By Rocio Arango Giraldo
COLOMBIA:This past March 16 at Simon Bolivar, the international bridge between the Colombian and Venezuelan borders, seven peace ambassadors and 60,000 people gathered together in a reaffirmation of brotherhood.
The occasion was a peace concert. Juanes, the Colombian singer, born in Antioquia, and who is an active leader for peace, social justice and non-antipersonal weapons, called the concert to promote peace among Venezuela-Colombia-Ecuador.
Peace without Borders concert draws 60,000 people to the international bridge between Venezuela and Colombia.
(Source: aljazeera.com)
The singer of the “Black T-shirt song†organized the concert and invited his fellow artists: Carlos Vives, Colombian-born from Vallenatos, Juan Fernando Velasco from Ecuador, Ricardo Montaner of Venezuela, Miguel Bosé and Alejandro Sanz from Spain, and as introduced by Carlos Vives, “the only war permitted†— Juan Luis Guerra, the Dominican singer.
(Editor’s note: guerra means war in Spanish.)
The gathering was attended by more than 60,000 people, citizens of Colombia and Venezuela and other nationalities who began arriving at the border since the past Friday. The only condition of the concert was everyone had to wear a white shirt because the objective of the concert was to sing for peace between brother towns that had complex relationships.
There was no entrance fee because the singers didn’t charge to be there and private businesses assumed the costs of the trip for each of the artists and all the necessary details. President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia wanted to go with all of his Ministers but Juanes told him not to go because the other presidents were not going and this would taint the event as political.
Concertgoers send a message of peace to their political leaders.
(Source: aljazeera.com)
The concert confirmed the brotherhood that exists between towns that had a joint history — the same Father and ties that could not be destroyed by political conflicts.
Juanes was the leader of this idea and everyone supported his project. Some people think that Juanes is the Latin American version of Bono, but he says he is more like Dario Gomez or Octavio Mesa, two popular Colombian singers.
Concertgoers cool off during Peace without Borders concert.
(Source: bbc)
This past March 16, on the international Simon Bolivar bridge, we citizens hugged one another like the Latin American brothers we are.
In Colombia, the white shirt is in fashion!
Learn more about RocÃo:
RocÃo Arango Giraldo is 21-years-old and lives in MedellÃn Colombia. She studied Political Science at the University of Colombia, as well as, Social Communication, Public Management, and Strategy and Public Knowledge at the Mexico City campus of the Technology Institute of Monterrey.
RocÃo is a member of the Conservative
I am member of the Colombian Conservative Party (Partido Conservador Colombiano) where she works in political marketing, social and policy investigation and foreign affairs.
She also works as a young democratic participant with the Democratic Christian Organization of America and has written for such prestigious Colombian publications as El Colombiano, El Tiempo and others.
But something she is most proud of is her advocacy for people with disabilities.
I fight for the rights of disabled persons like me.
