The mayor of Neiva, German Casagua, acknowledges that he is analyzing making a loan to finance works in terms of security, road network and educational and sports infrastructure. He says that, unlike his predecessor Gorky Muñoz, his debt “will not be a blank check.” The president also talks about the FARC dissidents and the controversial cadastral management agreement with the ESIP.
Jesus Antonio Rojas Serrano
“I would present to the Council a project with detailed, in-depth engineering, with clear financing sources, with execution times, so that people are not going to tell me that Casagua presented us with a blank check.” In this way, the mayor of Neiva, German Casagua, acknowledges that he is analyzing making a loan to finance works in terms of security, road network and educational and sports infrastructure.
The president visited the facilities of Diario LA NACIÓN and was present at an editorial board, the space in which the newspaper’s journalists debate the news that is covered in the printed edition, the website and social networks.
After this week’s terrorist attack on Calle Decima and Avenida La Toma, what is the security situation in Neiva? What relationship is there with the FARC dissidents and the collection of extortions?
I was at the JEP in Bogotá on Monday and there the call I made to the government was this: it is a secret to no one that there are very well-organized dissidents and groups outside the law that are on the perimeter of our city. That goes beyond the scope that as mayor I may have to make decisions against these armed groups that are intimidating many citizens. I told all the military and police staff and representatives of the national government who were there: people turn to us so that we can guarantee their security, but we need you to help us because the merchants and mayors are being summoned in Vegalarga, in Baraya. and Colombia. We know where they are because the merchants are summoned to the same sidewalk. We have all the security plans, but what can we do?
What is known about the person who threw the grenade?
It is being analyzed because the actions of the person seen in the videos are those of a person with no experience in this type of manipulation. It is being investigated. In an extraordinary security council that we held, we decreed a reward of up to $5 million for anyone who gives us information about this subject. Right there, we were accompanied by a representative of Inpec who is in charge of 9 departments; We ask her for the favor that the person captured in Algeciras, like another detainee who had arrived from Medellín to handle drug trafficking, be transferred to other prisons in the country due to the risk they represent. This last person made us mutiny in the old Alpina cellars; She has economic power and we had to mobilize the full force of the Police to contain this riot. We also asked her to manage the reception of 47 sentenced people that we have held in this temporary detention center.
Beyond this entire complex panorama related to the FARC dissidents, what concrete plans are there to really protect the Neivans?
One of them is the strengthening of the Police force. There are 80 more uniformed personnel who would arrive at the end of the year, but they have not yet confirmed us. The other project is security cameras; this project yes or yes. We need technological strengthening for security and that is with cameras with facial and license plate recognition software. It is a project that could cost between $12,000 million and $14,000 million. Currently, of 190 security cameras, we have 80 in operation.
Why were the mobile CAIs not seen again in the neighborhoods and communes of Neiva?
Mobile CAIs are what people are asking us for the most. We are going to allocate money to maintain them and get them up and running again. We need these CAIs. There are 14 CAIs that already exist, but are stranded due to lack of maintenance. They are CAIs that have been abandoned and to which the Mayor’s Office must make an investment to put them into operation. Last time, they used the money from the Security Fund to hire personnel; They hired five security analysts. And they did not use the money for maintenance, fuel and technology.
How do you see the Police and the Army today?
I could provide all the tools, but if there is no commitment on the part of the Police, it is very boar. The most important thing we have achieved so far is the commitment that has been awakened in the Police from the colonels on down. This topic, for me, is fundamental. Seeing that Colonel Castillo of the Metropolitan Police, Colonel Uribe of the Tenerife Battalion, go out to lead the operations until 4 and 5 in the morning, that had never been seen, as the police themselves said. That the same colonel goes out with the mayor and the Army colonel motivates all the staff.
Let’s now talk about municipal public finances, how do you plan to finance your Development Plan?
People come with a distrust in the public. And what we are telling them is to trust this government. The invitation is to pay your taxes. Our commitment is that we are going to invest that money in the best way. The Mayor’s Office now has an app for Neiva residents to pay taxes from their cell phone and from anywhere in the world.
