This year I decided to do something a little bit different on my birthday. Sure, I partied a lot the night before I turned 29, but during the day I wanted to do something new, and for myself. After a delicious lunch, dessert and a few cat-sketches and cartoon ideas later with Marcelilla Pilla, we headed over to Shuz-Shuz store, the coolest place for illustrators and crafts that I have seen in Bogota. It is a small shop filled with amazing little things, created by the store’s owners and their illustrator colleagues. Aside from the nice little objects, they also use their space for educational projects. This time, it was a paper toys and character design workshop with none other than Patricio Oliver, creator of the illustrated series The Tenebrae, among other things.

When we arrived, Patricio was being recorded for a local TV show (En Orbita), doing a short tutorial about paper toys.  You can watch the tutorial here (audio in Spanish): http://www.enorbita.tv/papertoys

After reading a few tips on character design and showing us a few examples and interesting descriptions, Patricio proceeded on showing us the steps to create these paper toys. He brought the templates for us to use, characters of his own design.

Thank you, Patricio Oliver and Shuz-Shuz Objetos for helping me spend such a great 29th birthday!

I photo I took from Bogotá of the Andes.

What do you do if you dial a wrong number in a Spanish-speaking country — and not know how to say “wrong number?”

I know I was MIA on Wednesday and Thursday. I neglected to write blog posts, but I have a good reason for it.

I was doing a story in Bogotá, Colombia. I was there for a full day visiting a flower farm in the foot of the Andes to write a story about shipping flowers by airplane.

People have asked me about my trip, and the first detail that jumps to mind was the immense language barrier.

I have a minor in French and took a year of Spanish in college, a combination that equips me with enough knowledge to have a pretty full idea of what people are saying to me in Spanish. But as for responding, I rely on nods, finger-pointing, and “sí.”

Before I traveled to Bogotá, I didn’t know much about the city. I was unsure of the English language’s penetration. Little did I realize that almost nobody speaks English. I guess the reason is that unlike somewhere such as Costa Rica, Colombia is not a popular tourist destination. Even the hotel staff didn’t speak English.

I traveled with a bilingual guide, so I could get by in most instances, but it was still burdensome.

I dialed a wrong number on the hotel phone and didn’t know how to say “wrong number,” so I eventually became flustered and hung up when the person on the other end couldn’t understand me.

Colombian journalists were also touring the flower farm, but I couldn’t converse with them.

People talking with my guide often asked who I was, and though I could understand them, I couldn’t respond to them.

I’ve never been to a country where I didn’t know the language to a conversational point. It was irritating not being able to speak to almost anyone. It felt stressful that I could understand people (if they didn’t speak too fast) but they couldn’t understand me.

I’ve been trying to teach myself more Spanish anyway because the language is rapidly gaining in popularity, especially in the U.S. Plus, it would be useful for my job since I speak with people from all over the world.

Now I know I better learn Spanish even more quickly.

Have you ever been in a situation where you didn’t know the language of choice? What did you do?

Let me give you some examples:

1) As you know, it is almost impossible to find anyone on a bus or TransMilenio who would dare to sit on a warm, recently-vacated seat. Most Colombians believe – whether it is subconscious or not – that there is something dirty or unhygienic about someone else’s body heat. Some will tell you germs can be transmitted that way. That’s funny considering that not only do most Colombians live in jeans, many of them come with padding in the, er, seat area. It would take a particularly feisty germ to fight their way through all that.

2) Most Colombians think it is gross to wash your hands and wipe them on your jeans. While I know a lot of British people who would do exactly that, I always see lines of Colombians patiently drying their hands under those weak hand dryers in public bathrooms. Drying your hands on the tea towel in the kitchen is also a serious no-no.

3) Every Colombian I have lived with (housemate, friend, boyfriend, family-in-law) has been obsessed with washing clothes. I don’t wash my jeans until they start walking by themselves, the same is almost true for hoodies etc. I have lost count of the times I have had the: “Weren’t you wearing that yesterday?” followed by the “Yes, but it’s still clean,” conversation. At least, I guess, it makes my clothes last a bit longer.

