2023-07-11 16:34:16
12:37 PM
The mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, reported this Tuesday that during the Flower Fair to be held this year there will be no free stands to watch the silleteros parade.
The announcement was made through his Twitter account, in which he attributed responsibility for his decision to the Medellín Council, supposedly for not having allowed him to extract additional transfers from Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) on July 3.
“Unfortunately, this year, due to the freezing of EPM resources by the Council, we will not be able to install free public stands for 25,000 people, as we did last year,” Quintero said.
Despite presenting that announcement as a fact, in his own publication the local president added that he would be looking for alliances with the private sector for the installation of these stands.
“(…) we are looking for companies willing to donate to the city in exchange for publicity for their brands. Important: It must be guaranteed that the stands remain 100% free”, said the mayor.
A politically charged ad
Although no further details of the accounts behind the decision announced by Quintero are known for now, his pronouncement comes only a week following the Medellín Council denied the Mayor’s Office to extract $330,000 million in additional transfers from EPM, which, according to the local government, were necessary for the operation of various social programs.
During the debate that took place in that corporation, which had to be postponed six times due to multiple disorders and legal controversies, one of the main controversies consisted of the use that the District would give to those resources.
According to the Mayor’s Office, then, said amount would be allocated to programs that would be underfunded, programs such as Zero Enrollment, Isvimed projects, care for the elderly, the School Food Program (PAE) and even expenses and investments in the care program to Early Childhood Good Start.
As can be read in the annexes to the draft agreement filed by the district administration, within the calculated budget allocations was one of $11.900 million for the Ministry of Culture.
On June 26, the head of that last unit, Álvaro Narváez, assured for his part through a trill that among the expenses included in this item were the calls for incentives for Art and Culture and “for the Fair de las Flores and Fiesta del Libro”.
Despite this initial justification, during the discussion in the Council, the district government was questioned for delivering that information dropper and not being clear from the beginning with this supposed deficit, which was already known before the 2023 budget was approved. .
As it was known then, although EPM made public that it would reduce its transfer expectations from $2 trillion to $1.65 trillion at the end of last March, Mayor Quintero had already been aware of those forecasts since the beginning of December 2022.
And it is that on December 13, 2022, the EPM Board of Directors (which is chaired by Mayor Quintero) approved a business plan in which a blow to profits and transfers was already predicted, at that time, calculated at $208,000 million fewer by 2023.
Despite having this information, on December 15, 2022, the Mayor’s Office decreed the 2023 budget, incorporating transfers from EPM for $2 billion.
Apart from the publication made by the mayor, around noon this Tuesday the district administration had not provided further information on the cost of the stands for the flower fair and the financial scenarios that would be anticipated.
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