Floridablanca contract: signed hours before guarantee law - Santander - Colombia

The warning was issued by Comptroller Felipe Cordoba in the middle of the EL TIEMPO forum on electoral guarantees.

“Atypical cases have been evidenced, such as that of two contracts that add up to more than $400 billion, which were awarded to the same contractor and were approved on the SECOP II platform on November 13, 2021, the date on which the Law of Guarantees in the territorial order began,” the Comptroller said in the forum.

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The contract referred to in the one signed between the Mayor’s Office of Floridablanca and the Floridablanca Real Estate Bank for $478,999,170,137.29, to develop an environmentally sustainable strategy for the modernization, expansion, administration, operation and maintenance of the public lighting system of Floridablanca.

This fact was heavily criticized by the former mayor of Floridablanca, Héctor Mantilla.

“When I was in front of the Floridablanca mayor’s office, I never saw the need to do what Miguel (current mayor) is doing today, threatens the financial stability of the municipality and the social interests of Floridians when there are needs that should be taken care of, such as security and roads,” says the former president.

And he adds that: “Floridablanca went into a setback and we see how for this mayor his thinking is completely distant from the needs of the citizens.”

For his part, the director of the Machinery Bank indicated that “this is an inter-administrative agreement between the municipality and the Bank, which is a municipal public entity that must carry out the processes under the law (…)”, said Julio González, director of Bank.

The director argued that there were delays in the signing due to external factors.

BUCARAMANGA

US Asks Americans to Leave Ukraine Within 48 Hours

The Biden administration is urging Americans in Ukraine to leave within 24 to 48 hours, saying Russians could invade within days. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said a Russian invasion would likely include an assault on Kyiv. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.

Mobility in Medellin | paisas lost 53 hours in traffic jams in 2021 - Other Cities - Colombia

The mobility It has become one of the main issues that affect the quality of life of Colombians.

And it is not for less, because according to international statistics, several cities in our country are among the most congested in the world and three of them appear in the first places where the most hours were lost in traffic jams during 2021.

(Also: The challenge of the ‘transmilenios’ so that in Colombia they do not get off the bus)

This is why local administrations have decreed measures such as the pico y placa, which is becoming more severe, as in Bogota and Medellín, where the restriction is practically all day.

But this has not been enough to prevent us from spending hours detained on the streets of our cities with no chance of moving forward.

Last year, each driver in the country’s capital lost 94 hours in traffic jams, while in the capitals of Antioch and Valle del Cauca were 53 and 51 hours, respectively. This, according to data from the company Inrix, which analyzes mobility in the world.

(Also read: The ABC of the payment to circulate during peak and plate in Medellín)

In other words, the time lost in the capital, for example, is the same as that spent watching 62 soccer games without counting the added time. It is even almost the same as seeing a World Cup, because in this contest 64 commitments are played.
Bogotá is ranked 12th worldwide -it is the first in Latin America-, Medellin in 94 and Cali at 109. The list is led by London (United Kingdom), Paris (France) and Brussels (Belgium), with 148, 140 and 134 hours lost in 2021, respectively.

This is what the traffic jams look like on the streets of Bogotá.

Photo:

Maurice Moreno. TIME

And not only those who drive a private vehicle lose hours in traffic jams, but also those who travel by bus and van.

According Ricardo Montezuma, an expert in mobility, this situation occurs in our country, basically, due to three aspects: “We have not been able to order the cities. We have not been able to generate the accessibility infrastructure. I would say that there is another structural factor and it is the disastrous way in which we drive, such precarious forms of driving linked to violence and road insecurity. We have very disorderly ways of driving.”

For example, explains the expert, Bogotá is a structurally blocked city, it is a city that has very few entrances and exits. However, this is repeated in most capital cities of the country.

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Precisely, for the expert, these three aspects are the ones that should be focused on in order to solve mobility problems, which are one of the main concerns of citizens.

As for the pico y placa that were implemented in Bogotá and Medellín, for Montezuma these do help mobility, but they can have “dire” effects in terms of the purchase of motorcycles and other “older, obsolete and polluting” cars. , asserted the expert and added that “it helps, but the change is not structural.”

In that it agrees Dario Hidalgo, who is also an expert in mobility: “Vehicle restrictions are measures that solve issues in the short term, but they do not generate structural solutions. In fact, many people who have the possibility pay to drive or buy another vehicle”.

We have such precarious forms of driving linked to violence and road insecurity. We have very disorderly ways of driving

In addition, there is controversy because in these two capitals you can pay to be exempt from the restriction.

Are there many cars and few roads in the cities of Colombia?

Another debate that has been raised to improve mobility in the country, beyond restrictions such as the peak and license plate, is that we have many cars and few roads. There are those who say that there is nowhere to go.

