Speaking from the municipality of El Tarra, in the village of Bracitos, where the president was presiding over the inauguration of the local school and university, he stated that the country cannot continue down the path of violence and that peace is essential.

  “We are facing frightening circumstances, statements from presidents who speak of invasions and missiles, the abandonment of dialogue and a return to barbarism, from which nothing but death can be expected,” he warned in his speech.

  He commented that “Colombia must be great, stand tall, have a people who never bow their heads, who never kneel before anyone, a people who can be at the forefront of humanity, teaching how to achieve peace, how we can help each other, how we can build production and wealth, how we can love one another.”    He stated that this goal is achieved by laying down arms and insisted on putting into practice the doctrine of effective love, preached by Father Camilo Torres Restrepo.

  “That is our proposal: a Catatumbo that belongs to the working people, and where working people, whether from the countryside or the city, can live in peace,” he emphasized.

  Furthermore, he confirmed that starting next January, young people from the region will be able to pursue higher education—technical, technological, and university—in the new classrooms of the El Tarra College-University.

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