What else do you plan to do to have money for works?
We are going to present a fiscal consolidation plan to the Ministry of Finance because the deficit is overwhelming in the city. Government after government, the Municipality had been presenting a deficit of $20,000 million or $25,000 million, but we received a deficit of $98,000 million. We have 6,500 accounts payable. There are a lot of people telling me: Pay me! Pay me!
In what specific cases will there be austerity?
The Mayor’s Office has been paying $270 million monthly for surveillance in the city’s public educational institutions; The analysis we are doing is to reduce that amount and only pay $140 million; There we are going to save a huge amount of money. We are going to replace surveillance with security cameras and alarms. In the Mayor’s Office, for example, on the first floor there are three security guards and in the Mayor’s office there was another, we dismantled that to save money. It was the same when it came to cleaners. But, the biggest austerity plan we have had is in the hiring of payroll personnel. For example, of the 21 secretaries, I only appointed 14. The other thing that the municipal administration had done was create 127 positions of free appointment and removal; I have only named 65 and I am not going to name more. If I wanted to I would name them, but I don’t have the money to do so. In terms of service provision contracts, the secretariats are operating with 30% of what the previous administration was operating.
At some point you are going to need constant and solid money to do work, have you thought about taking out a loan?
Yes I have thought about it, it is being analyzed.
How much would that debt be?
That will be determined by the Municipality’s debt capacity. It is already being analyzed, as is our ability to pay. I always said it: I am never opposed to a Municipality going into debt. When the previous administration presented the debt projects, I always said: that is not bad; All citizens at some point have gone into debt; What is wrong is when a loan is made and it is not clear what it is going to be spent on. When a citizen is called by a bank and told that he has a pre-approved loan and he irresponsibly receives it without knowing what he is going to invest it in and spends the money. And it is a bigger problem if you do not calculate whether you have the capacity to pay that loan in the future. That was what I criticized and questioned about the previous administration: I am not opposed to you going into debt, but tell me clearly what you are going to spend the money on. But, they never told us. Here in Neiva we have very serious problems in terms of security, road network and educational and sports infrastructure; There are four fundamental pillars in which we have to invest. I know that if I tell the people of Neiva at a certain time that I am going to make a loan for ‘x’ amount and that so much money is going to be invested in this school, so many kilometers of road network are going to be recovered and so many cameras, they approve of that. The problem is when the money is not seen.
I insist on something: aren’t you afraid that people will end up criticizing you for making a loan, when that was what you, from the Council, most questioned your predecessor Gorky Muñoz?
No. In my interventions in the Council from the beginning I warned: I will never oppose the Municipality going into debt; The important thing is that that money is well invested. I would present to the Council a project with detailed, in-depth engineering, with clear financing sources, with execution times, so that people are not going to tell me that Casagua presented us with a blank check.
One more issue, what is going to happen in the end with the controversial cadastral management agreement signed by your predecessor with the ESIP? Are you going to back off?
I have always considered that this was a contract that seeks to greatly favor the private sector. I am clear about that and I have always said it, but, obviously, there is already a legal issue involved. One thing is what the contract establishes and the other is the legal form to undo it. For example, I found out until recently that on December 28, Neiva had signed an agreement with the municipality of Ocaña, Norte de Santander, so that the capital of Huila would advance the multipurpose cadastre in that municipality; They never told us at the junction. I believe that the public lighting there is operated by the same company that operates it here in Neiva. This week, our team met with the mayor of Ocaña and our intention is to settle this agreement by common agreement. We are not going to lend ourselves to that. And the disposition of the mayor of Ocaña is the same.
Is it difficult to back out of that cadastral management contract?
I am waiting for the legal team to determine me. I told them that they are the people with the experience and knowledge; I am a civil engineer and you are the lawyers. And I’m waiting for them to give me a concept on that. I also asked a professional specialized in contracting issues for another concept to make a well-reasoned decision.