(We also recommend: The proposal of the taxi drivers on the new pick and plate in Barranquilla)

According to the Single National Transit Registry (runt), as of December 2021 there were 17,020,451 vehicles in Colombia, of which 10,136,593 are motorcycles and 6,701,970 are cars, vans, trucks, buses, vans and dump trucks. The remaining percentage corresponds to machinery, trailers and semi-trailers, which are 181,888.

In 2019, the total registrations in Colombia were 15,337,965 and in 2020 they were 16,043,484. Practically one million new means of transport are registered each year in the country.

The number of vehicles has grown by more than 50 percent over the last 10 years, since in 2011 there was a record of 7,220,219 in the country. And currently the majority are in Bogotá, with 2,626,905.

“We have a high level of road congestion that is reflected in lost hours. That is driven by a rapid increase in vehicle ownership,” Hidalgo said.

(In other news: InDriver driver denounced by Councilman Osorio has already recovered his car)

For him, the vehicle fleet has grown considerably over the last 10 years, but there have been no major improvements in infrastructure for vehicle circulation. However, he also believes that building more roads is not the solution to the problem, as this could even generate more traffic, since many would be motivated to purchase a vehicle.

He argues that “attractive” solutions for citizens should be proposed. “On the one hand, we must improve access to cities. Although we need very attractive alternatives. That public transport improves, but also the opportunity to go on foot and by bicycle”.

Even the debate of regulating the vehicle fleet has been planted, despite the fact that some experts point out that this is not the real problem. “We have a lot of old obsolete cars. We do not have many cars if we compare ourselves with other countries, although there will be a lot, it will continue to grow, it will not stop. We do have a lot of motorcycles, motorcycles are a more serious problem for me than even cars. The motorcycles seem to have no regulation, “said Montezuma.

(We suggest you read: January ended with 66 murders and 1,284 displaced persons in Arauca)

From the Mayor’s Office of Medellín they point out that the Territorial Ordering Plan (POT) is focused on improving and strengthening non-motorized modes and public transport in the first order. Proof of this is that the tender for the third line of the Metro has already been opened.

“It should be noted that the city has a vehicle fleet of approximately 1,788,000 vehicles, where the road network, due to the densification of the city itself and due to topographical conditions, does not grow at the same rate as the vehicles, a situation that generates a phenomenon of important congestion”, commented Víctor Hugo Piedrahíta Robledo, Undersecretary of Mobility of Medellín.

Bogotá mobility through 26th street, from downtown to the west of the capital.

Photo:

Maurice Moreno. TIME

And he added that another problem is that culturally there is a perception that the private vehicle represents the best way to get around and “that is why the invitation from the Municipality is to discourage the use of the private vehicle and bet on sustainability.”

There is also concern about the delay in each journey

On average, a private car trip in our country lasts 45.57 minutes, according to information from the Numbeo platform.

This figure is made taking as a reference each journey reported to this platform. While there are trips that can last 10 minutes, others can last more than an hour. In other words, there may be people who take up to 45 minutes to go to work and another 45 to return home.

(Keep reading: This is the image of Mayor Daniel Quintero in Medellín)

This indicator in Bogotá is above the national average, as it reaches 52.13 minutes. This makes it the Latin American city with the worst weather -followed by Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Mexico City (Mexico).

We have a high level of road congestion that is reflected in lost hours. That’s fueled by a rapid increase in vehicle ownership.

As for the other cities in the country, the travel time is considerably reduced when compared to Bogotá. However, experts explain that this is due to the size of the territory. On average, a trip by car in Medellin lasts 36 minutes, while in Cali and Barranquilla it takes 35 and 27.67 minutes, respectively.

In addition, it is necessary to see who are spending the most time on the journeys. Experts say that the lower class is the most affected.

Numbeo also collects information from some intermediate cities, such as Manizales, where each tour lasts 12 minutes.

This is what drivers think about mobility in Bogotá, Medellín and Cali

Drivers in these cities agree that getting around by car is becoming increasingly complex and point out that if public transport were more accessible, they could get out of the car more often.

Alejandro Álvarez, who travels frequently between the north and south of Medellín and its metropolitan area, says that entering the southern municipalities, such as Envigado, is increasingly complex, both through main and alternate roads, regardless of the time. This can often take up to an hour, but it is also a journey that could be done in 25 minutes if the traffic is flowing, but this is rare.
From Cali, Kevin López says that one of the problems of mobility is that there is no respect on the roads, something that worsened after the national strike.

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Overview of mobility on Oriental Avenue, in Medellín.

Photo:

Javier Grandson. TIME

“People no longer respect the roads, they get into the wrong way, they pass the traffic lights.” These situations, he explains, can end in accidents that ultimately cause traffic jams.
Antonio, who works as a driver for a private company in Bogotá, says that with the pick and tag all day he has improved mobility in the city.

