[narconews] Del Castillo: A Few Things Uribe Forgot to Mention about Education Last Week in New York
 
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2007 16:23:20 -0500 (CDT)

October 5, 2007
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Dear Colleagues,

Last week Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vilez spoke at a
conference of the Clinton Global Initiative on education. He put on
quite a show, telling of the supposed advances in the age of Plan
Colombia, including the jaw-dropping assertion that one of the
biggest obstacles to children's education is not economic inequality
or the lack of public resources - but rather that guerrillas force
children to work in the coca fields rather than study.

Managing Editor Laura Del Castillo Matamoros, writing from Bogota,
takes a satirical look at the hypocrisy and illusion crafted by Uribe
during his New York speech:

"This concern over the country's educational situation was what
brought Uribe to the United States last week, hoping to meet up with
his old friends and win over some of the holdouts in the Democratic
party. Fortunately, many ended up seeing Colombia from a new
perspective, as a country where there is really no 'armed conflict'
or 'civil war,' where there are no more paramilitaries but rather
guerrillas and drug traffickers, as the president claimed on Thursday
before the UN General Assembly. These are more than enough reasons
for one to realize that the president has done nothing but guard the
country's future; a future in which foreign multinational
corporations play a deciding role (many of them, in return for tax
breaks, create foundations that give notebooks to poor kids). This is
why we must fight those terrorists, who don't let the corporations
work as comfortably as they deserve. And for that to happen, more
resources are needed so that the second phase of Plan Colombia can
happen. That way, everybody wins. It is truly incredible that some
resentful people go through the trouble to question the social
component of this project.

"In fact, today new and innovative pedagogical learning models are
being built, led by soldiers from the Colombian army. In many rural
areas of the country, it is quite common for military troops, funded
by Plan Colombia, to commandeer school buildings as security
checkpoints, temporary barracks or shelters to protect themselves
from the terrorists. Surely, Uribe must have been proudly thinking
about such actions when he spoke at the conference of how important
it is for children to cultivate values like living within a community
and solving problems peacefully. In Colombia, despite the tension it
might provoke, the army doesn't hesitate to approach children through
recreational activities. Just look, kind readers, at this moving
story, taken from the Prensa Rural website, and which clearly shows
how harmonious the coexistence is between the troops of the army's
15th Brigade and the children who live in the municipality of El
Tarra (department of Norte de Santander)...."

Read the full report on Uribe's visit to New York, as well other news
from Latin America and a new piece by Narco News' Publisher Al
Giordano (on leave) on the evolving role of blogging and online
fundraising in the Democratic presidential primaries, online at Narco
News:

http://www.narconews.com

 From somewhere in a country called Amirica,

David B. Briones
Webmaster
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com
webmaster@narconews.com

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