4) I would love to see statistics for the paper napkin consumption in this country. No-one does anything without a serviette. I must be handed at least ten a day (“Here’s your coffee and yes, it is obvious to me you are going to spill it, despite the fact it comes with a lid so, yes, here you go, here’s a napkin.”) I must feel a bit bad for the environment because the other day I opened a drawer and found dozens of abandoned, unused serviettes I had shoved there in a fit of guilt.

5) Not all but plenty of my Colombian friends are squeamish about the issue of food/drink sharing. “Want to try my drink?” is often followed by “Let me get you another straw,” in the same way as: “Would you like to try this cake?” is often followed by: “Can you ask the guy to get us another fork?” I never worry about these things and sometimes wonder if it is the only reason I managed to eat so much street food in Delhi, India and still remain in the best of health.

6) Today, when I was mentally writing this post, I watched one of my colleagues furiously clean his computer with a red cloth and a bottle of alcohol we obviously keep in the office for such purposes. I may previously have worked in the traditionally chaotic world of newspapers, but I never once witnessed a colleague scrubbing his computer. It should be noted that we have a very efficient cleaner who does that stuff at night.

But as with all of these crumbs of cultural difference – and there are many – I chuckle and enjoy my Britishness, because I am oh-so-different and I do things in my own peculiar way. Last week one of the guys in my office bought a mountain of arepas to work. We sat down contentedly to eat them but, half way through and without realising what I was doing, I stood and went to the bathroom sink where I washed my hands.

It was only when I sat down again did I realise what had just happened. “Am I crazy?” I thought to myself. “Did I seriously just go and wash my hands, halfway through eating an arepa?” Of course, my paws were greasy again within seconds and I only had to wash them again, for the third time, when I was done.

I may fight, I may giggle, I may remonstrate and I may resist many things here but if ever there was proof that I am slowly turning into a Colombian, that one was probably it.

I received some strange looks when I took this photograph

Por si se le ofrece… en el corazón del sector financiero #ColombiaRealismoMagico

@proexportcol @RevistaSoHo @CNNEE
(https://twitter.com/delarosauno/status/331206156313821184)

Gracia y belleza en la ciclovía [bogotana]

@RevistaSoHo @WRadioColombia @HuffingtonPost @CNNEE @petrogustavo @PublimetroCol @CNN
(https://twitter.com/delarosauno/status/331078303018516481)

Andre Da Loba, ”el portugués”, mixes a lot of childhood play with theatrics and didactical pieces. He gathered all the attendees in a circle next to the stage and let us play with his books and his “toys”– which resembled more the realized dreams of a kid that never grew up rather than “work”. He was very warm with everyone and very playful, naturally. Dozens of young girls gathered next to him after his presentation, and I don’t blame them. His boyish charm and ridiculously sweet rapport make him a magnet for everyone who gets to experience his conference.

Yuko Shimizu probably needs no introduction, as she is one of the best-known illustrators out there right now. Originally from Japan, Yuko is now settled in New York, where she studied university and began her illustration career. Her list of “tips” was very inspirational. She is a very humble, friendly and approachable talent. Her work is filled with Japanese and American influences. My favorite quote from her speech: “Your market is all over the world.” And my favorite lesson learned from listening? That “masterpiece” you keep wanting to come out of you will happen in the future.

Leo Espinosa, a Colombian super talent that has been published in the New York Times, gave us an interesting speech about marketing and illustration, and the relationship between the advertisement and the illustration worlds. Leo has done a lot of work for ad campaigns, and recently illustrated a children’s book based on Rafael Pombo’s fables (“El Libro Mágico de Pombo“). Wonderful post about it by Illustration Age here: http://illustrationage.com/2012/12/06/leo-espinosa-the-magical-book-of-pombo/

***

On a parallel conference, I got to meet the wonderful Portuguese illustrator Bernardo Carvalho, from the also wonderful publishing house Planeta Tangerina. They have amazing books, filled with colorful art and little words, twists, turns and hidden secrets. I was fortunate to acquire one of the books they brought to Colombia for the Book Fair, “El Libro Rojo de la Chica Karateca” (The Red Book of the Karate Girl”); it is incredibly well-written, dreamy and funny, sweet and beautifully illustrated by Carvalho himself. He is very inspirational and offered us some wonderful advice on our on work, which we got to show him personally.