However, he finds the number of hours lost in traffic jams worrying.
“It’s a long time and most of it causes stress,” he explained. For him, you can’t walk on roads like the NQS, so he prefers to always travel along the 68. But he is emphatic when saying that “we lack a lot of civic culture when it comes to driving.”

Other drivers from Bogotá point out that with the works that are being carried out in the capital, the trips are increasing. And they add that when the Metro works begin, it will be worse. They narrate for a route between the north and the Center you have to leave an hour in advance to arrive on time, but they fear that the weather will get worse.

(Also: Two Metro workers died when hit by a train)

Faced with this problem, experts indicate that the authorities must invest more in infrastructure, better conditions must be guaranteed in public transport, so that getting out of the car is not so annoying for those who are used to traveling in their own vehicle. But citizens must also contribute to the solution by having a better road culture.

MATTHEW GARCIA
Nation’s Editor
On Twitter: @teomagar
matgar@eltiempo.com

Social leaders assassinated in Colombia: one homicide every 46 hours - Other Cities - Colombia

The figure revealed by the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace is worrying. In the first 33 days of the year they were assassinated 17 leaders and three signatories of the peace agreement.

The departments with the highest concentration of crimes are Cauca (5) and Arauca (4), followed by Putumayo (2), Nariño (2), Antioquia (1), Meta (1), Casanare (1) Chocó (1).

Seven of these leaders were communal, three indigenous, two environmentalists, one peasant, another land claimant, one civic, one Afro-descendant and one cultural.
For their part, the crimes of the three peace signatories assassinated in this first month of the year have been registered in Arauca, Magdalena and Caquetá.

(You may be interested in: They kill an indigenous person during the burial of two other natives murdered in Cauca)

The murders shocked the country, they were all done savagely. That is the case of José Albeiro Camayo Güetio, an indigenous guard from Cauca, who was murdered in front of children on January 24. Also the case of Luz Marina Arteaga Henao, a doctor by profession and peasant leader, rights defender and land claimant, who disappeared on January 11 and her body was found five days later in the Meta River.

One of the crimes that most shocked the country was that of the 14-year-old environmental leader, Breiner David Cucuñame, who was shot dead in the Las Delicias reservation, Cauca.

(Also: He gave up everything to go into a Chocó jungle to fulfill his dream)

Luz Marina, the land claimant who was silenced

Luz Marina Arteaga, medical professional, peasant leader, defender of rights.

Photo:

Claretian Corporation Norman Pérez Bello

Luz Marina Arteaga Henao was a doctor by profession and a well-known peasant leader, rights defender and land claimant in the Matarratón and El Porvenir process, in the municipality of Puerto Gaitán (Meta).

He led the process of demanding compliance with the sentences STP 16298 of 2015 of the Supreme Court of Justice and SU-426 of 2016 of the Constitutional Court, which orders the National Land Agency (ANT) award them these lands, as well as to the governmental entities the protection of the fundamental rights of historical peasant communities.

She was also an overseer of the program for older adults in Orocué, a municipality of Casanare, a neighbor of Puerto Gaitán, where she was an active participant in the collection of signatures for the revocation process of the mandate of the mayor of Orocué, Monchy Yobany Moreno.

Because of this activism, the Claretiana Norman Pérez Bello and Jurídica Yira Castro corporations, human rights defenders, pointed out, became visible in the area and was the target of threats.

(In context: The lifeless body of a doctor and social leader of the Llano is found in the Meta River)

“He had repeatedly received death threats from people posing as armed actors and telling him to stop fighting for land and not to attend meetings in the framework of the land demand,” they reported.

In 2021, the Claretian Corporation denounced to the Prosecutor’s Office the threat against members of the Porvenir and Matarratón process and of the same human rights organization, as well as surveillance and the attempted kidnapping of one of its members.

On October 2, 2019, two unknown men, approximately 25 and 45 years old, roamed and monitored the El Raudal farm, owned by the leader Luz Marina Arteaga, for a long time.

The strangers asked the people of the community questions about his whereabouts such as: “When are you going to come to the farm? Where is she and when does she communicate with you?

The neighbors also warn that the strangers indicated knowing that the leader had recently been present on the farm, since the place was clean.
This same situation was repeated on October 6, 2019, where the community mentions that three unknown men who were traveling by canoe on the Meta River were looking for her. “These threats were brought to the attention of the different entities headed by President Iván Duque, as well as the National Protection Unit, who were unaware of the seriousness of the situation, assigning them soft measures,” denounce the Claretian Norman Pérez Bello and Jurídica Yira corporations. Castro.

