Proyecto Colombia

To see the passion for Colombian soccer you need to only go as far as one of its most recognizable stars “El Pibe” Valderrama. He was ejected from a game when he flashed money to the referee taunting him after a bad call. While I do not agree with what he did, it does show the level of passion some people put into a game that was a qualifier to the finals in the tournament.

Last week Colombia’s national team beat Argentina 2-1 in a world cup qualifier match. This victory is injecting new energy to a nation that loves soccer and giving them hopes for the 2010 World Cup.

Even though Brazil is the country known around the world for being the powerhouse in South America, Colombia is also a country rich with talented players. They have participated several times in the World Cup, but some believe bad coaching and big star players not being hungry enough have caused the national team dearly.

South American soccer is based on a lot of dribbling and not as aerial as the Europeans used to be. However now Europe has changed the way it plays thanks to so many stars being imported from the Americas.

Colombia has players born in its beautiful country playing all over the world. Juan Pablo Angel plays for the NY Red Bulls, Iván Ramiro Córdoba plays for Inter in Milan and Mario Alberto Yepes plays in France for París Saint Germain just to name a few. Several stars have played in the MLS in the US and hopefully many more will.

Soccer its just waking up in the US, thanks mostly to the legendary US Women Team that helped promote the sport as a profitable venture, that and the late Lamar Hunt really building and supporting the league. Colombia like the rest of the world already loves soccer and will hopefully host a world cup in the years to come.

Some information taken from (Colombiamania.)

My Colombian friends! and anyone else that wants to lend a hand

July 20th is the Colombian Independence DAY!

I have changed the look and going to relaunch Proyecto Colombia tomorrow. However, in order for it to be what is should be, I need help. We need contributors that will look for POSITIVE news stories about Colombia, write articles and moderate comments. The Flickr group has grown a lot, so pictures can be submitted directly there.

If you are interested on helping out, contact me at gmail, my username is as always Logtar.

You can also support us by posting tomorrow about the Colombian independence and linking back to the site http://colombia.logtar.com.

You can post the following about Colombia…

Did you know?

Colombia like the United States is a Democratic Republic.

In 3 years Colombia will celebrate 200 years of independence.

Colombia has mountain ranges with peaks of over 18,000 feet.

The humpback whale migrates each year from the Antarctic to the Pacific through the waters of Colombia.

You can also be proactive and see how many other facts you can find about Colombia that you already did not know. Of course keep them positive, the media already has all the negative stuff well covered.

If you like little link images, you can always use one of the following.

You can use any of the following images.

<a href=”http://colombia.logtar.com”>
<img src=”http://static.flickr.com/31/54572899_550df01d81_o.png” border=0>
</a>

<a href=”http://colombia.logtar.com”>
<img src=”http://static.flickr.com/26/54572900_41e820e993_o.png” border=0>
</a>

<a href=”http://colombia.logtar.com”>
<img src=”http://static.flickr.com/31/54572898_8b5e7d6afa_o.png” border=0>
</a>

Everyone thinks of Coca as the “evil” plant where cocaine is made from, but in reality the plant has a lot of other uses. (Originally posted by Niko Kyriakou on One World US.)

In a meeting with newly elected Bolivian President Evo Morales last week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought renewed cooperation between the two countries to counter drug trafficking, but it was the coca leaf that captured headlines.

Morales, a former coca farmer who calls himself pro-coca but anti-cocaine, ended his half-hour meeting with Rice by giving her a guitar decorated with real coca leaves sealed under lacquer.

While the gesture bears a mark of humor, in the context of Morales’ wider stance on coca the message seems designed to point out the importance of the plant to South American culture, and not–as it is often perceived in the United States–to illicit markets.

Morales still serves as head of the coca farmers’ union that lifted him to power. He has increased the allowed level of coca cultivation to about 1,600 square meters per family since taking office last December. At his inaugural dinner, Morales served coca wine, coca cake, and coca cookies.

It is sad that when you enter those two words into a search engine, the vast majority of the hits are “buy a bride” websites. Colombia has beautiful woman and they are more than just objects of lust. I am not against internet dating, not even against the mail order bride concept, but it makes me very sad that there a search does not yield something a lot more meaningful.

Nothing I can do about that subject, what I do want to bring to people’s attention is women trafficking. I read an article how Japan is a mecca for Colombian women traffiking. Most women are lured with the pretense of actual work and end up in prostitution. Believe it or not this is a problem in the U.S. also, with Minnesota being a place where young woman were lured to other cities and ended up in prostitution. This is a real issue that happens all over the world and awarness is one way of preventing it. Make sure that young girls are aware of this problem. Make sure that your kids never fall into this trap.

Sexims, Woman, Against, Inequality, blog against sexism, Society

Colombia, Japan, Prostitution, Trafficking, Sex, Minessota

An article by John Guzman

As an adult now I look back at many preconceptions I had about feeling safe. I felt safe when I was inside my house, or when my father was with me. I guess my family did a great job of sheltering me from ever feeling unsafe, or maybe I truly never had a reason not to feel less safe. My family decided to move to the US from Colombia for many reasons, but one of them was because it was safer than in our violence stricken country. Was that a huge misconception? Is the US truly a safer country?
(more…)