In general, it was a wonderful learning experience and I cannot wait for the 4th version of this Conference next year.  In case they might read this, I’d love to thank the guys at Casatinta for making this happen every year, and to the amazing illustrator I admire most, Marcelilla Pilla for taking me along!

Bonus pic:

I am on the red cardigan, Marcelilla Pilla (to my right), smitten with Andre Da Loba‘s pretty playthings.

I´ve had an iron in the fire for a position since mid January and will finally be starting very soon.

Am I excited? You bet! And let me tell you why (in no particular order).

1. I fell in love with Colombia in Bogotá
2. I have an amazing new job that I have dreamt about for a long time
3. We will finally be living on our own in our own apartment
4. Bogotá has so many cultural activities to participate in and enjoy
5. Bogotá is a crazy, creative city
6. I get to wear nice clothes (and leave the shorts and singlets in Santa Marta)
7. No more sweating 24 hours a day (unless I am sick)
8. I get to wear boots again!
9. No more earning minimum wage
10. Getting to choose (and prepare) the food I want to eat
11. Spending time and reconnecting with my friends there and making new friends
12. Drinking water out the tap, no more boiling for 5 minutes or getting up in the middle of the night to find someone has drunk the last of the purified water
13. Having professional work colleagues
14. Having more travel destinations (Colombia and beyond) accessible to us for weekends or short breaks
15. Crepes and Waffles!

Are there any other reasons you think I should be excited to move to Bogotá?

Consigue cinco personas, que como tú, estén interesados en ganar autonomía por medio de nuestros talleres, los atendemos a domicilio, o en nuestras instalaciones. Disponibilidad de transporte a demanda…

Disponibilidad de servicios, en las zonas de Bogotá y La Calera; y cercanías de Santa Marta y la Sierra Nevada

Para más información escríbenos a mecaeducativocultural@gmail.com

Caminar por acá [Avenida Chile] es difícil, pero llena los sentidos de colores, olores y sabores [extremos] #ColombiaRealismoMagico

@BluradioCo
(https://twitter.com/delarosauno/status/330498518085144576)

Sin embargo, el gobierno en su terco intento por la imposición de regulaciones que carecen de balance lo vuelve a traer a la orilla, alterando la dirección de esta marea de imaginarios perdidos.

Resignado a que es un hecho, comienzo a informarme sobre el tema. Al poco tiempo me llega un olor a pedo rancio, de congresista o senador, que emana de la famosa Ley Lleras 3.0.

En mis ojos veo una llave que trata de abrir una puerta a la censura, el elitismo, la penalización exagerada, irresponsabilidad penal, entre otras. Como persona, siento que sólo un sentimiento se apodera de mi: indignación. A esta ley le trae al pairo la causa por la cual es “creada”, mientras la causa le sirva para recompensar al que esté más arriba en el escalafón.

No pondré de claro un manifiesto sobre la ley, pues aunque se trate de decir más duro y más alto no se podrá decir más claro. Por otro lado, me parece constructivo dejar este pequeño video que expresa mi opinión sobre los derechos de autor y la divulgación de la cultura, espero que os guste.

