 REPORT FROM THE BOGOTA AFGLC CENTER -- THE ATHENS OF SOUTH AMERICA
By Nick Maroulis, AFGLC International Coordinator
The first day, I attended a conference of the Bogota philhellenic association at the Caro Y Cuervo Institute. The program was excellent and very well attended. In an auditorium of 350 people there was standing room only. Also, I attended Sunday services at the local Greek Orthodox Church.. The two priests and the psalti officiating are natives, but not of Greek origin. The service was conducted in both biblical Greek and Spanish; it was a great experience. The AFGLC team at Bogota consists of: Dr. Ignacio Chaves Guevas, President Dr. Luis Alfonso Ramirez Pena, Vice-President & Sr. Educational Advisor Dr. Humberto Aragon Salazar, Legal Advisor Dr. Jorge Enrique Borrero, Treasurer Dr. Dimitris Crystodoulopoulos, Sr. Cultural Advisor Dr. Fernando Munoz Perez, Membership Coordinator Dr. Georgia Kaltsidou, Coordinator Dr. Carmen Helena Bustamente Guerrero, Secretary Mr. Alberto Betancourt Guerrero, Financial Advisor Ms. Maria Fernanda Yanguas Syriopoulos, International Correspondent At a dinner meeting, Dr. Ramirez expressed his and philohellenica's strong and enthusiastic support for AFGLC. He placed all the facilities of the philohellenica at the disposal of AFGLC. While on this trip, I had the opportunity to stop at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There are about 200 families of Greek origin in Rio. However, no good statistics are available. There may be more, but they are probably not involved in philhellenic activities. There are about 25,000 people of Greek origin in Brazil. Most of them (around 10,000) live in San Paulo, where many Greek oriented organizations and activities exist. Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, also has a good number of people of Greek origin. |
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