In keeping with campaign promises, the National government initiated the so-called return to Colombia through the Binding Regional Dialogues that seek to involve the population directly in the construction of the National Development Plan. This first meeting took place in Turbaco, Bolivar, where protests took place during the meeting.
While inside the Lisandro Duque educational center contacts were being developed between the community of the region and the Government, outside the educational center the inhabitants of Turbaco protested the sanitation situation basic living in the region.
A group of people decided block the Caribbean Trunk, demanding that the regional dialogues be truly binding. There are many problems in the Caribbean region: extreme poverty, hunger, lack of basic sanitation infrastructure, and tolls that increase the cost of transportation.
Read here: Four municipalities of Antioquia will be part of the Petro Binding Dialogues
Turbaco was the first stopover of the 50 territories to be visited in the next two months to establish direct contact with people. More than 1,200 people from different municipalities of Bolivar.
This regional dialogue was chaired by the Minister of Transport, Guillermo Reyes, well the president Gustavo Petro he excused himself from attending due to health problems and from 9:30 in the morning direct contact with the community began.
You can also read: “From today you have the floor”: Petro wants to shield its National Development Plan with the people
Other government officials who were present at this meeting were the director of the DNP, Jorge Iván González; the Minister of Labor, Gloria Inés Ramírez; the High Councilor for the Regions, Luis Fernando Velasco; the Governor of Bolívar, Vicente Antonio Blel, the Mayor of Cartagena, Jorge Dau Chamatt and the Head of National Planning, Jorge Iván González.
The head of Planning said that “it is important that we build collective intelligence among all the elements. In these dialogues it is essential that we think of great strategies, of projects with a 20-year outlook. If we do not move in that direction, we will not achieve the structural transformations that Colombian society, the municipalities, the subregions, and everyone needs to build a better society.”
Likewise, González explained that the thematic organization of the dialogues has five main axes: territorial ordering; human security and social justice; food sovereignty; the energy transition with environmental justice; and social-regional convergence to reduce poverty gaps between households and regions.