PD. Dejo un link (para los ojos curiosos) que los guiará a un divertido video (a cargo de un divertido servidor) sobre cosas que propone dicha ley OPINERD, SOBRE LA LEY LLERAS 3.0

Con esto los invito a informarse un poco más sobre esta ley, recordando que la primera propuesta se vino abajo en parte por el trino de descontento entre los comuneros, a quienes esta estupidez no les llegó a parecer tan estúpida como a muchos otros…

Raul’s story goes against all the odds. The educational system in place in the world now is designed to send the children of the top 2% of the richest families to the best universities, where afterwards they will receive the best jobs and pass their wealth and knowledge down to their offspring. While this happens, generation after generation, the rest of the population is content to grab a beer, pick up a mop and keep their mouths shut. This system has been around so long, there is almost no reason to even question it. When poor people are born and show any talent for anything athletic they are dutifully prepared to die to pursue their way to the middle of the pile. And besides, who wants to watch rich men in a boxing ring, playing soccer or playing basketball? Let the lower class fight it out, they are hungrier and ready to give everything they have to avoid going back to where they came from.

This was the reason why Raul Cuero’s high school basketball coach thought Raul was crazy to waste his size and his ability on the basketball court to pursue a career using his mind. People in Raul’s situation, aren’t granted the luxury of lounging around the library all night reading about plant pathology while they could be making money selling chontaduro fruit on the side of the highway.

If you are a firm believer in, the harsher the conditions, the more resistant the people, you couldn’t pick a better place to grow up than in Buenaventura in the 1950’s. During these 10 years, 30% of all children died before the age of 10, due to parasites, malaria and tuberculosis and other diseases. Of those who did survive, only 30% of them would ever learn how to read or write. The only black people who ever left Buenaventura were the chauffeurs and truck drivers. Buenaventura, like many other parts of Latin America, depended on the assistance of the USA. So, school children like Raul enjoyed the cheese that was sent to Colombia by the Alliance for Progress program in the USA. In addition to the cheese, powered milk was also shipped to Buenaventura for the poor school children. Unfortunately, once the powered milk was mixed with the unsanitized local water, the milk became undrinkable. So the people adapted. Instead of mixing the powered milk with the local water, the people would mix the powered milk with a USDA cheese to create a kind of “jungle yogurt,” called Kumis. This concoction was enjoyed by many school children in Buenaventura, including Raul. Interesting enough, Kumis happened to be very nutritious and had a substantial amount of protein.

In addition to Kumis, many school children (including Raul) in Buenaventura, would eat natural products; such as guava, mangos, banana and others fruits that they collected from food markets (galleria) and/or from the nearby tropical forest. As for the minority of the other kids with a slightly better economic situation, they used to buy a chocolate “bonbon” for their school break. Not wanting to miss out on a chocolate treat, Raul used to do the homework for the “rich” kinds in exchange for their “bonbons.”

When Raul finished school, he would spend time with a Pastuso auto mechanic who saw promise in the boy and taught him to work on carburetors and weld radiators.

Despite his two jobs, Raul still didn’t have extra money to go to the movies or buy comic books. Instead, Raul actually spent most of his afternoons in the hut of his great grandmother, Petrona, who was over 100. Raul’s great grandmother was even poorer than Raul’s mother and father. Despite there being not much food around, the house was always filled with Raul’s aunties who provided plenty of laughs and happiness.

Instead of toys, Raul had to use his creativity to find something to occupy his time. So, instead of playing with toys, he observed the roaches on the floor in of the hut as a way to fill his time. He observed them so often that he learned that during the hottest times of the day, 11am-3pm, the roaches would actually disappear into the holes in the hut. When they came back out at 4pm, Raul, full of joy would celebrate their arrival and continue observing them. Through observation, he learned that there were more roaches in his great grandma’s hut than in his wood and brick house. The reason for this, Raul observed one day, was that the roaches loved to eat the bamboo in his great grandmother’s hut. He later learned the reason that roaches need to eat wood. It is because it contains cellulose, a necessary fuel that allows roaches to survive.

Raul’s family, on the surface, was very similar to the other families in Buenaventura. His father used to work on the docks, loading and unloading cargo from the ships. And later, he worked as a seamen for the main shipping company. Despite Raul’s father’s meager income, his father was able to build his own house in Buenaventura. Raul’s father was the first black man in Buenaventura to have his own house. At the beginning, the house was made of wood only, and was later made into a combination of brick and wood. The house took his father 40 years to build and there was more than one night when Raul didn’t eat because his father used the grocery money to buy bricks instead. Determination and resiliency are qualities Raul learned with any empty stomach.

