Julio Maria Sanguinetti assumes his mandate as President of the Council of the University for Peace

Last Tuesday 16 October 2007 in an official ceremony Dr. Julio María Sanguinnetti assumed his mandate as President of the Council of the University for Peace, at the main campus of the institution located in Costa Rica.

Dr. Julio María Sanguinettis is a former President of Uruguay, position he occupied on two occasions, and is currently the President of the “Círculo de Montevideo”. In June 2007 he was designated as member of the UPEACE Council by H.E. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, in consultation with Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO, and he was elected unanimously as President of the Council by its members during its Sixteenth Session, on 14 July 2007.

Ambassador. Edgar Ugalde, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica, representatives of donor countries, students and staff of the University were present at the ceremony.  Also, the Hon. William Martin, former President of the Council, was in attendance.

The Rector of the University, Mr. John J. Maresca, in introducing Dr. Sanguinetti by saying: “This is an important occasion for the UPEACE family; it is a great honor that you (President Sanguinetti) have agreed to take this responsibility”.

In his speech, Dr. Sanguinetti said: “There is only true liberty when there is peace. Without peace there is no liberty, with fear there is no liberty. The University pursues a great cause, but it must start by understanding others. Hopefully we can continue building a more peaceful world, with liberty”.

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Swiss ballet DA MOTUS! at UPEACE

Last Tuesday October 16, the Swiss ballet DA MOTUS!  performed at UPEACE Campus. 

 This was an event organized by the Embassy of Switzerland in Costa Rica.

DA MOTUS! is an urban ballet company that has performed at international Festivals and other important cultural events in more than 100 cities of 27 countries.  You can find more infromation about the company at http://www.damotus.ch/

Their productions are created for stage but often for unusual places too. In this occasion, they performed the URBANTHROPUS production, dancing  and moving  around the monuments and trees located  at the UPEACE  campus.




 The event was a success thanks to the participation of members of the Diplomatic Corp, UPEACE staff and students and special invitees. A reception ,   hosted by the Embassy, was offered after the show.  

UPEACE would like to thank the Embassy of Switzerland for choosing the UPEACE campus as the venue of this wonderful artistic presentation.  

For a picture gallery click here>>

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UPEACE Students participate in "Encounter of Cultures" Festival

A group of UPEACE students participated in the Encounter of Cultures Festival at the Old Market of Ciudad Colón, on Saturday 13 October 2007. This is the second year that La Casa de la Cultura organizes such event with an active participation from UPEACE.

With the support of DAA in co-organizing UPEACE involvement, students from Asia, Europe, Africa, North America (Canada, Mexico), and Central America (Nicaragua) performed dances, songs, classical music, and contributed with stands of food, information about their countries, language skills, etc.

We are grateful to them for their active participation, their willingness to interact with Ciudad Colón people and their spirit of sharing.

For some pictures of the event, please visit the following link: http://www.upeace.org/cultures_day_gallery/index.htm

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