Sunday, February 14, 2010
Español
Me quedo atónita con las estadísticas de las pruebas puertorriqueñas para las destrezas de Español. En el 2009 solo el 39% de los estudiantes las aprobaron satisfactoriamente. Si no conocemos la lengua que expresa nuestra cultura, como vamos a aprender cualquier otro idioma. Hablando con mis familiares adolecentes durante el receso navideño me di cuenta que ni Español ni Inglés saben correctamente. Como podemos arreglar esto para que conozcamos a cabalidad nuestra vernácula sin afectar la preparación de nuestros estudiantes para un mundo cada día mas global.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
National Guard activation shows we learned nothing from "Mano Dura Contra el Crimen"
I am flabbergasted with the idea of activating the National Guard (NG) to fight crime in PR, didn't we learned anything from the failure of "Mano Dura Contra el Crimen" program? I can't believe Fortuño continues recycling Rosello's mistaken agenda.
This is what is going to happen. NG is going to capture hundreds of criminals; from each hundred only seven are going to be convicted for their crime, from those seven individuals some are going to be able to pay their way out of jail thanks to the newly installed law by Fortuño which allows to reduce criminal penalties by 25% by way of bonds. OK, you might say, 1 or 2 is progress but evidently is not enough because after ~16 years from "Mano Dura" (in 1993) we still have the worst crime rates in the history of Puerto Rico.
The criticism against Mano Dura are many. First and foremost a short term solution to a very difficult problem. Second charges of corruption against 40 NG soldiers for drug trafficking during the course of the program. Third a generation of so called "Sons and Daughters of Mano Dura contra el Crimen"; kids that were procreated by the NG soldiers taking advantage of girls at the projects (residenciales) they were commision. Fourth, civilian right were violated during the process.
This version of Mano Dura is said to be "different" because they are going to train NG soldiers about civil rights in one week. Are you kidding me? you really believe that one thousand soldiers trained for years to act rapidly in stress situation to preserve lives and with zero civil right training are going to take it to heart in one week?
Fortuño has increasingly showed us that he does not know how to administer for a better Puerto Rico. Activating the National Guard is not a long term solution, we don't have the money to pay for such a program. When the founding ends the program will end, the NG is going to retreat and the drug points are going to be rebuilt, again crime will thrive. Doing that won't get to the root of the problem and our money is going to be wasted instead of invested.
What do you think?
Here I finish with this observation from Bernardo Kliksberg,
"La represión violenta como alternativa a la inseguridad ciudadana ha fracasado en todos los países donde se ha aplicado y más bien ha contribuido a incrementar la criminalidad. Lo que corresponde es combatir las causas que promueven la pobreza, la desintegración familiar y la falta de oportunidades, principalmente para los más jóvenes"
This is what is going to happen. NG is going to capture hundreds of criminals; from each hundred only seven are going to be convicted for their crime, from those seven individuals some are going to be able to pay their way out of jail thanks to the newly installed law by Fortuño which allows to reduce criminal penalties by 25% by way of bonds. OK, you might say, 1 or 2 is progress but evidently is not enough because after ~16 years from "Mano Dura" (in 1993) we still have the worst crime rates in the history of Puerto Rico.
The criticism against Mano Dura are many. First and foremost a short term solution to a very difficult problem. Second charges of corruption against 40 NG soldiers for drug trafficking during the course of the program. Third a generation of so called "Sons and Daughters of Mano Dura contra el Crimen"; kids that were procreated by the NG soldiers taking advantage of girls at the projects (residenciales) they were commision. Fourth, civilian right were violated during the process.
This version of Mano Dura is said to be "different" because they are going to train NG soldiers about civil rights in one week. Are you kidding me? you really believe that one thousand soldiers trained for years to act rapidly in stress situation to preserve lives and with zero civil right training are going to take it to heart in one week?
Fortuño has increasingly showed us that he does not know how to administer for a better Puerto Rico. Activating the National Guard is not a long term solution, we don't have the money to pay for such a program. When the founding ends the program will end, the NG is going to retreat and the drug points are going to be rebuilt, again crime will thrive. Doing that won't get to the root of the problem and our money is going to be wasted instead of invested.
What do you think?
Here I finish with this observation from Bernardo Kliksberg,
"La represión violenta como alternativa a la inseguridad ciudadana ha fracasado en todos los países donde se ha aplicado y más bien ha contribuido a incrementar la criminalidad. Lo que corresponde es combatir las causas que promueven la pobreza, la desintegración familiar y la falta de oportunidades, principalmente para los más jóvenes"
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