The leader disappeared on January 11, when she left her farm for the urban area of ​​Orocué, Casanare. And her body was found, five days later, lifeless, on the banks of the Meta River.

The guard who sacrificed everything to guard his territory

José Albeiro Camayo Güetio was persecuted by threats, kidnappings and attacks during his life in the indigenous guard of Cauca.

He was 42 years old and was one of the founders of the guard and one of the most courageous defenders of his community.

He had the role of Kiwe, a Nasa name for leaders. For his friends, he was a man who had his courage, a cane and a comb as weapons. He had endured attacks of all kinds. He had murdered a brother and a nephew.

He lived his childhood until adolescence as a student at the Educational Institution for the Intercultural Development of Communities (Inedic), located in the same territory of the Las Delicias reservation, in rural Buenos Aires, where he was born and was murdered.
As a child he was already an indigenous guard, because that was his vocation for the defense of the native territories. He said that his vision was that of an indigenous person who sought to transmit a message of peace, through the wind, the sound and the flute.

He took advantage of a station that was created in Las Delicias to transmit that message of tranquility and harmony to the members of the Las Delicias territory. At the time he continued to work as an indigenous guard.

After finishing processes in the local indigenous guard, he was appointed as guard coordinator at the zonal level of the so-called Cxhab Wala Kiwe, in 2013.

He accompanied this process until 2016 and in 2018 he was appointed coordinator of the entire indigenous guard of northern Cauca until last year.

He wanted the armed groups to respect the indigenous people for more than 10 years, at a time when the Farc had plagued Cauca with guerrilla takeovers and harassment. At that time, the groups that affected the north of the department were the sixth front and the ‘Jacobo Arenas’ column with the ELN and the paramilitaries based in Naya.

The last three years have intensified the attacks of the dissidents that remained after the peace agreement. Camayo, community members say, was the target of intimidation and slander. In August 2019 he was the victim of an attack, when he was traveling on the road between Toribío and Caloto. Two months later he was kidnapped, apparently by dissidents. He was tied to a pole with barbed wire and was later left there.

(In context: What is behind the crime of indigenous leader Albeiro Camayo?)

In April 2020, armed men tried to intercept him in the same Las Delicias reservation when he was in a car, but he managed to escape.

And on January 24, members of the mobile column ‘Jaime Martínez’, from the dissidents, led by ‘Paisa’, arrived to intimidate the population of the Las Delicias reservation, they took Camayo out of his house and he was killed with gunshots. gun in front of children.

The entire guard of his town accompanied him to his grave with songs and their batons, remembering their leader who said: “Many times I endured cold, hunger, loneliness of being away from my children just to defend my territory.”

The young indigenous man who cared for the trees in Cauca

Breiner Cucuñame, 14, was training to be an indigenous guard and dedicate himself to protecting the environment.

Breiner David Cucuñame was just 14 years old when he was assassinated on January 14 by members of the ‘Jaime Martínez’ front of the Farc dissidents, in the Las Delicias reservation, in northern Cauca.

He was the oldest of four brothers, he was in seventh grade, he liked to play soccer, plant trees and ride motorcycles.

Breiner, who was already a member of the Nasa indigenous guard, and his father Samuel had left early from work building a house and on their way home they found that the guard, with their batons, were trying to get out of their territories to a group of dissident youth who were patrolling with their rifles, as they regularly try to do in this area, which had already generated several altercations with the indigenous community.

That day, the discussion between the guard and the dissidents ended in tragedy. Breiner David and Guillermo Chicame, indigenous guard and escort agent of the National Protection Unit, were killed by the armed group.

“We were only interested in getting out of there, out of that fire,” recalls his father, Samuel Cucuñame.

Breiner, says his father, was a happy person, without fear. “He was judicious. Like all children, he had his rebellion in his time and one as a father should advise him “.

“He had a spirit and a body that was not convinced by the violent, that the weapon was the best way out. I want them to remember him as that boy who stood on the line and liked a healthy and calm life”, he points out.

Breiner David was a member of the Student Indigenous Guard, with which he carried out tree planting and river cleaning activities. He was a defender of Mother Earth, the same one where, after a massive ceremony attended by more than 500 people, he has returned.

“Unfortunately, one has to return him so young to mother Earth, but that’s life, unfair sometimes. Still, we have to return it because if nature asked for it at this early age, we cannot fight against the current, ”said his father.

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Rescued 52 immigrants in the third boat of the last hours in the Canary Islands | Society

Salvamento Marítimo has intercepted a third boat with 52 people located southeast of Arrecife (Lanzarote), after helping two others in Canary waters in the last few hours.

This boat was sighted by a sailboat when it was sailing 25 miles from the capital of Lanzarote and 52 immigrants of sub-Saharan origin were traveling on it, including seven women and two minors.