Sergio Fajardo Public Speaking Event

Former mayor of Medellin, Sergio Fajardo

Sergio Fajardo's Speaking Engagement
When: Saturday, November 22
Location: Plaza Major
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Contact: 448 6048 / 216 3633

Newsweek - Archive Article Q/A
"The Mathematician of Medellín"

Sergio Fajardo has presided over a transformation of Medellín in recent years.

Newsweek Web Exclusive | Nov 11, 2007
By Daniel Kurtz-Phelan

Medellín, Colombia, has struggled to shed its notoriety, well earned in the days of Pablo Escobar and the Medellín cartel, as "the most dangerous city in the world." But in fact the city has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years—presided over, since 2003, by Mayor Sergio Fajardo. Not only has the murder rate fallen below that of Washington, D.C. (from a high of more than 500 homicides a month in the early 1990s), but Medellín has also become a showcase for innovative urban planning and social policies. Fajardo, a mathematician, will leave office at the end of this year, succeeded as mayor by his former chief of staff, and speculation about his future in national politics has already begun. He spoke with NEWSWEEK's Daniel Kurtz-Phelan. Excerpts:

When you took over as mayor in 2004, what were the most critical problems facing the city?

Sergio Fajardo: I walked Medellín from end to end to get a clear conception of its problems, going house to house and talking to people. The first problem was inequality, and to start working toward equality you must improve education—public education. Public education must be the motor of social transformation. The second problem was violence. Everyone in Colombia today has lived in a violent society, but in Medellín we had a particular kind of violence because of drug trafficking. It is a violence with deep roots, and it has profound effects on a society, and it is a kind of violence that no other place in the world has the same experience of. But we have had results here. In 1991 there were about 6,500 murders in Medellín—381 per 100,000 inhabitants. Last year, 2006, approximately 700 murders—about 29 or 30 per 100,000 inhabitants. That is less than all other comparable cities in Latin America. My approach was to treat these challenges like math problems.


Sergio Fajardo out on the streets of Medellin

What was your formula?

Pragmatism built on basic principles, like math. We had to reduce violence, but every reduction in violence we had to follow immediately—and immediately is a key word—with social interventions. The order is important. Social interventions require time and resources to work, so they will have little effect in the midst of such profound violence. It is true that you must have effective social interventions to make sure violence does not return, but first you must do something about violence. I never before in my life thought that I would work closely with the police or that I would call for more police on the streets. But you need security for democracy, and for that we needed more police—as long as they were police who respected human rights, and out of conviction, not just because Human Rights Watch tells them to. Now the police force is the pride of Medellín.

Everyone in Medellín seems to disagree about where you fall on the ideological spectrum—left, right, center. How do you describe your governing philosophy?

We have broken the traditional structure of politics here. In 1999 I got together with 50 people, friends, from different arenas—academia, cultural organizations, social organizations, NGOs, business—all of whom were, in one way or another, interested in working for the city. We realized that we could work, talk, dream, but to really do anything we had to go into politics, because politicians are the ones who have power. So after many years of being outside of traditional politics, we built an independent civic movement. As a mathematician, I think in terms of axioms on which we can construct everything else. And that is how I came up with a proposal for the city. I don't define myself as liberal or conservative, left or right. Those old classifications don't mean anything today in Colombia. Now I can explain why public education must be the engine of social transformation, or why we have to work for equality in order to improve growth, and a conservative person can listen to me and see a lot of reason in what I say. That is what we have achieved: creating a new space to work together. It is a civic philosophy for the 21st century.


Biblioteca España in Medellin's barrio Santo Domingo

How did you go about improving education in the city?

We had to have a comprehensive approach. It is not just about schools. It is about the whole life of a society. And I should emphasize: it is about making public education good, not privatizing education. We went school to school, classroom to classroom, designing and carrying out "quality pacts." We mobilized everyone—business leaders, universities, private schools—to start working in the public education system. We increased spending on education to 40 percent of the municipal budget. We also built a lot of new schools and five "library parks" in the poorest neighborhoods in the city. These are not just libraries; they are community centers, the new axis of the neighborhood. And we made sure that they were beautiful, with spectacular architecture.


The education of Medellin.

Some of your critics accuse you of wasting money on fancy new buildings that do more for your image than for poor communities or poor students.

