Colombia is Making International Moves

April 23, 2012 - TIME Europe

http://ti.me/JfMWyb

If the developed nations were playing a game of chess against the underdeveloped nations, you could bet that Santos just called checkmate on behalf of Latin America. His presence is being felt all over the world right now. 

Since the 6th Summit of the Americas (April 14-15, 2012 where 34 Heads of State and Government addressed the Sixth Summit central theme, "Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity"), the news sources are still hooked on reports related to Colombia and education -- this comes on the heels of Shakira's visit and subsequent speech alongside USA President Obama and Colombian President Santos. Please refer to my post: Shakira: Pop-star, Humanitarian, Colombiana. Eyes remain fixated on the country in light of President Obama's recent meeting with the Caribbean Presidents hosted in Colombia, see the article in the Leeward Times of the West Indies: http://bit.ly/ICALKw, but I am writing today about TIME Magazine's piece (see link above) written by, of all people, Shakira, on President Juan Manuel Santos, one of TIMES top 100 influential people of the year. The story came out April 18, 2012 and in it, Shakira writes:

The President and I agree that improving education in our country is the best way to mitigate poverty, inequality and violence. Education allows all of us the possibility of a better nation, with a more productive workforce, a better-informed citizenry and a more peaceful people.

Shakira reminds readers that President Santos is dedicated to initiatives in early childhood education, such as the program Cero a Siempre. The short narrative seems to suggest that Santos, member of a prestigious Colombian family, and formally in the coffee trade business, also famous for making headlines capturing FARC members and for climbing the ladder politically until he reached Presidency in 2010. Self-proclaimed "philanthropist" Shakira supports her nation's educational goals, in which Santos promises, through the launch of this program, to double the number of children under 5 who receive early education, from 600,000 to 1.2 million. Of course I hope it doesn't take para siempre to make this increase.

This boom in media coverage internationally of President Santos has me asking who is promoting his agenda and why? Note the cover above that is circulating throughout all of Europe this week. It is my hope that his goals for Colombia remain rooted on a model that will succeed with backing from the rest of the world, but without the dependency we see on Eurocentric ideology for educational development. This coverage also suggests an appeal for some sort of approval from the developed world. Furthermore, Shakira's emphasis on the working habits of individuals has me questioning what education will look like in a future Colombia, what kind of education will work best? What do the leaders know about implementing educational initiatives that are successful in poor, rural areas? I agree that education helps strengthen a nation, but I do not support a system that only works to support a modernist productive society of workers, in order to create workers. 


For a most interesting interview regarding Cuba's noticeable and continued absence at the Summit of the Americas. The summary provided states: "Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenhemier believes the first step to bringing Cuba back into the diplomatic community is to invite them to observe future summits." Mexican cars in Brazil, the evolving notion of democracy, natural resources going to China and India, US and Castro relations, and continued media coverage of President Santos in Miami are covered in NPR's Talk of the Nation, April 18, 2012.

Shakira: Pop star, Humanitarian, Colombiana.

Huffington Post
http://bit.ly/Hptptm

As The Huffington Post reported, Latin American pop superstar Shakira joined over 30 world leaders at the 6th annual Summit of the Americas held over the weekend in Cartagena, Colombia, to advocate for children.

On April 16, 2012, at the 6th Summit of the Americas, Shakira joined President Obama and President Santos of Colombia in order to speak on behalf of President Barack Obama's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. She spoke about the need for education and early childhood development in order to meet the needs of the 35 million children in Latin America. She spoke about the need to eradicate of poverty, and promoted a type of collaborative development in which everyone can be involved.


Here is Shakira's full speech, and here is a highlight:

In the 17 years that I have spent investing and promoting education I can state that without a doubt, investing in education has never let me down because every effort and every dollar invested yields results and they yield results in the short term, because kids grow up fast.

Shakira should be commended for her humanitarian work and certainly serves as a model for the celebrity world in terms of giving back. There is absolutely nothing negative that I can gleam from this type of work in the developing world. Her close relationship to Colombia, being a native born Colombiana, makes her the perfect candidate to speak at the summit. Her voice is quite powerful, with her superstar status, and she is an excellent role model for young girls around the world and in Latin America, as she works to ensure quality education for them. With over 30 world leaders present, Shakira certainly stood her ground. Her activism on behalf of disadvantaged children is the work of a philanthropist that extends far beyond that of most celebrities. Check out this site for more information on Shakira and the wonderful work that she is doing: http://www.shakira.com/philanthropy/


My concern and question pertains to how realistic these goals are, especially if we consider that the 2nd the principal objectives set by the Second Summit of the Americas consist of

1. Ensuring, by the year 2010, universal access to quality primary education for all children and access to quality secondary education for at least 75 percent of young people, with increasing percentages of young people who complete secondary education; and

2. Providing the general population with opportunities for life-long learning.

For more information regarding the Summit of the Americas and Education, click here.


It is hard to know what is being accomplished and where we still have to go in terms of development and education in Latin America. However, we should be careful when making promises because it is now 2012 and these objectives have still yet to be reached.