⁣Estamos Aquí: Una Historia de AfroDescendientes Bolivianos
Katie MeolaSpring 2012SIT Bolivia

The art of Ras Jahaziel

⁣Imagine a community-owned institution


where this collection of paintings and videos


are displayed as an educational tool



FOR THE BUILDING OF AN UPRIGHT AND CONSCIOUS PEOPLE.

Las Caras Lindas is a famous song by the ⁣renown Black Boricua singer, Ismael Rivera. It is a song that gave us Abibifo⁣ɔ from the spanish-terrorized regions of the world much pride in our Blackness. The Beautiful Faces of My Black People!

Lyrics translated to english:



A la le, a la le, a
la lee, la la le le

The beautiful faces
of my Black people
Are a parade of
blossoming molasses
That when it passes
in front of me, my heart rejoices
In their Blackness

The beautiful faces
of my dark-skinned race
Hold tears, sorrow,
and pain
They are the truths
that life challenges
But they carry much
love within

We are the molasses
that laughs
The molasses that
cries
We are the molasses
that loves
And in every kiss,
it is moving

That's why I live
proud of their color
We are kind,
dark-skinned people, with clear poetry
They have their
rhythm, they have melody
The beautiful faces
of my Black people

The beautiful faces
(how beautiful, but), the beautiful faces (but look how beautiful
they are)
The beautiful faces
of my Black people
They have, they
have, they have, they have tears, much melody, I tell you
They have beauty and
they also have very beautiful poetry

The beautiful faces,
the beautiful faces
The beautiful faces
of my Black people
Beautiful faces of
Black people, of which I have many in my calm moments
The beautiful faces
of my Black people are a blast

The beautiful faces,
the beautiful faces (how beautiful they are)
The beautiful faces
of my Black people
We are, I tell you,
the molasses that laughs, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, that sings and that
cries
And in every kiss,
very moving and captivating

The beautiful faces
(beautiful, beautiful), the beautiful faces (beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful, how beautiful they are)
The beautiful faces
of my Black people
I tell you that in
Portobelo, Panama, I saw the most beautiful and pure face
And that's why my
heart rejoices in its Blackness, that one is truly beautiful

The beautiful faces,
the beautiful faces
The beautiful faces
of my Black people (it sounds)

How beau-, how
beau-, how beautiful they are
Pure Blackness
How beau-, how
beau-, how beautiful they are

The beautiful faces,
the beautiful faces (but how beautiful they are)
The beautiful faces
of my Black people

Listen to me, but
how They are beautiful
They are pretty,
they are lovely
They are beautiful,
how pretty they are
Pretty as you'll
see, that's how they are
Pretty faces like
that one that tells you with a playful tease
A sweet, playful
tease with your sweet, melon-like heart

For the pretty faces
of Llorens Torres
Tell them, Mario

How pretty, how
pretty, how pretty, how pretty, how lovely they are
How beautiful they
are, very beautiful, how lovely they are, how pretty they are
Pretty faces,
pretty, pretty they are, take me!

How pretty they are,
they are pretty
But how pretty they
are, but how pretty they are
How pretty they are,
they are pretty

Many pretty faces
But how pretty, how
pretty, how pretty they are, here they come!

For all the pretty
faces of latin america

But how pretty, but
look how pretty the pretty faces are
Of my Black people,
there are so many
The pretty faces,
the pretty faces
The pretty faces of
my Black people

A parade of
Blackness, of the pure kind that comes from down there
The pretty faces of
my Black people, they are a playful tease
The pretty faces,
the pretty faces
The pretty faces of
my Black people

Molasses that
laughs, molasses that laughs, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Oh, that sings and
that cries
And in every kiss,
so moving
But how pretty


Original content info:
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupLas Caras Lindas · Ismael RiveraEsto Si Es Lo Mío℗ 1978 Craft Recordings.Released on: 1978-01-01Producer, Vocalist: Ismael RiveraProducer: Javier VázquezRecording Engineer: Irv GreenbaumChorus: Rubén BladesChorus: Adalberto SantiagoChorus: Nestor SanchezChorus: Héctor LavoeComposer Lyricist: Tite Curet AlonsoAuto-generated by YouTube.

Ghana just made $3 billion in only four months—without discovering a single new gold mine. So how did they pull it off? Here's a hint: Captain Ibrahim Traoré had something to do with it. But what’s the real story behind this unexpected windfall? Let’s dive in.

Sitting firmly in Africa's Golden Triangle with South Africa and Sudan, it was a top-tier producer. But in spite of this natural wealth, the nation hardly ever benefited from its hidden gems. Year after year, billions of dollars' worth of gold left Ghana, but only remnants returned to the country's economy.

Lack of ownership was the issue, not a shortage of gold. With everything but no control, this has been the silent tragedy of Ghana's mining industry. Foreign multinational corporations with headquarters in Canada, the UK, South Africa, and Australia were primarily in charge of running the nation's gold mines.

Under private contracts, these businesses extracted the gold, processed it abroad, and then sold it to customers throughout the world. The role of Ghana? Take a little cut, supply the dirt, and avoid the boardrooms where the real money is earned. The gold wasn't the only thing that remained.

It leaves behind data, pricing control, and profit transparency. Numerous mining companies underreported their profits, took use of legal loopholes, or just set up their operations in ways that allowed for tax evasion. The riches had already vanished abroad, concealed in offshore accounts and business spreadsheets, by the time government officials became involved.

Ghanaians pondered for years how we could have so many resources and yet face unemployment, debt, and a weak currency. So far, the response has been silence. Silence thereafter became the norm. Early in 2025, however, numbers—rather than a protest or a politician—broke that stillness.

Silent, emotionless figures. Ghana's gold earnings soared to $2.7 billion between January and April. That is more than three times what it made during the same time frame only two years prior.

Furthermore, in just four months, the quantity of gold exported virtually doubled, rising from about 7,500 kilograms in early 2023 to over 30,000 kilograms. These were neither estimations or optimistic forecasts. These were actual transactions that were documented in Ghana's central bank's books and monitored by the country's customs department.

Naturally, people wanted to know where all of this originated. Was there a fresh gold deposit discovered by Ghana? Did the output of mining suddenly increase overnight? The response was much more significant and fascinating. There was always gold. Ghana simply stopped allowing it to disappear.

It was not the mines that changed. Who was in charge of the exits changed. Ghana wasn't allowing private corporations to control what was left on the ground or where it went for the first time.

Now a gatekeeper was present. A fresh idea that wasn't from Accra was standing outside that fence. It originated in Ouagadougou, a nearby capital.

The Ghanaian government had not simply happened onto a fortunate quarter, you see. They were no longer content to be a passive participant in the mining industry after studying something and observing someone. Motivated by fresh leadership on the continent, they had taken a very conscious decision.

However, we must examine the impact that led to that change in order to comprehend how a silent policy decision generated billions of dollars in unexpected revenue. Not even the African Union, not the International Monetary Fund, and not a think tank. It came from Captain Ibrahim Traoré, a man in a green beret, a soldier rather than a scholar, a leader who had seized a nation that was in disarray and dared to defy the laws of international economics.

The new model was not created in Ghana. But they didn't hesitate when they saw it. They modified it.