He is Carlos Correa, the newly installed Minister of the Environment

President Iván Duque took possession of the new Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Carlos Eduardo Correa Escaf, replacing the outgoing minister Ricardo Lozano. He is the former mayor of Montería for the period 2012-2015 who later came to the government of former president Juan Manuel Santos as high councilor for the Regions, and today he is in charge of that portfolio.

In the act of possession, the president entrusted him with a wide schedule of tasks, among which the acceleration of the energy transition stood out, clean mobility, the fight against deforestation and the reform of the Regional Autonomous Corporations, so that they are environmental authorities “free from any political pressure”.

“The challenge is great, but we have to do it. Colombia deserves a reform to the Regional Autonomous Corporations, so that they are true, genuine environmental authorities, free from any political pressure, and at the structural service of citizens in the protection of ecosystems, ”said Duque.

Several environmentalists celebrated Correa’s arrival at the Ministry of the Environment and They emphasize that it has great challenges from that sector.

Manuel Rodríguez, former Minister of the Environment, exposed on his Twitter account the five main challenges of the new minister: “Deny the environmental licenses of the páramo de Santurbán and Quebradona (in Jericó, Antioquia); raise ambition in the fight against deforestation; finish the formulation of the National Forest Plan 2020-2030, and approve the Escazú agreement ”.

The path of Carlos Eduardo Correa

As mayor of Montería, in the period 2012-2015, he positioned the Cordovan capital as a sustainable city and under that vision he returned the Sinú River to the city, making it the axis of social, cultural and economic development of Montería.

He also carried out several solar energy projects in this capital, as well as actions aimed at the culture of sustainability.

Correa business administrator from the EAFIT University of Medellín, has become a benchmark for regional leaders, national and international issues on sustainability issues, since in his time in public administration he has shown how sustainable territories can be built.

Expert in social development, urban planning and territorial development, transformation of cities, Smart Cities and Modern Public Management.

He has been an advisor and speaker on issues of sustainable cities and territories at the IDB, UN Habitat and CAF, among others. He was vice minister of Drinking Water and Basic Sanitation and high Presidential adviser for the Regions.

A former Santos councilor enters the Duque government

Surprising that a former councilor of the government of Juan Manuel Santos enter to occupy a ministerial position in the government of Iván Duque.

“Our dear friend and former mayor Carlos Correa cannot be in a better place for the effort to consolidate peace, to make the post-conflict effective, to do pedagogy, to win the plebiscite; because it requires a very close collaboration of the regions, mayors, governors ”, said former President Santos the day he took Correa’s possession as high councilor for the Regions.

“I personally worked with him, I saw how effective he was, how he executed. That is why he assumes a position to which we have raised the rank to High Council, due to the importance of these relations with the regions, with the mayors and with the governors. I am sure that he will do a very important job, “said the ex-president.

The scandal that led the new Minister of Environment

As detailed by La Silla Vacía, in June 2017, Carlos Correa Escaf starred in a scandal in the department of Córdoba that reached the Casa de Nariño, after being captured together with the then mayor of Montería, Marcos Daniel Pineda, for allegedly having committed embezzlement by appropriation, conclusion of contracts without full requirements, undue interest in the conclusion of contracts, prevaricate by omission and ideological falsehood in public document, within the case of the construction of the Happy Lora coliseum, which cost just over 12 billion pesos five years, seven extensions and four suspensions to be made.

At the end of that month, he was released by decision of a guarantee judge who considered that the Prosecutor’s Office did not present sufficient evidence to justify the arrests, the charges were imputed and the process advanced until the preparatory hearing, state in which it is at the moment.

The media assured that “Carlos Correa was already working for the Duque Government as part of the covid Management team headed by the former minister, and friend of Duque, Luis Guillermo Plata. Specifically, the now new minister was the link with the regions in handling the crisis from the Palace ”.

Likewise, La Silla Vacía says that Correa “won the president’s trust”. Now, as head of the Environment portfolio, the former mayor of Montería will have to be in charge of different situations that are of national interest, such as his position on a future application of fracking, the return of glyphosate fumigation and deforestation in the Amazon.