Farc is urging the community to come forward and participate in the peace process which just resumed between the Colombian Government and the guerrilla group in Havana, Cuba.

“Peace cannot be the result of a dialogue removed from the Colombian people (…) of unilateral impositions. The entire country must come forward and demand its decisive participation in the peace process,” the guerrilla indicated in a statement read in Havana by Farc negotiator, Luis Alberto Albán, alias “Marco León Calarcá”.

Farc and the Government resumed peace talks after taking a five-day break. For the guerrilla, this negotiating table is where “two ways of seeing the national conflict and suggest a resolution” meet. “On one hand is the Government’s view, which defends the higher class and the immobility of the current order. On the other is the insurgency’s proposal, built based on the vision of the lower income population who is desperate for changes,” Calarcá said.

If all goes well, the Debora Arango Comprehensive Cultural Center in Envigado will be ready for public use by the first quarter of next year. The final phase is waiting for the Governor of Antioquia, Sergio Fajardo, to approve a 1,800 million-peso project.

Spaces include a public library, exhibit halls and music rooms; the complex will become the permanent headquarters of the Envigado’s Culture Council and House of Culture as well as the Youth Symphony Orchestra.

The local government has been trying to get the community to take ownership of the project and, with this in mind, has organized events like outdoor movies on the last Friday of each month and poetry recitals.

To end up in 94th place in Transparency International’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index, out of 176 countries, proves not only that little progress has been made despite the many campaigns and measures taken to eradicate corruption, but must also raise a red flag for the Government in the sense that economic growth could become stagnant.

Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, tied for first place, were perceived to have the lowest levels of state sector corruption.