The Centro Esperanza Coalition is once more involved in problems that would affect the interests of the movement to reach the Casa de Nariño. This March 24, a sentence of the Constitutional Court issued in 2012 began to circulate in which it is ordered to deny Luis Gilberto Murillo, Sergio Fajardo’s current vice-presidential formula, the opportunity to hold any public office for the rest of his life. Murillo’s campaign explained that this decision was finally lifted.
In the sentence, which extends over 48 pages and was issued in 2013, it is explained that, when Murillo was director of the Regional Autonomous Corporation for the Sustainable Development of the Department of Chocó (Codechocó), incurred in embezzlement by diverting resources that were defined in the State budget. The politician used five million pesos to repair the roof of a school in Andagoya when the money was for mining sanitation.
For this reason, the Superior Court of Quibdó sentenced Murillo to six months in prison. It should be noted that more than a decade later, a much deeper case was opened once morest him that ended with his disqualification.
The process began in 2011 and was created precisely to request the inability of Murillo. In the end, in 2013, the measure was granted and the politician was dismissed, since at that time he held the position of governor of Chocó for the second time.
It should be noted that Murillo filed an action to annul the deduction, but the Supreme Court denied it, so the Constitutional Court later confirmed (in ruling SU917/13) the decision to suspend him for life. It is explained that the ruling is adapted to the decision of the State Council that denies him the principle of favorability to apply for public office, and that he was dismissed in 2012 because his inability was still in force.
Despite this, according to the campaign of Luis Gilberto Murillo, this decision was finally canceled and the political leader was exonerated in 2015. A sign that this decision was not applied is that in 2016 he was appointed as Minister of the Environment by President Juan Manuel Santos, and until the end of his government, two years later, he was able to exercise without controversy due to the inability
LThe Oversight Network asked the Council of State and the National Electoral Council (CNE) not to endorse Murillo’s registration as Fajardo’s co-team member. The request must be evaluated by the competent entities in the coming weeks, but according to Murillo’s campaign, the Oversight Network “remained in the past.”
It should be noted that this request was filed one day following Murillo and Fajardo formally registered their presidential candidacy with the General Registry of Civil Status.
Fajardo has been emphatic in saying that Murillo has all the conditions to become the vice president of Colombia. He praised his academic training and the contribution he can make to solve the problems of the different regions of the country.
“He was the best bachelor in his department, mining engineer, master’s in engineering sciences, governor of his department, director of the presidential program ‘We are all Pacific’, minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, visiting professor at MIT (Instituto Tecnológico Massachusetts), consultant to the United States Development Agency. Fajardo said.
Until now no member of the Centro Esperanza Coalition has spoken regarding the document that would prevent Murillo from being Fajardo’s formula.
It should be noted that, if Murillo is ordered to withdraw as Fajardo’s teammate, the latter must choose another person to accompany him in this electoral race. Days before the politician from Chocó was confirmed as his vice-presidential formula, there was talk that the communicator Mabel Lara or the senator Juanita Goebertus might accompany Fajardo in his aspiration.
This situation must be defined soon, since the country is two months away from the first presidential round. So far there are nine candidates, with their respective formulas, aspiring to reach the House of Nariño.
KEEP READING:
