One of the aspects dealt with by Gustavo Petro during the campaign that led to his election last Sunday as the next president of Colombia was the resumption of diplomatic, political and commercial relations with Venezuela.
In this context, the future of the Colombian-Venezuelan company Monómeros will be one of the great challenges for the left-wing leader, especially due to the troubled situation in which the Pequiven subsidiary has found itself since 2019, when the government of Iván Duque decided to grant the management of the industry to the self-proclaimed president of the Republic, Juan Guaidó.
Monomeros Colombo Venezolanos, which supplies approximately 45% of the
fertilizers that are used for agricultural production in the neighboring country, then became one of the fundamental elements in the battlefield waged by the Government of Venezuela, led by President Nicolás Maduro, and his staunch opponents from the extreme right, who They capitalized on their ideological ties to Duque, with the backing of the United States government, to illegally manage the resources generated by the binational petrochemical industry.
Also, the crisis caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has brought among its
consequences the scarcity and increase in the prices of fertilizers (and therefore a considerable rise in the value of food) and a rethinking of the marketing strategy of these inputs in the world.
This is how the figure of Monómeros becomes vitally important beyond the Colombian sphere and could become an alternative for the fertilizer crisis; However, its hierarchical and organizational structure must first be defined once Petro assumes power, but above all, its true financial situation must be clarified during its management by Guaidó’s chips.
Corruption Complaints
It should be remembered that in September 2021 the Colombian Superintendence of Companies required the board of directors to inform it of its decisions due
to the alleged irregular management by the ad hoc board.
The measure was announced in the midst of President Nicolás Maduro’s claim to regain control of the company, as part of the negotiations that took place in Mexico with the opposition.
On May 25, José Luis Pirela, who was a deputy for the opposition to the National Assembly during the period 2015-2020, presented a document to the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office in which he denounced the company’s board of directors, and especially its general manager and legal representative, Guillermo Rodríguez Lamprea, about the alleged commission of various crimes, including theft, private corruption, unfair administration, and improper use of privileged information for personal gain.
According to information that appeared in various Colombian media, Rodríguez Lamprea would have entered into contracts, even with shell companies linked to Leopoldo López’s group.
Also last May, in the midst of the Colombian electoral campaign, the recently
elected vice president of the country, Francia Márquez, openly accused the board of
Monómeros and Juan Guaidó to go bankrupt the company, a situation that, in his opinion, has resulted in an increase in the price of food.
The supply problem in Colombia is part of what is making the cost of the family shopping basket more expensive. There were two companies here, Ferticol and Monómeros in Barranquilla.
Monómeros is a Colombian-Venezuelan company, which due to the conflict between Venezuela and
Colombia, politicians broke the company, handed it over to (Juan) Guaidó, who
as interim president he broke it.”
Petro with the last word
The president-elect, Gustavo Petro, has repeatedly expressed his position against Iván Duque’s decision to allow Juan Guaidó and his allies to take over the management of the Monómeros company, which legally
It should be in the hands of the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
In addition, he joined the series of complaints about acts of corruption committed by his
managers. “The fertilizers of a good part of Colombian agriculture depended on Colombo/Venezuelan Monómeros, the company Duque gave it to Guaidó after expropriating it and it was stolen. Now fertilizers cost Colombian farmers twice as much, ”the leader of the Historical Pact wrote about it in a message through his Twitter account.
The cards are then laid and it is enough to wait for Gustavo Petro to settle in the Palace of Nariño to, first of all, and in fulfillment of his promise to restore relations with Venezuela at all levels, return the administration of Monómeros to the Government. of Venezuela and in turn demand that the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office and the competent agencies of that country initiate an in-depth investigation to determine the degree of administrative and criminal responsibility that those who were designated for its administration since 2019 may have.
Contradiction
The current director of Monómeros has insisted that the company has been financially and operationally successful since it became managed by Guaidó and in this regard reported that in 2021 it obtained a net profit of 58 billion dollars and that it reached sales for more than 1 trillion dollars, which represents an increase of 21% variation compared to 2020.
However, a video broadcast on social networks revealed that the company’s workers asked the then-candidate Gustavo Petro to take action to save the company from bankruptcy. “The workers ask Gustavo Petro to save the company and save the workers from the labor massacre they have been suffering,” said the leader of the Atlantic Citizen Force, María Correa, who supported the petition.