The completed house actually caused quite a bit of resentment from his neighbors. So much so, the neighbors would actually walk up to the house at night and spit on the ground around the house as a way to curse the Raul’s family for having the nerve to build their own home.

As a 7-year old boy, Raul would wake up every morning at 4 am to study, play basketball and bring the family his its morning breakfast from the neighborhood bread maker. Raul would then go to school. It was during the times after school that Raul has his fondest memories from his childhood. These times were spent walking with his elderly great grandmother and picking herbs to be used as remedies for many different ailments. These walks stimulated Raul’s interest in plants and inventing things that would make people healthier.

On other afternoons, Raul would hang around the Buenaventura docks where he would search through the piles of rubbish looking for magazines and books. It was during one of these visits when he found his most enduring memento of the USA in the form a dime that was sitting on the dock. He couldn’t believe his luck, in a town as poor as Buenaventura, not many people had the luxury of misplacing ten cents. He held on to this coin and made a plan to one day spend it in the USA.

When not observing roaches, searching through the rubbish for books or welding radiators, Raul would play soccer with the neighborhood kids. Until one day when his brother was kicked in the leg and suffered a deep cut from a metal soccer cleat. Regrettably for Raul’s family, the soccer cleat was tainted with tetanus and Raul’s brother died shortly there after. It was at this point when his family banned Raul from playing soccer. Instead of playing soccer, he switched to basketball. And, due to his size and hard work, he excelled. At age 17, he became a member of the Colombian National Basketball Team.

To the bewilderment of everyone Raul had ever met, Raul then made the decision to then focus solely on academics instead of sports. He decided to study at Universidad del Valle in Cali, which at that time was one of the best universities in Latin America in academics. It was at the university where Raul met a visiting professor of plant physiology, Percy Lily. Lily was so impressed by Raul’s his first discovery, (his first discovery was to find a way to raise a parasitic plant without its host) that he offered Raul an academic scholarship to Heidelberg University in Ohio, USA. He would finally be able to reunite his American coin with its original home, but more importantly he would be able to continue his work in plant pathology (the study of plant diseases caused by infectious organisms and environmental factors) and show his basketball coaches that a poor Afro-Colombian basketball player from a obscure South American city could be a valuable part of the scientific community. Or as Raul Cuero likes to put it, “It is good to be good.”

Despite the fact the United States was suffering from widespread racially-fueled violence, due in part to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in the late 60’s and the early 70’s, Raul never felt threatened by racism.

To the contrary, there were many Goodwill Hunting moments where Raul was actually able to entertain and impress his fellow American students and teachers with his vast knowledge. He found that many of the students were very respectful and even more willing make friends and interact with him than what he expected.

Raul obtained his Bachelor of Science from Heidelberg University in Biology and “For the first time, I finally felt like I was going to make it,” recounts Raul. One day, while at Heidelberg University, his entire class was given a question to solve. The question had to do with the concentration of a molecule. As soon as the question was given, Raul looked around the room as all his fellow students took out their calculators and began working on the problem. Raul didn’t have a calculator because he couldn’t afford one. So he just sat there in a stupor, wondering what to do. Finally the teacher looked over at Raul and asked, “Cuero, do you understand?”

Raul then started to explain to the teacher the fact that he wasn’t used to working on such problems with a calculator. His teacher then asked him how he usually solved such problems. Raul stated that he usually did such problems on the board. His teacher then handed him a piece of chalk and invited him to work on the problem on the board. He took the chalk and then went to work solving the problem in front of the class without the use of a calculator. When he was finished, the rest of the class sat dumbfounded, wondering how he correctly solved the problem without the use of a calculator. The next day he was given a calculator.

After his Bachelor of Science from Heidelberg University in Biology (where he also received the outstanding alumni from this university in 2010), he then obtained a scholarship to study his Master of Science in plant pathology at Ohio State University, where he graduated with a Master of Science. Not wanting to leave any stones uncovered, he then got his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Strathclyde, under academic scholarship in the United Kingdom.

