Backed by the Historical Pact coalition and close to President Gustavo Petro through the Human Youth movement, this young man from Neiva wants to reach the Neiva Council.
HUILA DIARY, POLITICS
By: Maria Camila Mosquera M.
With only 23 years of age, the environmental leader César Augusto Oviedo Gómez, seeks to reach the Neiva Council, where he hopes to work for the environment and youth.
Why do you want to be part of the Neiva Council?
I am currently leading a collective process. César Oviedo’s candidacy responds to the interests and dreams of a group of young people who, from an early age, have initiated processes for alternative sectors, community processes, social, environmental and community activism, we have always led the alternative causes, but we were the ones behind the candidates, so this year we made the decision to take the banners that we have walked and worked for instead of helping other candidates possess.
I am part of a process called Human Youth, which is a group that is very close to President Gustavo Petro, although many people do not know me, I am close to the president’s structure and we have made the decision to run for the Neiva Council because we have work. Here, we have worked in the 10 communes and the eight corregimientos.
What has been that work that you have done in the communes of the Huilense capital?
In the Seis, Ocho and Diez communes we have worked a lot on the environmental process with the theme of recovery of green areas, forest planting, community empowerment. We have a special case in the south and it was very nice because we recovered some hectares that were abandoned, the whole community called it Neiva’s second sanitary landfill, we did a survey in the neighborhood that if they agreed that the neighborhood should be like this and we started a process of recovery of that green zone and now it is seen that people do it alone and care about their sector, on weekends community kitchens were set up and they share a meal, a sancocho, a Huilense barbecue, that shows that the Empowerment is important and now the idea is to articulate it with the institutional framework. I think that the Concejo de Neiva corporation has lacked a bit of getting out of those walls and going to the neighborhoods to listen to the people, their needs and problems. All communes are different, there is great diversity, there are people from very high strata, others from low strata, but we all fit in the same territory called Neiva.
What would be your flags within the Council of Neiva?
It would be the youth, clearly we have a process with the municipal youth platform and at the national level we are working closely with the Ministry of Colombia Joven, also the environmental issue in 2018 I obtained recognition from the Government of Huila as a youth leader of the environment and sustainability and finally it would be the communal theme, we believe that the Community Action Boards are in deep neglect, we want to articulate the National Development Plan that created very important elements that must be adapted to our municipality as the theme of popular economies, it was the issue of solidarity agreements where President Gustavo Petro wants to focus a lot on strengthening the Community Action Boards to the entire community estate as such.
I think that Neiva clearly has a very high level of abandonment and it is in the POT, currently the municipal government is advancing one, but we do not know if this is really the one that is going to come out ahead, but we do need a Land Management Plan where it is planned in the medium and long term because there is the route that Neiva’s vision will take, I think that is the most urgent thing today, there are other issues that must go hand in hand with the Departmental and National Government and it is institutional accompaniment, today there is an issue of deep inequality, sometimes what is happening in communes such as Seis and Ocho where the crisis has increased due to insecurity does not come out, but also the issue that around 80,000 Neivanos are not eating three times up to date, and that is why there are other actions that come from there and that are not only going to be solved with a military presence, but there must also be a cultural commitment, of a social fabric that surrounds these sectors in matters of food and health. So those would be the flags, that there be an updated POT and also adapt the process of the National Development Plan with the municipal one, I think there are tools that can help Neiva to progress and be a world power of life.
What is the message that you leave for Neivans to support you in this candidacy?
The invitation is for you to get to know a little more about César Oviedo, I have done a lot of social work, but I have not used it for electoral politics, so that you know my social networks, where I come from. I am currently completing a degree thanks to a university scholarship, I was one of the best Icfes in 2016, the invitation is for you to get to know this noble profile that wants to reach the Neiva Council to present the needs of the people, I am visiting the communes, listening to the needs because I think that before talking about proposals you have to know the territory I don’t want to disguise myself as a traditional politician because they don’t listen to the people, when I’m in commune Ocho, in El Caguan, people say politicians only get here twice three days before and I tell them that those are not politicians, but politicians. So the invitation is for them to get to know a little more about César Oviedo and to give him the opportunity to represent them in the Concejo de Neiva corporation.
Who is Cesar Oviedo?
I am 23 years old, I am finishing my degree in Environmental Engineering at the Universidad Navarra, I had the opportunity to enter a few semesters at the Universidad Surcolombiana, but due to not having economic sustainability, I am withdrawing, but I am almost graduating and I will be the first professional in my family this means that you can get ahead. Clearly, education is a privilege for few, that is why I was accompanying the different youths who came out to mobilize when the social outbreak happened, also respecting the institutional framework, but understanding the feeling of the youth who came out to express themselves because we do not have an education with clear rights. .