After a long year I returned to my dear Valledupar, the reasons that motivate my absence are different, but there is nothing that can detach me from my native origin, being a Vallenato is my imperishable pride, it is an inalienable feeling that keeps my eyes open, to to see what happens there, even if I am far away.
On this occasion the traffic conspired to change the route, it was not Simón Bolívar Avenue or Carrera 19, the usual route to reach my destination. I walked along Calle 44 until I reached the roundabout of the obelisk, to take the avenue of the military. Before arriving at the chicha maya roundabout, I thought that those sectors remained the same, that they had not changed, but when I saw the La Gota Fría high performance center, the impression changed, I felt excited in another place. The exterior of these sports venues elevates the status of the city and places Valledupar in privileged places to organize national and international sporting events.
My good impressions with the sports venues are combined with the sadness of the departure of the Valledupar Fútbol Club, for Soacha, a municipality near Bogotá and the most populous in the department of Cundinamarca. The sports outcome is related to the business weakness we have in Valledupar. Soccer is a business with a corporate connotation, after 20 years the vallenatos could not keep the team in the city, according to the shareholders due to economic problems and lack of support at a public and private level. That this happens should call our attention to all, in order to resolve a worrying and unbearable question such as the high temperatures of those days: Why is Valledupar not attractive to investors?
Finishing the afternoon of my arrival in Valledupar, I was at the Paisaje de Sol events center. I went to witness the depreciation of a citizen participation mechanism. The open council called, “Insufficiency in the Social Development of the Municipality of Valledupar”, ended up being a committee of applause from the rostrum related to the municipal government, leveraged with the presentations and by the permission of the president of the Municipal Council. The hard-working and courageous promoter José Enrique Gutiérrez Londoño lacked better preparation and accompaniment. It is likely that many people in the city understand what an open town hall consists of and what its purpose is.
Due to the long time without going to my city, I was determined to observe what in the distance lacks detail. I went through the emblematic Alfonso López square again, I think it majestic, but wasted as a suitable setting for tourism. This waste is inherent to the historic center of the city, despite its redesign, loneliness is its main visitor. They will say that it was my impression, there will also be voices with good reason blaming insecurity. This scourge is undoubtedly cornering the country’s cities and putting a brake on progress.
The parks of Algarrobillos and the province have an inhospitable charm, the darkness of the night is sheltered by the stars that dare to appear to clarify the paths, but they are insufficient to generate the feeling of security provided by the artificial light of public lighting. Sports venues and leisure parks favor the tourist industry, but their position is slow as criminals lurk and the implementation of public lighting is delayed.
Returning to Valledupar, is, meeting the brightness of the perpetual snow of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the whisper of the crystalline waters of the Guatapurí River, the vegetation that borders it, to have inspiring elements that allow me to believe in a better and modern city, free from the bond of backwardness, to face changes and trends with the same brave characteristic that describes its historical journey. What I saw in those days I liked, it allows me to believe that we are capable of reversing the precarious socioeconomic indicators, starting from a holistic vision that relegates electoral ambition and with a long-term focus.
By Luis Elquis Diaz.