In politics you only need to lose to start a lawsuit. The reasons for doing so are sought. The important thing is to want to recover on the platforms what was not achieved at the polls.
Only in this way could we explain the epidemic of lawsuits that these days, a handful of rich lawyers have, at the point of lawsuits and defenses, and “grabbed”, to the politicians, who dispute on the administrative benches, seats and dignities as leaders .
The topic is so recurring that there is even talk of an entire cartel of lawyers, dedicated to suing and defending. The truth is I can’t say that they agree, although apparently they do.
In some cases it is so evident that the lawyers look for the politician’s “sin”, and they explain through third parties the possibilities that exist to file a lawsuit, and the “client” comes to them with the hope of achieving the aim. Some pay to sue, others to defend, but in any case, local politics became a circus of demands, where what no longer matters, but how.
And there are many cases, but I am going to refer to some in particular that have caught my attention. The first is the one that has the Mayor of Rivera, Luis Humberto Alvarado, provisionally suspended today. He won the elections last October by almost 1,000 votes, against José Luis Bahamón, who had already been mayor and was seeking to be elected again. However, being accused of embezzlement by appropriation by the Prosecutor’s Office, and execution of a contract without complying with legal requirements, in an oral trial for the irregular sale of a municipal land to a private individual, when he was already mayor, undermined those possibilities.
Bahamón lost as he had already lost four years ago against Jhon Jairo Yepes, but this time he did not accept the opposition seat in the Council, and instead sued Alvarado, with the argument he used in the campaign, which is that for him , the elected president was disqualified from running for office because he was the son of the rector of the USCO, Nidia Guzmán. Five lawsuits were filed against Alvarado, once he won, three were not admitted, another, under the same arguments, was denied the precautionary measure of suspension, and the next one ended up partially removing Alvarado Guzmán from office.
At first glance, anyone would say that the lawsuit would not succeed. The USCO is a national public university based in Neiva, and there would be no way for this to generate administrative authority in Rivera, to favor the young politician. However, the plaintiffs have relied on agreements and contracts signed prior to the date of registration of the candidates, with departmental action status, to justify an alleged favoritism. The truth is that while this lawsuit is being resolved in depth, Rivera is currently with the Mayor in charge.
The other case that has been talked about these days is that of Yamil Sanabria, who has just had the precautionary measure accepted that also provisionally separates him from his position. For Yamil, top vote-getter on the list led by Mayor Germán Casagua, his “sin” is that his brother, José Euripides Sanabria, is head of the USCO Human Talent office. And although the university is based in Neiva, it is national and not local, but even so, the measure was decreed, and while he appeals, he must be out of his seat for a time. Thus, the Neiva Council that will study the Development Plan will be made up not of 19, but of 17 councilors, after the suspension that Abel Mendoza, the councilor in the video in which he shows wads of bills and weapons, also received.
But Sanabria and Mendoza are not the only defendants. They are joined by Cristian Bautista, Ramiro Vidal, Johan Steed Ortiz, Felipe Trujillo, Sebastian Camacho, and Jesús Garzón, who also have their credentials demanded and in almost all cases, by those next on their lists.
In the Assembly, there is a similar panorama. Rodrigo Lara and President Victoria Castro were also sued, in this last case, for having been elected councilor four years ago, by the significant group Neiva Primero, and without having renounced it, she allegedly aspired for the Liberal Party to the Assembly.
And not to mention the seat of the demands, that of Radical Change to the Chamber. Víctor Andrés Tovar was elected two years ago with more than 40,000 votes as Representative. A year later he was removed from his position due to a demand for electoral annulment, because his mother was mayor of Tarqui, and this would disqualify him. His place was assumed by Jorge Tito Murcia, who was third on the list with 15,000 votes, and would have been the one who demanded Tovar’s seat. However, he was not even there for the full year and was separated by another demand for electoral annulment, for not having resigned in time from the Conservative party, to which he belonged, before aspiring for Radical Change to the Chamber. In her place came Luz Aida Pastrana, who with more than 4,000 votes, became the third woman representative for Huila. They say that she was the one who sued Murcia, however it has only been two months and she already has three lawsuits, two of them already admitted and the third under study, for not having resigned, presumably with sufficient notice, from the position of General Secretary of the Council From neiva. Apparently who would be behind his demand is former congressman Orlando Beltrán, who came second on the list of the Historical Pact, the second most voted, and who would apparently assume Pastrana’s seat, if he leaves, however he may. Below her there is no one else voting.
The truth is that if before the financing of a campaign was already the trigger for influencing corruption (seeking money through third parties to invest in a campaign and then returning it through favoring contracts, or favors), the demands have worsened this situation. I know of cases in which a defense of a process can cost from 15 to 50 million pesos, also because the lawyers have agreed to unify rates, depending on the case and the “pig”, and they owe that money obtain, if they want to maintain the possibility of continuing in the position, which they had themselves elected with a lot of effort, dedication and even debt.
This being the case, our local politics fits like a glove the sound of Celia Cruz who said:
“Songo gave Borondongo
Borondongo gave Bernabé
Barnabas hit Fuchilanga, he did it to Burundanga.
Their feet swell
“Monina.”
La Napa
Regarding Victor Andrés Tovar, his case could revive in the coming months. After his departure from the Chamber, he sued and his protection passed to the Supreme Court of Justice, which among thousands of lawsuits, chose his and will now study his case, due to its atypicality, since Tovar requested concepts and made consultations before aspire, before the Public Service and the Council of State, which indicated that he would not be disqualified. The truth is that a possibility opens up, with the study, of returning to Congress, if his defense is accepted.
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By: Andrés Felipe González Díaz
Social Communicator and Journalist
Digital Communication Specialist
Political communication advisor
