In many political “groups” and “mentideros” in the Valley, the need for an urgent change in the leadership of the department is constantly mentioned, this issue is addressed as something of great regional importance, which is according to the perception of various regular participants in these spaces, a heartfelt claim of Valle del Cauca people in general.
When carrying out the exercise of visiting various municipalities of the departmental geography, support can be found for the perception of these “groups”, because when holding dialogue with ordinary people, from Valle del Cauca “on foot”, a great wear and tear is noted against the “political class” that has led the destinies of this territory in the last 20 years.
The level of wear and tear is such that apathy towards the electoral process is a widespread element that can be found in municipalities in all corners, from Cairo in the northern tip, passing through Roldanillo, Bugalagrande, Tuluá, El Cerrito, Buenaventura, Palmira. and of course Cali.
This situation is so deep that when talking in these municipalities with several of its inhabitants, there is a central element that accompanies and feeds this wear and tear: the perception that the majority of current leaders only care about benefiting the political structures that have supported their choices in recent years.
And this perception is not for less nor is it strange, since in many fields the department has lost leadership and has regressed in its advances in recent years, even in the political sphere where its relevance has been overshadowed by regions such as the Atlantic Coast, Antioquia and of course Bogota.
In economic matters, for example, the Valley has been losing steadily in aspects such as competitiveness. This is how, in the latest report from the Private Competitiveness Council led by the Universidad del Rosario, the department lost two places in the national ranking, being surpassed by Santander, Risaralda and Atlántico, areas that have historically always been behind the Valley of the Cauca.
In the same way, the department has lost participation and relevance in the national economic dynamics, since according to figures from DANE the economy of the Valley for 2010 had a participation of 11.6% of the total GDP of the country, while for the year 2022 its Participation was reduced to 9.8%, something that is undoubtedly detrimental to the economic and social well-being of the people of Valle del Cauca, since having an increasingly less relevant economy, it will inevitably be less attractive for new investments and for the retention of existing ones. , business investments that generate employment and regional development.
In terms of infrastructure, it is clear the shameful degree of deterioration of the tertiary roads of the department and even those of inter-municipal connection, to cite some examples is the road that leads from Tuluá to Barragán, the one that leads to the corregimiento of Tenerife in El Cerrito, the road that connects the municipality of Cairo with the rest of the department or not to go too far the Cali-Candelaria road, which is a true monument to the inefficiency of the Valle del Cauca public administrative exercise.
In security, without a doubt, this is a region that is in the red, so much so that according to the ranking carried out by the Citizen Council for Justice of Mexico, Valle del Cauca has three of the 50 most violent cities in the world. However, as it is a ranking that only takes into account cities with more than 300,000 inhabitants, it excludes towns such as Tuluá and Buga that have been suffering for several years from the regular scourge of violence against their inhabitants.
In the Valley, because they are thinking in the short term and in electoral calculations, local and regional leaders seem to have lost their way and have set aside medium- and long-term projections that lead to actions that seek sustainable transformations over time. that, in turn, have as their objective the development and well-being of the five million Valle del Cauca residents and not only of a small electoral group, as perceived by the inhabitants of different corners of the department.
It is time that Valle del Cauca began to think and act differently, and that change must come from the leadership of public entities such as the Assembly, the Governor’s Office, the Mayor’s Offices and the municipal councils, it is time to begin to give a real generational change, a new generation of leaders that is capable of taking the flags of a true transformation and that has the full will and capacity to get “hands on”.
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