Contractors from the Medellín Education Secretariat are tired of the pressures to which, according to their complaints, they are being subjected to support former councilor Albert Corredor, a friend and political ally of Mayor Daniel Quintero and who is emerging as the candidate who would carry the flags of the continuity of that government.
Corredor has not officially said that he is a candidate for mayor of Medellín, but he is undoubtedly in the campaign and in December it became more evident when he distributed sancochos, custard, fritters and gifts in poor neighborhoods of the city.
Precisely around those dates the pressures to support his electoral project began to be stronger. As evidenced and reported by EL COLOMBIANO, through WhatsApp groups or in person they asked various contractors of the Secretariat to attend the custards and boiled, which would be a simple invitation, but they had to sign forms at the sites and send evidence, such as photos or videos, that they attended.
More indignation caused them that when they arrived at the sites, several of them were put to stir custard, set up tents, play with the children, peel potatoes or paint faces. The instructions were given by people close to Corredor, some of them contractors for the Secretariat. The icing on the cake was that several were asked to contribute $500,000 to buy some missing toys.
After the Christmas events, which Corredor called a solidarity cause, there was calm for two weeks in the WhatsApp groups that have an average of 30 people each. Sources from the entity said they do not know for sure how many they have created, but that they have identified at least six. A few days ago the messages returned, although not all of them had signed contracts, as some only enter tomorrow.
Will they monitor their networks?
They resumed the invitations to support with retweets, likes or comments, the ex-councillor’s posts on social networks, several with political overtones. One from Twitter, from January 13, in which he said: “I don’t know if what they have is nerves, fear or despair. Don’t worry, when I arrive I’ll let you know and we’ll get started”, achieved 278 retweets, 210 comments and 866 likes.
“The hairy, tattooed and popular neighborhood has not prevented me from having a beautiful home, 2 master’s degrees, creating a company in 5 countries and having been a councilor in Medellín. Neither do I face Uribe to whom you kneeled”, is another trill that they asked to support. It was a discussion with Gilberto Tobón, a candidate for mayor of Medellín and a critic of Quintero. It had 749 retweets, 412 comments and 2,433 likes.
In particular, it angered several contractors who made them interact with that trill, to which they set “Like” goals, not only because it was Sunday but because they were “invited” to support Corredor’s response until almost midnight.
The instruction they were recently given is to report every time they comment, share or react to Corredor’s posts. In addition, they ask them to share with family, friends and acquaintances. In fact, this medium was aware of several messages that are sent in WhatsApp groups, but we did not publish screenshots because, according to sources, they would be setting subtle traps to identify who is reporting the situation.
According to several people, interacting with the former councilor’s networks would determine who will keep the jobs. And there is fear because the contracts they have at this time are for a few days because they are covered with resources from the past, but it is expected that the new contracts with the operator will be signed at the beginning of February and those who have copied the guidelines will be there. .
The other thing that is heard in the corridors, under the secrecy of the fear with which they live, is that they are planning to make contracts for a few months, which would allow them to tie up “loyalties” with the former councilor’s political project. The fear is not unfounded. This week they were asked to report who their social network users are, which they see as confirmation that they might carry out stronger and more organized supervision of who complies with instructions. There are those who have said that in the jobs they have increased the pressure for users to send.
Some sources also reported that they are made to respond to surveys from Twitter accounts in which candidates are asked. One of them is Encuesta Antioquia Vota (@cifrasyestadist), which was born on December 18 and conducts polls on candidates for mayoralty in the Aburrá Valley, including Medellín, the Governor’s Office, municipalities in the East, and cities such as Bogotá, Cali, and Barranquilla. Corredor has appeared in 4 of regarding 10 polls on the Medellín Mayor’s Office and obtains wide votes, up to 90%.
In one of the polls, he was asked which of Daniel Quintero’s candidates he would vote for and there Corredor appeared next to Andree Uribe, former Secretary of Health of this administration; Rodolfo Correa and Gilberto Tobon. The latter two were annoyed that they were included there because they do not identify themselves as such.
Although no one knows if there is a direct relationship between that Twitter account and Corredor’s strategy, whenever a survey appears they send it to WhatsApp groups, invite them to vote and, curiously, the former councilor always wins.
The spoiled?
Santiago Botero, Camilo Jiménez, John Jairo Rico, Daniel Castrillón, Ana Milena Roldán, Ana María Henao, Lina Cardona, Óscar Pasos and Dayan Alcides Marulanda are some contractors designated to send the messages by WhatsApp or in person. They are leaders or professionals from areas of the Ministry of Education such as the Software Nursery, the Protective Environment Program, Future Leaders, Bilingualism, the Infrastructure team, the Educational Quality Observatory, the Undersecretary of Planning and Human Talent. They also indicated that Juan Esteban Grisales, former director of Human Talent, leads one of the WhatsApp groups.
According to the sources, in a department with wide influence of Corredor, there are also others closer to the secretary Alexandra Agudelo, however in the eyes of all this group is among the spoiled. Among them there are several who coordinated the Corredor sancochadas and custards in December.
For some contractors, the aggravating circumstance is that the Secretary’s mission revealed a lack of planning for this school validity since last year, which would have led to problems such as those that occurred days before classes began in the Arenys coverage schools in Mar, from Blanquizal, and the Business Center, from San Antonio de Prado. They say that they were foreseeable situations from before November.
The truth is that contractors feel more and more that their employment depends on support for Corredor and they see the election year as complex in this dynamic. Some said that Óscar Pasos would be the liaison with Sebastián Flórez, a man who does not belong to the entity, but since he is trusted by the former councilor, he would decide on hiring personnel in the Secretariat.
They also experience fear because there are precedents for dismissals without clear reasons, as was the case of 49 administrative assistants whose contracts were not renewed, which led even the Union of Teacher Directors of the Department of Antioquia (Usdidea) to send a letter letter to Secretary Agudelo to express concern regarding this trend.
Political sources have said that Corredor is the most projected to be Quintero’s candidate for mayor, among a deck integrated by former secretaries Andree Uribe and Juan Carlos Upegui, and that an internal consultation would direct the anointed.
In this move would also be sectors of the Liberal and Conservative parties. The first with the wing of the former congressman and candidate for Governor, Julián Bedoya, and the second with the senator and national director of the party, Carlos Andrés Trujillo. They would try to give endorsements to other figures, such as the government councilor Lucas Cañas, to later form a coalition.
EL COLOMBIANO consulted the Ministry of Education and former councilor Albert Corredor regarding these complaints, but none responded. For now, the contractors are waiting to find out what will happen to the new contracts, how long they will last, who they will leave out and what is the specific purpose of asking Twitter users.