People who say that a beautiful building doesn't improve education don't understand something critical. We have to build Medellín's most beautiful buildings in the places where there has never been a real state. The first step toward quality education is the dignity of the space. When the poorest kid in Medellín arrives in the best classroom in the city, there is a powerful message of social inclusion. That kid has a newfound self-esteem, and he learns math more easily. If you give the most humble neighborhoods beautiful libraries, you make those communities proud of the libraries. That is powerful. We are saying that that library or school, with its spectacular architecture, is the most important building in the neighborhood. And it is sending the rest of society a very clear message of social transformation, but of social transformation without rage. This is our revolution. The most powerful people see us focusing on the most humble, and they are supporting us—that is an important achievement. (continued)

The Transformation of Medellin, Colombia








Michael Paul reports from Plaza Mayor in Medellin, Saturday 21, 2008

The Fajardo team is youthful and Obama like in its youth and enthusiasm. Fajardo spoke to an exuberant crowd, and he was cheered throughout. At the end, many got up on stage and the took photos with the popular former mayor of Medellin.

Sergio Fajardo is expected to announce his official candidacy for President of Colombia in May or June, but today's speech was to enunciate his platform and organize and structure his movement.

The theatre space was nearly packed to capacity and people lined the walls. They were displaying orange and green balloons and waving them about.

Sergio Fajardo speaks at Plaza Mayor in Medellin.

Michelle Rouillard Crowned As Miss Colombia

Colombian Michelle Rouillard, a candidate from the Cauca province, greets the public after being elected Miss Colombia during the annual beauty contest in Cartagena, November 17, 2008


Michelle Rouillard, O' Miss Colombia!

Michelle Rouillard, a 22-year old student of international business at Concord University in Canada, stands 1.74 m tall and will represent Colombia at the Miss Universe 2009 contest in July.

25 Beautiful Candidates of Miss Colombia!

Miss Colombia Competition; November 17, 2008.

Colombians are cazy for beauty pageants and have hundreds of competitions for titles such as; Miss Coffee, Miss Banana, Miss Petroleum, and Miss Flower.



The first Miss Colombia pageant was held in Cartagena to welcome U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934.

Since television was intruduced to Colombia, it has fixed its gimlet eye every November on the beauties gathered in Cartagena to vie for the crown.



The Miss Colombia competition is more popular there than the Academy Awards are in the United States and draws half of the available television viewership on the competition's final day.



Colombian woman can be spectacular.



During the Miss Colombia pageant, the lovelist among them parade on beaches, besides pools, as well as hanging out in restaurants.



The country's largest TV networks send dozens of its staff to cover the three-week long event. Each day is tightly scripted and there is rarely any unplanned surprises.



Meet the 25 beautiful contestants in tonights Miss Colombia 2008 competition.

Acclaimed Colombian Institution Has 4,800 Books and 10 Legs: “Biblioburro”

Luis Soriano, a teacher from La Gloria, Colombia, traveled to the village of El Brasil with his Biblioburro on Oct. 11. The donkeys are named Alfa and Beto

LA GLORIA, Colombia — In a ritual repeated nearly every weekend for the past decade here in Colombia’s war-weary Caribbean hinterland, Luis Soriano gathered his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, in front of his home on a recent Saturday afternoon.

Sweating already under the unforgiving sun, he strapped pouches with the word “Biblioburro” painted in blue letters to the donkeys’ backs and loaded them with an eclectic cargo of books destined for people living in the small villages beyond.

His choices included “Anaconda,” the animal fable by the Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga that evokes Kipling’s “Jungle Book”; some Time-Life picture books (on Scandinavia, Japan and the Antilles); and the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language.

“I started out with 70 books, and now I have a collection of more than 4,800,” said Mr. Soriano, 36, a primary school teacher who lives in a small house here with his wife and three children, with books piled to the ceilings.

“This began as a necessity; then it became an obligation; and after that a custom,” he explained, squinting at the hills undulating into the horizon. “Now,” he said, “it is an institution.”

A whimsical riff on the bookmobile, Mr. Soriano’s Biblioburro is a small institution: one man and two donkeys. He created it out of the simple belief that the act of taking books to people who do not have them can somehow improve this impoverished region, and perhaps Colombia.

In doing so, Mr. Soriano has emerged as the best-known resident of La Gloria, a town that feels even farther removed from the rhythms of the wider world than is Aracataca, the inspiration for the setting of the epic “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez, another of the region’s native sons.



