The leaders reaffirmed the popular mandate and their will to make peace a reality in all communities.
The departmental administrations of recent periods promised to fight for peace in Cauca and coined slogans such as: ‘Cauca says yes to peace’, ‘Security for life and peace’, ‘Safe municipalities in collective harmony’, ‘ Territorial Peace’, ‘Cauca territory of peace’, ‘Sustainability and territorial equity for peace’, ‘Resilience and peace, in addition to multiple meetings and temporary security councils, meanwhile insecurity continued and continues to grow in the department, the multiplication of groups outside the Law, called ELN guerrillas, FARC dissidents, a subversive group that does not seem to have demobilized in this area of the country with the Peace Agreement of the Santos Government.
The truth is that everything has remained on paper, in speeches, in promises, in departmental development plans, because a true peace policy has not been designed, much less strategies taking into account the reality of the department as a whole. and the subregions with their particularities and needs. There has not been a real spokesperson for Cauca before the high Government with concrete proposals and work – not plaintive ones – that force national bodies to invest in this region and, at the same time, combat groups outside the Law. In In this area of the country, the regional government, whatever it may be, and also the squalid unions, think that, with new massacres, invasion of farms with destruction of their infrastructure, the recurrent takeover of the Panamericana, among other tragedies, Cauca is heard with simple statements, when they fail to convene or have any political effect, meanwhile, the department continues to be plagued by all the violence.
Called by the new governor of Cauca, Octavio Guzmán Gutiérrez, the first meeting of mayors of the department was held, called “Popular Governance and Guarantees for Life and Peace”, which is expected not to remain in the first impulse and much less in another government slogan.
According to information, this first summit of local leaders, which is the beginning of a new era of collaboration and joint development, was attended by mayors, secretaries of Government and Planning of the municipalities, press officers, officials of the Autonomous Corporation Regional of Cauca (CRC), members of the Departmental Assembly of Cauca, public forces, among other actors and organizations.
In his speech, the regional president referred to the materialization of “long-sought dreams for the department’s road infrastructure, such as the construction of the dual carriageway of the Panamericana Sur to Popayán and the ring road of the Colombian massif, key projects that will be worked on.” under a mandate of unity. Let’s make the great alliance for popular governance and guarantees for life and peace.”
The objective of the meeting was to review the priority issues of each locality, get to know the government teams and develop three technical moments: the first, focused on the projection of the Departmental Development Plan, its axes and the preliminary schedule of workshops by region; Second, regarding the environmental planning by the CRC, and the third moment, between government secretaries, public forces, the Prosecutor’s Office, Legal Medicine, the National Land Agency, among others. These instances must be effective in terms of institutional articulation and prioritization of peace and life from the projection of social investment and joint work for security and citizen coexistence.
Conclusions of the meeting:
will be managed territorial planning, to update planning instruments that need to be harmonized with the environmental, economic, social and cultural realities of the communities. Promote the popular and community economy as an axis of transformation to improve income, prioritizing the peasant, indigenous and Afro-descendant communities of the department, generating alternatives for substitution and productive transformation. Manage strategic investment aimed at strengthening territorial connectivity. Paths for competitiveness and for the improvement of the living conditions of communities. Promote tourism in all its forms, as a dynamizer of local economies and a scenario for the recovery of the social fabric. HE will consolidate environmental management and we will be firm water defenders as a fundamental right for communities. Priority will be given to productive model of the territories, with food security, peasant economy, respecting the interculturality of the communities. Institutional political action focused on generate conditions for the reduction of social gaps and the reduction of extreme poverty. Project management for community aqueducts is essential, in order to guarantee access to drinking water and basic sanitation in all communities. It will promote human security and citizen coexistence to improve social conditions in the territories and reduce conflicts and violence.
Peace, protection and conservation of biodiversity and the strengthening of the Public Force in community coordination will guide institutional action. The recreation, sports and culture They will be guides in the construction of coexistence laboratories so that young people are not vulnerable. HE educational conditions will improve of all boys, girls, young people and adolescents, through strategies for permanence in the system and building routes and opportunities for effective transition to higher education and increasing coverage and supply in the territories. We will work as a team to strengthen the Hospital Public Network and public health with the need for a primary health care model with an ethnic-territorial approach and the promotion of research projects on issues of innovation, telemedicine, quality and service provision.
Finally, Governor Octavio Guzmán Gutiérrez and the mayors of Cauca reaffirmed the popular mandate and will for peace be a reality in all communities. Being aware that without social investment there is no possibility of pacifying the regions, and that it is imperative to work for the life and dignity of the Caucanos.