASHION INDUSTRY
IN COSTA RICA: 25 representatives of businesses in the textile-manufacturing
sector
in Costa Rica will receive consulting from Ana Lucia Jaramillo,
an expert from the Colombia Fashion Institute (Inexmoda). In
a Seminar called How to design and develop collections that sell,
the companies were trained in preparing products that have value
added, in order to not just sell clothing, but export brands.
They chose Colombia as an example, since it is the Latin America
leader in exports of textiles and clothing, a sector that generated
US $1,158 million for the country last year.
• UCHUVA AND BROCCOLI HEAD ABROAD: this fruit and this vegetable will be the first products to
be commercialized through
the signing of a framework convention between businessmen and
enterprising students who produce fruits, vegetables, and tubers
from the Boyaca branch of the SENA. The agreement, signed during
the 2005 SENA Expo-enterprise Fair, produced two purchase agreements
for over $8,200 million, as well as contacts for the future and
new business deals.
• WEAVING THE NETWORK: this program,
promoted by Proexport and the Ministry of Foreign Relations,
aims at enabling the Colombians
living outside the country to become distributors, marketers,
or representatives of Colombian companies that are already exporting
or are getting ready to export. Find more information at www.colombianosnegocian.com
or write to e-mail colombianosnegocian@proexport.com.co
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• THE STATE HAS RECOVERED $1.6
TRILLION PESOS FROM ACCOUNTS IN ARREARS: as of last September
30, state entities have recovered
$1.6 trillion pesos, according to the report from the General
Accounting Office of the Nation. The institutions obtained $553,203
million for debts that have been paid off. Thanks to payment
agreements reached, another $344,751 million was received. And
based on the clarification of information, they have compared
accounts to find another $711,811 million. The debts in arrears
to state entities ended up at $14.4 trillion pesos, and collection
and recovery policies are still being applied.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
• COLOMBIA HOST TO ANTI-NARCOTICS
MEETING: The Fifteenth Meeting of Heads of National Drug Law
Enforcement Agencies (HONLEA)
was held in Santa Marta. The representatives of 62 countries
focused their attention on trends in the illegal drug traffic
and in distribution networks, repression measures, ties between
drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime, and measures
to counteract the new trends in the use of technology by the
drug trafficking bands. Drug law enforcement agencies from Latin
America and the Caribbean participated, along with, among others,
observers from European countries, the UNDP, INTERPOL, and the
European Police.
• 366 VICTIMS OF TERRORISM IN
BOGOTÁ INDEMNIFIED: the Presidential Agency for Social Action handed over $279 million
to the 366 people affected by the terrorist attack against Senator
German Vargas Lleras and the explosion of bombs in the Las Cruces
neighborhood in the downtown area. The victims received the equivalent
of two legal minimum salaries as soon as they were able to provide
the required documentation.
(FIN/JHINA/HM/CIE)
October 21, 2005