Unlike Mr. García Márquez, who lives in Mexico City, Mr. Soriano has never traveled outside Colombia — but he remains dedicated to bringing its people a touch of the outside world. His project has won acclaim from the nation’s literacy specialists and is the subject of a new documentary by a Colombian filmmaker, Carlos Rendón Zipaguata.

The idea came to him, he said, after he witnessed as a young teacher the transformative power of reading among his pupils, who were born into conflict even more intense than when he was a child.

The violence by bandit groups was so bad when he was young that his parents sent him to live with his grandmother in the nearby city of Valledupar, near the Venezuelan border. He returned at age 16 with a high school degree and got a job teaching reading to schoolchildren.

By the time he was in his 20s, Colombia’s long internal war had drawn paramilitary bands to the lawless marshlands and hills surrounding La Gloria, leading to clashes with guerrillas and intimidation of the local population by both groups.

Into that violence, which has since ebbed, Mr. Soriano ventured with his donkeys, taking with him a few reading textbooks, encyclopedia volumes and novels from his small personal library. At stops along the way, children still await the teacher in groups, to hear him read from the books he brings before they can borrow them.

A breakthrough came several years ago when he heard excerpts over the radio of a novel, “The Ballad of Maria Abdala,” by Juan Gossaín, a Colombian journalist and writer. Mr. Soriano wrote a letter to the author, asking him to lend a copy of the book to the Biblioburro.



After Mr. Gossaín broadcast details of Mr. Soriano’s project on his radio program, book donations poured in from throughout Colombia. A local financial institution, Cajamag, provided some financing for the construction of a small library next to his home, but the project remains only half-finished for lack of funds.

There is little money left over for such luxuries on his teacher’s salary of $350 a month. Already the family’s budget is so tight that he and his wife, Diana, opened a small restaurant, La Cosa Política, two years ago to help make ends meet.

Even among the restaurant’s clientele, mainly ranch hands and truck drivers with little formal education, the bespectacled Mr. Soriano sees potential bibliophiles. On the wall above tables laid out with grilled meat and fried plantains, he posts pages from Hoy Diario, the region’s daily newspaper, and prods diners into discussions about current events.

“We can take political talk only so far, of course,” he said, referring to the looming threat of retaliation from the paramilitary groups, which have effectively defeated the guerrillas in this part of northern Colombia. “I learned that if I interest just one person in reading a mundane news item — say, about the rising price of rice — then that’s a step forward.”



Such victories keep Mr. Soriano going, despite the challenges that come with running the Biblioburro.

He fractured his left leg in a fall from one of his burros in July, leaving him with a limp. And some of his readers like the books they borrow so much that they fail to return them.

Two books that vanished not long ago: an illustrated sex education manual, and a copy of “Like Water for Chocolate,” the Mexican writer Laura Esquivel’s novel about food and love in a traditional Mexican family.

And there are dangers inherent to venturing into the backlands around La Gloria. Two years ago, Mr. Soriano said, bandits surprised him at a river crossing, found that he carried almost no money, and tied him to a tree. They stole one item from his book pouch: “Brida,” the story of an Irish girl and her search for knowledge, by the Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho.

“For some reason, Paulo Coelho is at the top of everyone’s list of favorites,” said Mr. Soriano, hiding a grin under the shade of his sombrero vueltiao, the elaborately woven cowboy hat popular in Colombia’s interior.



On a trip this month into the rutted hills, where about 300 people regularly borrow books from him, he reminisced about a visit to the National Library in the capital, Bogotá, where he was stunned by the building’s immense collection and its Art Deco design.

“I felt so ordinary in Bogotá,” Mr. Soriano said. “My place is here.”

At times, on the remote landscape dotted with guayacán trees, it was hard to tell whether beast or man was in control. Once, Mr. Soriano lost his patience, trying to coax his stubborn donkeys to cross a stream.

Still, it was clear why Mr. Soriano does what he does.

In the village of El Brasil, Ingrid Ospina, 18, leafed through a copy of “Margarita,” the classic book of poetry by Rubén Darío of Nicaragua, and began to read aloud.

She went beyond where the heavens are

and to the moon said, au revoir.

How naughty to have flown so far

without the permission of Papa.

“That is so beautiful, Maestro,” Ms. Ospina said to the teacher. “When are you coming back?”

The New York Times - By SIMON ROMERO
Photos: Scott Dalton for The New York Times

Colombia Brings Land of Flowers to New York City - November 17th.

