Fundacion Cisneros Education Program Awards Certificates to 260 Peruvian Teachers; Fundacion's Educational Initiatives Provide Model for Corporate Social Responsibility in the Region.

LIMA, Peru -- On March 21, 2006, a group of 260 Peruvian teachers will receive certificates acknowledging successful completion of AME, or Actualizacion de Maestros en Educacion (Professional Development for Educators), a comprehensive professional-development course initiated and administered by the Fundacion Cisneros. AME, which is offered free of charge, is an innovative distance-learning program that uses satellite and cable television and the Internet to provide diverse courses on a variety of topics to K-12 teachers across Latin America.

The Venezuela-based Fundacion Cisneros was founded by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Gustavo Cisneros, and Ricardo Cisneros, in association with the Cisneros Group of Companies. The Fundacion initiates and supports a wide range of innovative educational and cultural programs, many of which leverage the resources of the Cisneros Group of Companies (CGC), to reach ever-greater audiences. The AME program was brought to Peru through an alliance of the Fundacion Cisneros with the Fundacion Backus.

Gustavo Cisneros, Chairman and CEO of the Cisneros Group of Companies, stated, "This is another example of how the resources of the Cisneros Group of Companies join with the efforts of the Fundacion Cisneros to improve education in the region with the use of innovative technology. The 'extra mile' that these teachers have gone with this achievement will enrich the lives of thousands of children. The Fundacion Cisneros thanks the Fundacion Backus for partnering with us to bring AME to Peru."

Tuesday's ceremony will take place in the Cultural Center of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. Fundacion Cisneros Chair Patricia Cisneros will be joined for the occasion by Javier Sota Nadal, Peru's Minister of Education, and Fernando Hilbck Ruiz, Executive Director of the Fundacion Backus.

In addition to completing the coursework for AME's environmental program, the teachers who are receiving their certificates have participated in virtual forums, exchanging viewpoints and opinions with colleagues in other countries. The teachers come from the provinces of Lima, Pucallpa, Trujillo, Chiclayo, Cuzco, and Arequipa.

These teachers join others from eight additional countries that offer the AME program: Argentina (including at a military base in the Antarctic), Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. AME reaches almost 4,000 teachers in public and private schools across Latin America.

As with many other Fundacion Cisneros programs, AME makes use of distance technologies to ensure that its initiatives reach people throughout Latin America, regardless of geographic boundaries. The Fundacion's programs--dedicated to improving the daily lives of all Latin Americans and increasing global awareness of the breadth of Latin America's contributions to world culture--are based on the belief that education and freedom of expression are the foundations of democracy.

For more press information, please contact Jeanne Collins of Jeanne Collins Associates at [phone] or [e-mail] . For information on the AME program, educators are invited to visit http://www.ame.cisneros.org.