Fecha de Publicación: Domingo, Noviembre 1, 2009
Medellin, Colombia Ex-mayor Recounts Battling Insecurity
JUAREZ - EL PASO NOW
“To combat the atypical situation Ciudad Juarez is going through, corruption should be defeated, new political values should be promoted, and young people should have work opportunities at hand”, said the ex-Mayor of Medellin, Colombia, Sergio Fajardo Valderrama. He was recently in Ciudad Juarez and had a conference in regards to public security at the border.
Sergio Fajardo began his career in politics about a decade ago, and now is postulating himself for the presidency of Colombia. He was invited by the organization “Ciudad Juarez Strategic Plan” led by Miguel Fernandez Iturriza.
“The first step in the transformation of our community was the transformation of our politics. We don’t buy anyone to get where we are going, we do not negotiate, we do not buy votes, we do not pay off leaders, we do not sit in dark rooms with people to negotiate what will happen after we come to power”, he stressed during the conference.
“It must be recognized that in multiple occasions, votes are bought, leaders are bought, everything is accorded prior to the elections, and when you obtain the power you are obliged by all you negotiations, and not by what the public interest is in reality”, he told the audience.
The formula to confront insecurity, he said, has always been the same: “There is a huge power which is the
greatest power in the destruction and corruption of political power, and this is drug trafficking; so, every single day we must take power away from them, take pieces from them, and we can do this by lowering violence and opening social opportunities”.
Given the fact that the conditions are very different in each city, Fajardo Balderrama made it clear that he could not give advice as to what needs to be done in Ciudad Juarez to combat the insecurity situation, but that he had come to explain his own experience in Medellin.
Fajardo Balderrama recounted that when he won the election for Mayor of Medellin, the National Government in his country was already in negotiations with paramilitary groups and drug traffickers.
By then, the problems he wanted to solve were very clear to him: social inequality and violence; two concepts which had deep roots and had been present in Medellin for over 30 years.
To Fajardo Balderrama, changing the essence of what already exists goes hand in hand with politics.
“If society does not fight against corruption, the efforts to bring down violence will never be successful”, he advised.
“What we need to be looking for is for justice to work; security must be provided by the police forces in every part of the city. Some people say the police sides with the criminals, but trust must be built, and we must take the time to explain and work at things”, he mentioned.
The politician said there is one question all citizens should ask themselves:” Why does a person decide to get into a life of crime?” Although there are very few people who ask themselves this question, we all know that the answer is because it represents a door opened because of the lack of opportunities in other sectors; this is why they work for crime. |
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