100,000 Flowers to be Handed Out to New Yorkers - Foster Social Change in Colombia

Before the hustle and bustle of the holidays, New Yorkers may need a gentle reminder to stop and smell the roses. On November 17th, thousands will have the chance when more than 100,000 Colombian-grown, fresh-cut blooms will be handed out on city streets as part of the Colombia, Land of Flowers campaign.


Colombia flowers bloom in New York

The collaborative effort of Asocolflores (Association of Colombian Flower Exporters) and Florverde(R), USAID-Colombia and the Colombian Consulate will celebrate the beauty and success of the Colombian flower industry.

"We are thrilled to share the beauty of our flowers with New Yorkers," said Augusto Solano, President of Asocolflores. "The Colombia, Land of Flowers initiative is a wonderful opportunity to give others the chance to enjoy and appreciate Colombian flowers and learn more about how our growers are changing the lives of those they employ and their families." Asocolflores represents 317 flower growers.

Thousands of roses and carnations will be distributed by street teams located at Wall Street, Penn Station, Grand Central Station and Times Square. Other event activities include a Press Conference/breakfast to be held at the Colombian Consulate at 10 East 46th Street on Monday, November 17th at 8:30 a.m.

"Over the past several years, the Colombian flower industry has flourished, resulting in successful practices and programs changing the social landscape of our country," said Mr. Solano. Colombia is the largest supplier of fresh-cut flowers to the U.S. - exporting nearly $1 billion in 2007.


Colombian worker prepares flowers for shipment

The growth of the flower industry in Colombia has enabled social programs such as Florverde(R), a unique third-party certification program to ensure that flowers grown and harvested in Colombia meet stringent social and environmental standards. It was established more than twelve years ago by a progressive group of Colombian flower growers. As a result, today the program assists more than 45,000 Colombian workers and families through multiple initiatives ranging from continuing education and healthcare to housing and childcare.

The quality of Colombia-grown flowers and practices is also recognized globally. Last summer, GlobalG.A.P. (The Global Partnership for Good Agricultural Practice) awarded Florverde the GlobalG.A.P. International Seal for its socio-environmental practices. Most recently, the Russian Flower Show awarded 22 Colombian farms with gold and silver medals of distinction for flower quality.

To further demonstrate its leadership in corporate social responsibility, Asocolflores has joined together with the U.S. government, through the United States Agency for International Development in Colombia (USAID/Colombia). USAID supports job training in the cultivation and processing of flowers, job placement and social services to victims of the Colombian conflict.

"We are proud of our work with Asocolflores," said Susan Reichle, the Director of USAID/Colombia. "Together we are giving people the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and rebuild their lives.

Asocolflores (Association of Colombian Flower Exporters)
http://www.asocolflores.org

Colombia's Juanes sweeps MTV Latin America awards

Juanes: Medellin, Colombia's native son pays tribute to Metallica

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (Reuters By Armando Tovar)
- Colombian pop star Juanes was the big winner at the 2008 MTV Latin America awards on Thursday, scooping up four trophies to add to his ballooning collection as one of the region's best-selling artists.

A suave rocker known for foot-tapping hits like "A Dios le Pido" (I ask God) and "La Camisa Negra" (The Black Shirt), Juanes won "Artist of the Year," "Best Solo Artist," "Best Rock Artist" and "Best Artist - Central" at the event in the Mexican city of Guadalajara.

Fans screamed as the singer, dressed in his trademark black, collected his trophies -- lurid pink tongues with metal piercings, mounted on a base -- and paid tribute to veteran rock band Metallica, who played at the event.

"I am here thanks to Metallica," Juanes said, sporting a new short haircut.

"When I was 13 I listened to Metallica's first record and I went to buy an electric guitar. I decided to become a musician," said Juanes, who performed a track from his new album "La Vida es un Ratico" (Life is a Moment).

Other winners, picked by television viewers via the Internet and text messages, included Cafe Tacuba, one of Mexico's most popular bands, as "Best Alternative Artist," and Chile's Kudai as "Best Pop Artist" and "Best Group or Duet."

Juanes, whose nickname is a contraction of his name Juan Esteban, grew up in the violent Colombian city of Medellin.

He got his break eight years ago from a Los Angeles music producer and has become one of Latin America's biggest stars, selling 10 million records and picking up a string of Grammys.

His catchy tracks fuse rock with Latin folk music and range from love ballads to songs that rue the 40-year-old conflict between armed guerrilla groups and the Colombian government.

