06/07/2024
The Special Assets Society (SAE) ignited a controversy this Friday due to an initiative that would aim to hand over hotel establishments to young people who participated in the protests that shook the country in 2021, among them some who would have been part of the group known as the First Line.
While from that entity of the National Government said program is defended as a “public-popular” alliance to reach out to young people who were persecuted during those protests, also known as the social outbreak, for several local political leaders it would be nothing more than a reward for those who committed crimes on these days, attacking the Public Force and public and private property.
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According to what has emerged, the assets included in the initiative would be at least three hotels located in areas with a high flow of tourists such as Carrera 70, in Laureles, and El Poblado.
This Friday’s controversy began due to statements made by the territorial director of the Western section of the SAE, Luis Mauricio Urquijo Tejada, during a visit to the Antioquia neighborhood, in Medellín, in which that entity gave several citizen corporations a dozens of properties as part of a productivity project.
“With the young people of the Front Line we have established dialogues with the purpose of making public-popular alliances for the creation of public value. We are convinced that youth have been persecuted and the SAE is trying to shake their hand”, expressed Urquijo, in statements delivered to Noticias Telemedellín, starting a strong controversy.
One of the first organizations to express its objections to these alliances was the Association of Retired Police Officers of Antioquia, which described them as an affront.
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“We are concerned that the National Government announces that in various parts of the country, especially in Medellín, they are going to give SAE goods to those populations that do not represent Colombians, that have done harm to the citizens, to the industry, that have paralyzed the cities and have even caused deaths,” said Jhon Fabio Castaño, vice president of that local association to El Tiempo, warning that if this project continues firmly they would be willing to leave. to the last judicial consequences to stop it and prove its illegality.
Along with Castaño, several corporations from the Medellín Council also rejected that the protesters of the social outbreak could end those assets in their possession.
This is what Councilor Alejandro de Bedout Arango, from the group of the We Believe movement, proposed, for example, considering that the message that the National Government would be giving to young people would be to not be afraid to participate in blockades, burnings and attacks against the Public Force. , since instead of a sanction they would be “awarded.”
“Last week, some meetings were held by the SAE with members of the First Line here in Medellín, these people who were at the time in the social outbreak and were blocking, burning and attacking officials and the Public Force. Now they want to reward them by granting them loans from some hotels so that they can operate them. “This generates indignation and hopelessness. How are they going to reward these young people who currently have criminal proceedings for everything they did?” questioned the politician.
According to De Bedout, after investigating the issue, he detected a series of corporations that were allegedly serving as a bridge to make these deliveries possible.
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“The SAE cannot grant these assets to a natural person, but must meet a series of requirements. There is a corporation called Nelson Mandela, which is a paper corporation, which does not have information reported in 2019, 2022, 2023, much less in 2024,” the councilor added, maintaining that based on that context there would be no guarantees for the correct operation of those hotels.
In his opinion, given that the organizations that receive these hotels should have the financial capacity and experience to operate them, these requirements would be ignored.
As it appears in the data of the Single Business Registry (Rues), said corporation is listed as a non-profit entity established in July 2001, with headquarters in Medellín and legally represented by Julio Ricardo Mosquera Murillo.
To find out their version on the subject, EL COLOMBIANO contacted said organization, from where its president refused to have any relationship with the young people of the First Line and asserted that everything would be a fallacy to damage their image.
“That is totally false. We as an organization since 2022, when the SAE opened a call for social organizations and community actions, one presented their project and filled out some forms. That was what was awarded last week to ten organizations in Antioquia, including the corporation. I don’t know who those young people are, we have nothing to do with that.”said Mosquera Murillo.
For its part, after the controversy broke out, the SAE issued a second statement in which it defended its initiative and maintained that the property delivery process would be supported by a “rigorous” administrative procedure, refraining from providing further details about the assets and the beneficiaries.
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Faced with the objections of the veterans of the Public Force, the entity invited them to “present” their proposals for the use of these assets and indicated that it was willing to “sit” at a table to explain their project.
“The Special Assets Society has established various spaces for dialogue and work with youth organizations, with young people from the student movement, but of course also with young people who belonged to the social outbreak and we have also sat down to talk to make different public alliances. popular with victims’ organizations, with signatories of the peace agreement, with public forces,” added director Urquijo Tejada.
To know in detail the identity of the organizations involved in this delivery of goods and the names of the hotels in question, EL COLOMBIANO sent a request to the SAE, but until the time of publication of this article it did not receive a response.
