By Rocìo Arango Giraldo

There's a proverb that says "nobody is a prophet in their own land," but this expression doesn't relate to Juanes, the Colombian Grammy-award winning singer. More than 140,000 people sang his songs on December 19, 2008 in his birthplace of Medellin when Juanes staged a free concert as his Christmas gift to the city. It was the second time he has done it.

The concert was organized in collaboration with the Municipal Government of the City and some other organizations. It took place on River's Avenue of the Medellin, in the middle of the Christmas lights.

Everyone behaved themselves and Juanes captivated the audience by capturing the spirit of the people in his songs. The Paisa (the name for Medellin natives) Singer strengthened his role as a social and political leader of people of every race, age and viewpoint.

Juanes performs at free Christmas concert in his native Medellin, Colombia. (Source: David Sànchez Mejìa)

During the concert, the singer invited people who had worked for peace and Medellin's development to bring the city to where we are now as a great place to live, do business and travel -- 20 years after the height of the narco violence and the time of Pablo Escobar.

Yet the concert was more than just listening to Juanes' music, it made me think about strategic leadership and ask, "What social action is important at this moment?"

By Mayra Beltrán de Daetz

GUATEMALA: On January 14, 2009, Guatemala received a report by President Alvaro Colom pertaining to his first year in office. The report came after one of the country’s newspapers released the results of a national survey, conducted by a prestigious survey company, on the President’s performance. Survey respondents gave the president a 5.1 on a scale from 1 to 10.

The President’s report was delivered in a ceremony carried out in the building of the Congress of the Republic, but it did not have the approval of many of the congresspersons and so those against it protested by not attending it.

According to an article published by the media, the year 2008 was one of the most violent years in the history of Guatemala. There were 17 out-of-court executions, 65 judges threatened, 182 families targeted for kidnappings, 42 clashes between drug-traffickers and, according to the statistics, there were 6,338 murders.

In spite of the fact that the state of affairs in Guatemala are very clear, Colom was defensive and, as usual, blamed the previous government for the lack of security and the economic situation — two of the most sensitive points for his government.

by Jennifer Barreto-Leyva

VENEZUELA: Venezuela, the land well known as the territory where beautiful women are born, the land of oil — and the land of political controversy for the last ten years.

This is the most ridiculously extremist country, where everything and anything is possible.

While the Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero was playing a song for Mr. Obama in Washington D.C. during the inauguration, a group of students were almost tortured for expressing their opinion about the new referendum.

A referendum already passed last year where most of the 60% of Venezuelans told Hugo Chávez: WE DON´T WANT YOU IN POWER FOREVER AND ANYMORE, but he insisted and changed the rules in his favor once again.

Students take to the streets after unknown assailants threw tear gas at their meeting in Caracas. President Hugo Chavez, who is seeking an end to term limits through a Feb. 15 referendum, has denounced opponents and said at a meeting that he would order the use of tear gas against student protesters.
(Source: Associated Press, Howard Yanes)

Lovely democracy of ours…

By Janett Chávarry García

PERU: It’s difficult for a person not to be curious about the lives of others. It could be the life of a favorite entertainer you want to know about or a friend’s personal life and all their problems.

Yet, when curiosity is a job and it transforms lives, uncovers corruption or puts public personalities in jail, then it becomes difficult to understand whether it's a powerful “skill” or just plain curiosity.

In my country, three “successful” but disturbing incidents happened in the last few months that showcase the difference between gossip and curiosity for the public good.

Peru's Prime Minister and members of his party deny they had anything to do with public corruption scandal.

The first example, and the most complicated, occurred when a company dedicated to spying on government officials discovered a corrupt web whereby some people benefited with payments of thousands of dollars as part of a deal to obtain a piece of a petrol well.

The situation provoked such an outcry that the public demanded the dismissal last October of all the department directors involved. While the main people responsible for the corruption were captured, the investigation is ongoing with more details revealed everyday illustrating just how big a job it is to take apart this web.