During the pursuit of his Ph.D., he developed an invention related to the containment for solid state fermentation, and with it, the praise of the faculty and his fellow classmates. He went on to develop 26 inventions, 12 of which have been patented and the others are in the process to being patented. Some of these patents were created in the United States and others at the International Park Of Creativity in Colombia. All of these inventions have been developed under his unique scientific approach; using the combination of integrative biology, synthetic biology and electrochemistry.

During his professional career, Dr. Cuero was one of the first scientists to go to China and South Africa to lecture on biotechnology in 1986. He has published more than 110 peer-reviewed papers in different international journals in the fields of biology, microbiology, molecular biology, environmental biotechnology, food and synthetic biology. He has also written three books. He is one of the first Hispanic scientists to receive the NASA brief tech award (2008) and recently he has been nominated for a second NASA brief tech award, based on his inventions completed while at NASA. He also received the Texas A&M invention award in 2008. In addition, he has also received the 2012 Colombian Leadership Award for outstanding performance in science and technology. Dr. Cuero was the 2011 Keynote speaker at the World DNA and Genome Congress, as well as the keynote speaker on biochips and biosensors at the world congress on molecular medicine in China in 2012. Not to mention his honorary doctoral degrees in science and philosophy from various universities in Colombia. He was also recognized as the National Hispanic Scientist of the Year in 2013 by the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) of Tampa, Florida. This distinction is based on scientific and inventive achievement.

For Dr. Cuero, his biggest achievements are; the elucidation of the DNA autonomy, the discovery of the anti UV protein and the founding of the various International Parks Of Creativity (IPOC) in Colombia, Israel and the USA.

Dr. Cuero established the International Park of Creativity with the goal of creating young inventors and to create a “Think Tank” hub for economic, social, scientific and technological development.

Dr. Cuero believes that Colombia has a great potential to many things, such as; become part of the global group of the scientific and technological society, establish and maintain good fundamentals in education, impart a great scholastic attitude to its teachers and professors, produce quality research and endow its young people with a first-class appetite for knowledge. Above all, Dr. Cuero stresses to his young students that it is more important that they believe in excellence rather than perfectionism, which can become very damaging to a person’s life. Or to put it another way, it is better to be useful than to be important.

Once these goals have been met and applied to the young generation, a culture of creativity will be established.

During the course of Raul’s life, his most important life lesson was learned far from any classroom. This most important lesson was taught to him by his basketball coach’s false belief that each person is created to do one specific thing in life. Raul now knows, a person isn’t like a machine. We aren’t created to do one thing. A person is born with the capacity to do many things. It is up to the person to develop their own talent (with the help of many mentors) and to use these skills to become one or many things.

De acuerdo con el plan de desarrollo, en el Articulo 40 donde se determina el Programa de Fortalecimiento de la seguridad Ciudadana se “INSTA” a la creación de la SECRETARIA DE SEGURIDAD y citando textualmente el plan,“…actualizar el plan maestro de equipamientos de seguridad, defensa y justicia, en la perspectiva de darle coherencia a través de la creación de la Secretaria de Seguridad Ciudadana” un ente encargado de la concentración de las entidades manejando  todos los temas de seguridad, la gran mayoría del capítulo IV de el plan de desarrollo habla de seguridad, no obstante aquí no hay una seriedad y responsabilidad en la ejecución de el plan de desarrollo de ésta administración, claro ejemplo es esta Secretaria, esto solo demuestra que esta administración está viviendo el día a día pero no tiene una planeación real para temas de Seguridad

El Alcalde es muy elocuente cuando habla, pero tiene a esta administración en una paquidermia administrativa que cada día demuestra ser menos funcional, el 1 de enero del 2012 en su discurso de posesión dijo: “…hemos decidido que se cree institucionalmente la secretaria de la seguridad en la ciudad de Bogotá para darle el peso institucional que este concepto fundamental alrededor de la capacidad de la vida debe tener en la arquitectura misma del estado…”

Entonces en ese entendido quiero saber ¿Cuál sería un norte adecuado para Bogotá si no se tienen las herramientas necesarias para los temas de seguridad?

