[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 21718]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   PRESIDENT URIBE'S APPOINTMENT OF A CABINET-LEVEL ADVISOR ON AFRO-
                            COLOMBIAN ISSUES

  Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I rise today to call attention to an 
important step towards progress for Afro-descendants in Colombia, and 
an important opportunity for Afro-descendants throughout Latin America.
  I wish to commend the work of my colleagues in the Congressional 
Black Caucus on this issue, as well as the tireless efforts of 
nongovernmental organizations and religious groups both here and in 
Colombia.
  This August, President Uribe of Colombia created a cabinet-level 
position on Afro-Colombian issues, and appointed an Afro-Colombian to 
fill the post. The creation of this position is especially significant 
because it signals both a recognition of the severity of the situation 
of Afro-descendants in Colombia and a willingness to address these 
inequalities.
  At the same time, many of us recognize that this is only a first step 
and much more needs to be done.
  I will be monitoring the progress of this office very closely in the 
coming months, and I especially look forward to the development of 
President Uribe's Committee on Civil Rights and Sustainable Development 
for Afro-Colombians.
  It is my hope that this institution will have the resources and 
mandate to do an effective job of bringing some measure of equality and 
justice to a marginalized segment of Colombian society. It is my hope 
that this will encourage other governments in Latin America to consider 
taking additional measures to address racial discrimination, as well as 
economic and social marginalization, faced by Afro-descendants in their 
countries.
  In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, our own country is being awakened 
to a great divide in our midst. As we struggle with troubling 
intersections of race and class, and how we have failed the most 
vulnerable members of our population, I hope we will be able to take a 
moment to reflect on similar struggles in places such as Colombia, 
Ecuador, Brazil and Venezuela.
  While I realize that Colombia continues to face many challenges--from 
human rights to narco-trafficking--I wanted to bring some good news, 
that is often overlooked, about the country of Colombia to the 
attention of the Senate. I applaud these efforts.

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