Mexican and Colombian artists have taken the most awards since the annual MTV Latin America contest was launched in 2002.

Guadalajara -- Mexico's second-biggest city and home to tequila, mariachi bands and rodeo-style horsemen -- was the most adventurous venue yet for the ceremony, which was held in Mexico City for the past two years and in Miami before that.

Camilo Villegas On The Streets Of Medellin

Camilo Villegas has proudly stamped his homeland's colors on his bag.

There's a young boy hanging around the streets of Medellin, Colombia. He's got a well-used soccer ball tucked under his arm and he wears the blue jersey of the revered 2001 national team that won the Copa America. He's always wanted to grow up to be like Carlos Valderrama, captain of three World Cup teams.

Now he wants to be The Spider-Man.

Camilo Villegas has grown into a national hero in his home country. When he returned home after winning the BMW Championship last month, word leaked out to the local media about his arrival and they were waiting for him at the airport. Perhaps it was Vice President Francisco Santos who told them; he called Villegas to offer his congratulations.

Winning a PGA TOUR event is hardly big news to the local folks if you're Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson; they seemingly do it all the time. But it was almost parade-worthy for the people in Colombia. Villegas said his cell phone was full of congratulatory messages from his buddies in Bogota and his amigos in Arauca.



"To everyone back home, have fun with it like I did," Villegas said. "I'm just trying to represent my county as good as I can."

In a very short time period, Villegas has not only become one of the PGA TOUR's young poster boys, he's become a national icon, thanks to his BMW Championship win and his win at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola in his next start. As a result, he's morphed into an athlete that youngsters in his country want to emulate.

How long will it be until the kids in Colombia want to wear the Villegas uniform: Cobra hat, white pants, big belt buck and a form-fitting shirt. Why dress like Tiger when you can be styling like Camilo? Por que?

Much as America could not have picked a better model than Tiger Woods to serve up to the kiddies, it would be difficult for Colombia to find a better example than Villegas. He's seemingly done everything the right way.

Making the move to America wasn't easy for Villegas. He arrived at the University of Florida with limited vocabulary skills, both written and oral. At first he tried to hide his inefficiencies by not talking, but soon learned that people were willing to help him learn if he tried. He buried himself in his school books, reading and studying for hours, and was determined to succeed academically. The method must have worked: Villegas graduated from Florida with a 3.8 grade-point average.

Villegas now approaches his golf game the same way. He doesn't like to make drastic swing changes or fixes. He prefers the slow approach. Baby steps, he calls them.

Just like he couldn't learn English in a week, he knew it would take time to become a winner on the PGA TOUR.

He came close, agonizingly so, his first two full years on TOUR when he was runner-up three times. Villegas finally broke through this year in the third leg of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, when he held off Anthony Kim to win the BMW Championship. He followed that up last week in Atlanta with a playoff victory over Sergio Garcia in THE TOUR Championship.

Now there must surely be Spider-mania sweeping the country.

And don't think for a minute that Villegas minds. He likes the attention, especially from the female fans who fawn over his long hair and tight britches. But he's got the bigger picture figured out better at age 26 than many guys twice his age.

He understands the value of hard work. Golf isn't a game that rewards the lazy. Sure, natural ability is required, but true greatness is found on the practice ground, not the locker room. Villegas has never been afraid of working hard.

He understands the obligation to give back and has attached himself to a foundation called MOMO, which takes kids off the streets and offers training and hope. They get some education and something to eat. They learn, which he realizes is the key to the program's success.

Villegas is seriously interested in spreading the game in his country. He says the people there are still learning about golf. One of his goals is to popularize the sport and bring it to the masses.

That won't be easy. A 2003 report said there were 61.1 million golfers worldwide. Of that number, only a million can be found in South America. The number in Colombia is only a small portion of that, a tiny number for the 26th largest country in the world.

The long odds only multiply the potential impact Villegas can have on the sport in his homeland. It probably won't be long until he sponsors his own tournament.

In the meantime, he's just enjoying the ride.

"It's fun to hear guys that have never watched a tournament, have never held a golf ball in their hand, to be talking about golf, to be watching a little golf, and to be rooting for -- in this case me, which is a guy that's out here trying to represent them as good as I can," Villegas said.

And it would be impossible to find a better ambassador.

Stan Awtry is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM.



Tribute To Medellin, Colombia's Best Golfer, Camilo Villegas