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The controversy, originated as a result of the decisions in EPM, between the mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, and the former mayor Federico Gutiérrez, whom experts see with the intention of being a candidate for the presidency, rises every day.
Although the tensions between the two had been going on for a long time, the first to break the silence was the former mayor Gutiérrez Zuluaga, who in an interview with María Isabel Rueda, for EL TIEMPO, described as “not holy” the interests that the new president would have in EPM.
“(…) It ended the corporate governance of a company that has grown large for more than 65 years. It ended a relationship of trust in just a few months, not only in EPM, but throughout the city, between the public sector, the private sector, the universities and civil society ”, Gutiérrez raised.
Throughout the interview, the former mayor Gutiérrez highlighted the negative impact that the company experienced in its rating by the Fitch Ratings agency and doubted the political independence of Quintero, stating that his project is under the influence of the former governor of Antioquia Luis Pérez Gutiérrez and has a political affinity with Senator Gustavo Petro.
(You may be interested in: Former Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez doubts Daniel Quintero’s maneuvers at EPM)
“(…) In a short time it has managed to destroy one of the most important assets that this region has had, after overcoming such great adversities. Now he says that nothing works for EPM. So rare, a company that in a few years has only turned billions and billions of pesos to the municipality to invest in social matters, ”said the former mayor.
A few hours later, Mayor Daniel Quintero responded to Gutiérrez’s questions and defended himself, arguing that during the past EPM government was heading for bankruptcy.
(We recommend you read: ‘What María Isabel does not ask herself’, the column by Germán Vargas Lleras after an interview with Federico Gutiérrez)
“In the government of Federico Gutiérrez EPM was on the way to bankruptcy. We won’t let that happen. We are going to take Hidroituango and EPM forward“Quintero Calle said.
(Read also: ‘We continue to seek consensus on Hidroituango’, EPM manager)
In the government of Federico Gutiérrez EPM was on the way to bankruptcy. We won’t let that happen. We are going to move Hidroituango and EPM forward.
– Daniel Quintero Calle (@QuinteroCalle) August 31, 2020
In the same way, the local president published a trill where, although he did not directly allude to the former mayor, he justified that the decisions made in recent days have the sole objective combat “politicking” and “corruption”.
“Insults and disrespect will come from those who know themselves responsible. That’s how they are. We will continue to tell the truth with honesty, transparency and against politicking and corruption, ”said the mayor through his Twitter account.
After these statements, the former mayor Gutiérrez went with everything against Quintero in his account on the social network and called him ‘Samuel Moreno’.
“What the new Samuel Moreno says is false. At the junction he received all the information and he knows that EPM was on the right track and solving great challenges. On the contrary, the one who put EPM and Medellín at risk is you. We already know that you are corrupt. Time will show it, ”he wrote.
What the new Samuel Moreno says is false. At the junction he received all the information and he knows that EPM was on the right track and solving great challenges. On the contrary, the one who put EPM and Medellín at risk is you.
We already know that you are corrupt. Time will show. https://t.co/vg9npnrQHo– Federico Gutiérrez (@FicoGutierrez) August 31, 2020
Beyond these frictions, some experts warn that the confrontation accounts for the political moment that Medellín is going through, where polarization is gaining ground.
One of them is Juan Carlos Arenas Gómez, professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the University of Antioquia, who suggests that beyond a political enmity, the clash between Quintero and Gutiérrez reveals several characteristics of the local and national scene.
The first of them, he proposes, is that from the gaze of former mayor Gutiérrez there would be a clear intention to enter the presidential race, with a view to 2022.
(Also: Álvaro Uribe’s attack on the mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero)
“The statements of the former mayor are aimed not only at pointing out possible administrative or political errors, but to suggest that these decisions have a national correlate that would be the link with other candidates for the presidency”, Explains the expert.
For Professor Juan Carlos Arenas, the fractures between the two leaders are polarizing the local debate.
Parallel to this dispute, adds Arenas, the deepening gap between both local political factions must also be taken into account. A condition that would explain why polarization is being used as a strategy to guide the discussion from both sides.
Under this context, he warns, the most worrying risk is that the political debate in the city, today focused on issues as complex as the future of Empresas Públicas de Medellín, will be hijacked by the noise that both extremes are producing.
“Here is a sector of the citizenry that is interested in sending signals to the mayor to correct a little that route of rushing in his decisions and trying to rebuild the governance of the city a bit. This is a sector made up of social organizations, business sectors and people who are genuinely concerned about the costs that polarization may have for the city ”, concludes the analyst.
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