Amid allegations of last-minute appointments in diplomatic missions and lucrative transfer bonuses, which would prevent reversing those appointments, a new piece of information has just been added that officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself are requesting to verify.
EL TIEMPO exclusively established that during the transition with the government of Abelardo De La Espriella, questions are being raised about the effects that the outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rosa Villavicencio, and another high-level official of the entity, appearing on a list of members of a union of that ministry, might have.
With paid union leave
EL TIEMPO had access to a complaint sent to the transition committee, which also warned about an alleged co-management of one of the unions and the granting of privileges.
This newspaper investigated and established that the complaint refers to a resolution -number 03802 dated March 19-, in which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted paid union leave to members of the Union of Employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Semrex) to attend a general assembly of the organization scheduled for March 27, which would last throughout the working day until 5 p.m.
In the list of internal Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials affiliated with the union body, the names of Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio and Elvira de las Mercedes Sanabria Salazar indeed appear. The latter, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was provisionally appointed on June 26 as First Secretary of Foreign Affairs, a position attached to the Consulate of Colombia in Nueva Loja (Ecuador).
The official response
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they stated that the union was the one to respond. EL TIEMPO then contacted Francisco Burchardt Melo, president of Semrex and secretary general of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), to ask if, as the complainants claim, the affiliation of Minister Villavicencio and former secretary Sanabria to the union would have any effect on their departure from office following the inauguration of the De La Espriella government.
“No person with managerial positions or who are operators or budget controllers can have union immunity, nor if they have subordinates. This is true both in companies and entities. Neither of the two has union immunity“, explained Burchardt.
He added: “Minister Villavicencio has been affiliated for a year and a half, before she took office as minister. At that time, she was coordinator of Colombia Nos Une”.
This is an internal working group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that seeks to establish conditions for nationals who wish to migrate to do so voluntarily and orderly.
“When the minister joined, I asked her if she was aware that our union has a critical stance towards the government”, Burchardt told EL TIEMPO.
And about Sanabria Salazar, he assured that she has been affiliated since last December and that neither she nor the minister would have any restrictions to leave their positions with the change of government.
Contested appointments?
“Even the appointment of Sanabria could be challenged, and if a judge determines that she did not meet the requirements, she would have to leave, and her union affiliation would have no effect”, Burchardt assured.
He added: “It is not irregular for affiliated persons to hold these types of positions. There are even ambassadors and coordinators of different areas affiliated; that is completely normal”.
(Check here all the articles from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit)
Burchardt concluded by explaining that he attributes the complaints and accusations to union persecution and that the allegations of co-management between the union and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are completely false.
“We are neither opposition nor a committee of applause,” he emphasized.
The new government has not yet proposed reversing the latest appointments. In any case, some of the appointees told EL TIEMPO that if they are returned before completing a year, it would be a millionaire patrimonial detriment due to the transfer bonus they have already been paid and that must be reimbursed from the treasury for their return.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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