Standing up for the ghetto.JAIR HERNANDEZ BARONA looks around the office in London where he is going to talk about his work as a human rights activist, then he points to his bag and observes: 'This is my office, it's all I take on the streets'. He was born in Cali, one of the biggest cities in Colombia This is a list of cities and towns in Colombia:
1. The age until which a person is expected to live. 2. The remaining number of years an individual is expected to live, based on IRS issued life expectancy tables. in the ghettos in this district of Cali is around 22 years. Hernandez's own childhood was marked by poverty and, despite the fact that he does not smoke or drink, he had to sell marijuana marijuana or marihuana, drug obtained from the flowering tops, stems, and leaves of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa (see hemp) or C. indica; the latter species can withstand colder climates. in order to pay for his studies. When he joined the Grutela theatre group as an Afro-Caribbean dancer, his life took a different course. The group shaped him socially and politically and it was with them that he visited Comuna 16 for the first time. As a result, he founded La Casa La casa (Spanish for The House) is a 1954 novel by Manuel Mujica Laínez. It tells the story of a family living in a stately Buenos Aires mansion from the heyday of Argentina's oligarchy in the 1880s to some time in the post-1946 period, the era of Peronist populism, de la Juventud de la Comuna 16 (The House of Youth of Comuna 16), which runs projects for children, women, indigenous communities and 'high risk' youngsters. Drug trafficking permeates every area of society. Most of the homicides committed are directly linked to disputes and vendettas between drug gangs fighting for control of the cocaine market and the trade routes. Hernandez's main passion is working with teenagers and young adults, who are routinely exposed to drugs, delinquency, street violence and police corruption Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct sometimes involving political corruption, and generally designed to gain a financial or political benefit for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest. . Alternatives are limited. The government does not offer accessible educational programmes where they can develop artistic or other skills. Public activities such as improvised im·pro·vise v. im·pro·vised, im·pro·vis·ing, im·pro·vis·es v.tr. 1. To invent, compose, or perform with little or no preparation. 2. street concerts and break-dance gatherings are repressed re·pressed adj. Being subjected to or characterized by repression. . The common name for the youths who live in ghettos is desechables or 'disposable people': the police can kill, torture or beat them because their lives do not have any value. 'Many human rights are abused in Colombia,' says Hernandez, 'but the one that is more abused than any other is the right to live.' He works not only with gang members informing them about their rights, but also with police officers, 'The police are ignorant of what they can and can't do in their profession; they ask me: "Why do you defend delinquents and not us?"' They assume youngsters are delinquents just by the way they dress; and they feel they can bully them. Sometimes they take young guys to the police station and produce false documents saying that they found them with drugs. Later, they ask their families to pay for them to be released,' says Hernandez. La Casa de la Juventud offers spaces where young boys and girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. can create a community life and show off their talents as rappers, hip-hoppers and graffiti artists. Zona Marginal, now a popular band in the underground Latin American music Latin American music, sometimes simply called Latin music, includes the music of all countries in Latin America and comes in many varieties, from the simple, rural conjunto music of northern Mexico to the sophisticated habanera of Cuba, from the symphonies of Heitor scene, was born in La Casa de la Juventud. Because of his work, Hernandez has been threatened by paramilitary forces Forces or groups distinct from the regular armed forces of any country, but resembling them in organization, equipment, training, or mission. and some years ago he was forced to flee to Switzerland. But he did not stay away from Cali for long. Hernandez does not have a salary because working in a normal place would not allow him to be available 24 hours a day. Instead, he is supported by his wife, who is a nurse, and from time to time he gets some remuneration from international NGOs. One can hardly imagine that such a man has to be accompanied by three bodyguards when he works. When he visits Switzerland he enjoys hiking. 'Sometimes I go out on my own and I cry and cry. In Colombia I'm like a cup into which people pour all their problems. Here I can take distance and give myself some time to reflect.' But as he says: 'I'm not interested in staying in Switzerland eating chocolate.' |
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