¿Qué podemos esperar de las políticas públicas enmarcadas en el tema de seguridad que deberían ser planeadas y salidas desde el mismo seno de un plan de Desarrollo si no podemos hacerle un seguimiento y una evaluación real, simplemente por el hecho que no existen?

Este hecho es grave queridos colegas, quisiera poner a consideración todos estos temas antes de que se nos salgan de control, no podemos conformarnos con lo que tenemos hoy, tenemos que ser capaces de promover programas y proyectos reales.

El Fondo de Vigilancia y Seguridad tiene como política y objetivos de calidad ser la entidad ejecutora de la política pública de seguridad en el distrito pero sus objetivos estratégicos carecen de credibilidad como lo vemos hoy en día. Los objetivos son:

1.  Construir equipamientos, adquirir bienes y servicios de seguridad de óptima calidad, con oportunidad, cumpliendo con las metas del Plan de Desarrollo de Distrito Capital.

2.  Realizar mantenimiento oportuno y efectivo a los equipamientos de seguridad a cargo del FVS, optimizando los recursos de la entidad.

3. Mejorar continuamente los procesos a través de las herramientas del Sistema Integrado de Gestión.

4. Mejorar el nivel de competencia de los servidores públicos, a través de la continua formación y retroalimentación.

5. Fortalecer la retroalimentación de la información con las partes interesadas, mejorando los sistemas de comunicación.

5. Mejorar continuamente el desempeño ambiental de la Entidad.

Los nombro porque quiero hacer énfasis en que si bien no hay políticas públicas ciertas, estos objetivos tiene que cumplirlos pero con un -39.3% de presupuesto para este año. La falta de liderazgo, se ve reflejada en que el Fondo de Vigilancia siendo la piedra angular se vuelve una “caja menor” de contratos y puestos, donde en muchos casos simplemente ejecuta partes y proyectos de otras entidades donde este no tiene competencia o un carácter vinculante.

Estas motivaciones nos hacen replantear ¿para que esta el Fondo de Vigilancia? nos hacen reflexionar sobre el por qué hoy en día no existe la Secretaria de Seguridad, manejar recursos no puede ser suficiente si no hay un diseño por parte de la secretaria de Gobierno o la alcaldía.

La mayoría de acciones ciertas que se han dado en este periodo han estado a cargo del plan Nacional de vigilancia comunitaria por cuadrante, ¿entonces que estamos haciendo? Se politizo la entidad que maneja y que es la que pone en marcha la “política” de seguridad.

Sabemos que desde administraciones pasadas las cosas venían mal, pero quiero que veamos el panorama y seamos sensatos en pensar si a hoy esto ha mejorado, y la verdad es que no y además creería que si no hay un direccionamiento y una interinstitucional dad certera, nos vamos a ver avocados a una crisis que va a involucrar todo este tema y obviamente repercutirá en los ciudadanos, no quiero ser ave de mal agüero pero es que este fondo desde hace rato viene con una tendencia a empeorar, y no va a ser capaz en el futuro de garantizar los objetivos de seguridad.

Retomando el articulo 40 en su numeral primero del Plan de Desarrollo Bogotá humana, “la Secretaria de Seguridad” habla de la generación y coordinación de las actuaciones policiales para la restitución de la seguridad ciudadana. Esto es lo que necesitamos pero para poder llegar hay que generar espacios que fortalezcan la institucionalidad, además de mejorar las relaciones con la policía Nacional, Ministerio de Defensa y la Fiscalía,   la necesidad de revisar el funcionamiento del sistema integrado de emergencias y seguridad que opera en la ciudad, denominado “NUSE 123”, cuyo deficiente funcionamiento quedó en evidencia en el caso Rosa Elvira Cely, y según el mismo presidente Santos  “en muchas ciudades eso se ha venido politizando y la politiquería ha hecho que ahí los encargados en responder a esos llamados de la ciudadanía del ’1, 2 ,3’ sean personas inexpertas, personas que rotan con mucha frecuencia.” Y así seguimos funcionando.

