“We have to move towards a State with greater territorial autonomy“, is the highlighted phrase of the Minister of the Interior, Juan Fernando Cristoin an interview with the chronicler Yamid Amat for EL TIEMPO.
And one of the central themes that he has in his portfolio is, precisely, give the regions greater decision-making power over their future and not depend on what is decided from Bogotá; something that has captured the interest of public opinion and even in many sectors of the Colombian State.
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According to Christ, this “It means that there is a change for the better in territorial autonomy and decentralization in Colombia. In 2000, a counter-reform to that constitutional norm of 1991 was approved and we went from transferring 46.5% of the current income of the Nation to the departments to the transfer of these resources not being tied to the income of the Nation. but to the annual inflation rate in Colombia“.
Juan Fernando Cristo
The interior minister explained that thanks to this, regional participations grew “vegetatively“.
“The most modest calculations say that between 300 and 320 billion pesos that should have been transferred in those 15 years remained in the central government. Last year the Government only transferred 23% of the Nation’s current income to the departments and municipalities. That is, half of what the Constitution ordered.“; said.
Has centralism failed?
The Minister of the Interior assures that what is now sought is to transfer resources to the departments through powers: “What has been done in the last twenty years in Colombia is a centralism that has already failed. We transferred powers to the departments and municipalities and did not give them resources“.
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And, according to Juan Fernando Cristo, The size and population do not allow that State to be managed from a central Governmentsince it is a situation that does not allow us to know in depth the situations of the territories furthest from Bogotá.
Bogota
“This model of governing Colombia has failed and is what has kept us in violence and exclusion in the territories. It is the one that has not allowed peace to be consolidated, it is the one that has widened the territorial gaps. Centralism did fail. We have not made the attempts at decentralization and territorial autonomy concrete, but this is a great opportunity to do so.“, he stated, mentioning that it is important that the country recognizes it so that things can change.
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He also spoke about the work that the National Government has in the pipeline to move forward with a dismantling of the centralist system in the country.
“The Government is going to summon governors, mayors, the different political forces in the country, academics, experts in decentralization. We are going to ask for international cooperation, from missions, from organizations and from countries that have taken this path towards territorial autonomy, towards decentralization, so that we can technically work on a very good law that redesigns the State for the future. And we are also going to have to change the territorial planning law to strengthen associative schemes“, said.
PORTFOLIO
*With information from EL TIEMPO – POLITICS
