June 5, 2023, 3:34 PM
June 5, 2023, 3:34 PM
The mayor of the city of Tarija, Johnny Torres, was ratified as co-chair of the Latin American Federation of Cities, Municipalities and Local Government Associations (FLACMA) for the period 2023 – 2026.
His election took place in the Ordinary General Assembly of that institution that was held from June 1 to 2 in San Jose Costa Rica).
“The fundamental challenge is to reduce the levels of centralism that are very strong in governments, as in the case of Bolivia, and for that we are asking that the legislation in each country establish that in the municipal case a donation does not go through the central level of the State, but rather by some kind of entity to verify the legality of the economic funds,” said Torres in an interview with EL DEBER.
In his opinion, this obstacle should be eliminated if it is an economic donation in favor of a municipality.
The mayor of Tarija and current president of the Association of Municipalities of Bolivia (AMB) agrees that it go through the State level if external financing compromises the indebtedness of the municipal institution.
Likewise, he said that another challenge of his mandate in FLACMA is the fight against poverty and exclusion.
“For example, Haiti is going through a difficult situation and where the president was killed some time ago and now nobody wants to be president because it is a country dominated by mafias,” lamented Torres.
Neighboring countries in the Caribbean, according to the building authority, expressed their clamor for FLACMA to intercede in this nation and see what can be done to improve its current reality.
In the three years in office, Torres’s co-presidency will be focused on issues of decentralization, municipal autonomy and search for financing.
