Cerrar Menú Blogs
Las opiniones de los blogueros son de su estricta responsabilidad y no representan la opinión de este portal.
Profile image

Ingresa o regístrate acá para seguir este blog.

Seguir este blog

The American partnership with the Afro-Colombian population still does not follow its President’s ideals. Afro-Colombian leaders ask for change in execution of a specific heading of Plan Colombia.

In the Civil Society Forum from the seventh Summit of the Americas in Panama, Obama summarized a philosophical transition regarding the relations of his country towards the civil societies of other nations.

“When we are helping an organization that is trying to empower a minority group inside a country to get more access to resources, we’re not doing that because it serves our own interests; we’re doing it because we think it’s the right thing to do”, he said.

These remarks could be dismissed as empty words to gain applause, but the change from regionalism to multilateralism in the usage of military power, and in his foreign policy in general, give Obama a certain credibility.

Obama y Natiello 2This speech in Panama, in April, addressed a topic from a letter issued in January from three organizations of Afro-Colombian civil society to USAID, suggesting a shift in its assistance orientation.

The purported shift was based on experience with the Program for Afro-Descendants and Indigenous People, that has disbursed 62 million dollars from a specific subheading of the Plan Colombia.

The letter suggested that the US creates its public diplomacy policies based on the dynamics of the (minority) populations it is supporting. “We want support for our strategy instead of supporting the donor’s strategy,” was said to the Deputy Secretary of State, Blinken.

In Obama’s words, the goal is not to serve their own interests, but those of the social group to be empowered. This in the end best serves the interests of the donor country, even if the change is detrimental because power is lost (in exchange for influence).

Misión con congresista Emmanuel Cleaver

Afro-Colombian Mission at the 45 ALC Congressional Black Caucus with Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, II

Public diplomacy, as practiced, has a high PR component, symbolic gestures and media exposure are associated with small results on many fronts, so help can “be seen.”

The strategic interests of a disadvantaged group in a society require long-term aid, affecting variables that fail to gain exposure, concentrating objectives on those with the greatest impact. These are two very distinct dynamics.

With the traditional approach, the leaders of the group are the recipients of funds for which they must be thankful. With Obama’s philosophy, they are communicators in charge of a cause. That’s what distinguishes an empowering approach.

Afro-Colombian leadership achieved the subheading of the Plan Colombia in Washington, but the letter asked for a “Quarterly dialogue with the USAID directive staff to exchange information and concepts about the impact of the programs,” without success.

USAID remarked in its response that “the deep changes in the conditions of ethnic groups are the responsibility of Colombian society in its entirety.” Agreed, but if after investing more than 100 million dollars the Afro-Colombian population remains just as weak to fight for itself, can it be said that they did “the right thing”?

When will such financial resources be available again to produce a qualitative change in strategic capacity? The letter said “we don’t want money, we want services.” To be continued…

This text was originally published in Spanish (28/11/2015) in one of Colombia’s national papers.

Translation by Alejandro Maldonado.

(Visited 530 times, 1 visits today)
PERFIL
Profile image

La Fundación Color de Colombia fue creada en 2006. Nuestra misión es promover el progreso, el reconocimiento y la integración de la población negra o afro en la sociedad y el desarrollo sostenible. *No estamos repitiendo el discurso convencional sobre la cuestión afro ni haciendo lo mismo.

Más posts de este Blog

Ver más

Lo más leído en Blogs

1

¿Casa-logía?    Uno es lo que es. A los 15 años(...)

2

“Las personas más felices son las que están ocupadas, porque sus(...)

3

Hambre

El hambre es más atroz que la muerte misma y ahora(...)

0 Comentarios
Ingresa aquí para que puedas comentar este post
Reglamento de comentarios

ETCE no se responsabiliza por el uso y tratamiento que los usuarios le den a la información publicada en este espacio de recomendaciones, pero aclara que busca ser la sombrilla de un espacio donde el equilibrio y la tolerancia sean el eje. En ese camino, disponemos de total libertad para eliminar los contenidos que:

  1. Promuevan mensajes tipo spam.
  2. El odio ante una persona o comunidad por su condición social, racial, sexual, religiosa o de situación de discapacidad.
  3. Muestren o impulsen comportamientos o lenguajes sexualmente explícitos, violentos o dañinos.
  4. Vulneren o atenten contra los derechos de los menores de edad.

Además, tenga en cuenta que:

  • - El usuario registrado solo podrá hacer un voto y veto por comentario.
Aceptar
¿Encontraste un error?

Para EL TIEMPO las observaciones sobre su contenido son importantes. Permítenos conocerlas para, si es el caso, tomar los correctivos necesarios, o darle trámite ante las instancias pertinentes dentro de EL TIEMPO Casa Editorial.


Debes escribir el comentario
¡Gracias! Tu comentario ha sido guardado
Tu calificación ha sido registrada
Tu participación ya fue registrada
Haz tu reporte
Cerrar
Debes escribir tu reporte
Tu reporte ha sido enviado con éxito
Debes ser usuario registrado para poder reportar este comentario. Cerrar