Esta administración muestra “más de lo mismo”   hoy la ciudad se enfrenta a un conjunto de amenazas a su seguridad que ha evolucionado y se ha transformado cualitativamente a lo largo de los últimos diez años, entonces la actual inexistencia de políticas serias de seguridad ciudadana puede llevar a Bogotá rumbo a una sin salida cuando solamente se toman medidas de choque en momentos específicos y no a largo plazo.

Identificando la naturaleza de la Secretaria de Gobierno es misionalmente la encargada de Formular, agenciar y evaluar las políticas públicas en materia de derechos humanos, convivencia, seguridad, construcción de ciudadanía, asuntos políticos y fortalecimiento a la Gestión Local, esta entidad tiene a cargo un gran número de funciones, y establecer las condiciones para la garantía de la seguridad debe ser un tema que esté a cargo de una sola entidad que tenga la capacidad que promover estas políticas públicas, mediante un organigrama que este dirigido al fin de la seguridad y no como un espacio más dentro de una entidad.

Mejorar la seguridad a través de programas sociales está bien, pero no se puede abandonar la idea de un fortalecimiento institucional, la policía debe tener directrices claras por parte de su máximo “comandante”, hay que exigir una mayor eficiencia en el gasto mediante una caracterización tangible de los actos violentos y delitos.

Claramente debemos reconocer que conseguir que la gente no se mate es un logro importante y produce tranquilidad pero también hay que entender y atender si bien los homicidios disminuyeron, los delitos sexuales aumentaron y pasaron de una cifra de un solo digito (9%) a un grave 19%, por esto queremos decirles que si es cierto que baja la percepción de inseguridad, sube la victimización en delitos como hurto, entonces no podemos pretender que todo está bien si la percepción baja, las acciones deben ser contundentes y duraderas.

“Bogotá es más segura que muchas otras capitales del país, sin duda; hay resultados alentadores, pero la tarea está lejos de concluir. Ahí están los retos, está el diagnóstico, falta ver la estrategia”

Desde el análisis de los objetivos; si bien estos están encaminados a la generación de políticas y directrices que en el papel se ven bien, es necesario generar las calidades de estas para que no solo puedan generar un cambio real en el modelo de Bogotá pero a su vez no generen los traumatismos y temores que los ciudadanos han expresado dentro de los CONSEJOS TERRITORIALES DE PLANEACION DISTRITAL, por esta razón el estudio de las afectaciones donde cualquier decisión que se tome en esta corporación tenga un impacto positivo para la ciudad, con esto no se quiere decir que el total de directrices establecidas en el borrador con fecha a marzo que se tiene por parte de la Secretaria de Planeación Distrital este del todo mal, pero si hay que hacer correcciones en nombre de los ciudadanos encaminadas que la planeación que tanto le ha costado a la ciudad, se convierta en una realidad y que la coherencia de este POT perdure hasta su próxima revisión, con unos usos equitativos, una potencialización de la economía Bogotana en coordinación con la regional y nacional además de brindarle todas las posibilidades y garantías al común de los ciudadanos de una forma democrática.

Si bien es cierto que dentro de los mismos objetivos del POT se establece la densificación de la ciudad es de vital importancia que este planteamiento este sumamente revisado e ilustrado ya que estas modificación puede generar inseguridad e inseguridad jurídica.

El POT tiene que estar sujeta a todos los parámetros técnicos del asunto, para poder desligarlo de las ambiciones o direcciones políticas para que este principio de planeación y la norma pueda perdurar en el tiempo y que no se convierta en políticas de los Gobiernos de turno. De tal manera que este POT debe tener como sustento a como la historia de Bogotá, pero esta vez con un norte claro en materia de preservación de recursos pero a su vez con un desarrollo sostenible que catapulte a Bogotá como ejemplo a otras latitudes.