COMMENTARY
Progress, and hope, seen in Colombia
BY REP. GREGORY W. MEEKS
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I recently had the opportunity to visit Colombia and participate in a six-hour town hall meeting between the Afro-Colombian civil society, President Alvaro Uribe and members of his cabinet. Notably, two newly appointed members of the administration at the meeting were Afro-Colombians: Deputy Minister of Labor Andrés Palacios and Paula Moreno, minister of culture, the first African descendant to assume a cabinet position in Colombia. Also there were several members of the Colombian Bancada, which is a caucus of nine Afro-Colombian legislators, who shared with me their plans to work with grass-roots organizations and advance a legislative agenda addressing disparities in education, health and economic development, and other issues.

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