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[Op-Ed] Cabello Blanco

We citizens are weary from seeing how all state institutions are eroded by immorality and how oversight bodies punish hapless individuals without political influence o

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We citizens are weary from seeing how all state institutions are eroded by immorality and how oversight bodies punish hapless individuals without political influence or innocent people, as happened with Saludcoop. The latest episode, led by Attorney General Margarita Cabello Blanco, is just the most recent example.

The Attorney General's Office shelved the investigation against Karen Abudinen, claiming that it was not within their purview to review the bank guarantee for the Centros Poblados contract, a guarantee allegedly issued by Banco Itaú but later proven false. This lenient interpretation was not applied in other cases. Last month, Cabello Blanco's Attorney General's Office removed the former Treasury Secretary of Cota, Cecilia Malte Álvarez, for “her failure to oversee and control” the treasurer and administrative technician, who made double payments, falsified documents, and embezzled 1.062 billion pesos. The former treasury secretary didn’t steal the money, but she was punished for the theft committed by others and for the forged documents.

But the former secretary isn’t from Barranquilla, hasn’t been a minister, doesn’t have influential sponsors, and isn’t arrogant. She was subjected to the full weight of the law. Cabello Blanco’s Attorney General's Office disqualified her from holding office for nine years. The offense she committed was classified as “extremely serious, committed with extreme negligence.” Meanwhile, the former minister’s failure to oversee was deemed nonexistent because she delegated her duties to another official.

This month, Cabello Blanco's Attorney General’s Office accused the former treasurer of Saladoblanco, Huila, of failing to safeguard the municipality’s bank account keys, from which 49 million pesos, not 70 billion pesos, were stolen. The former treasurer, Celia Yolanda Artunduaga Guañarita, never worked with President Duque, nor with President Santos, nor with Alejandro Char, nor did she study at Georgetown. Cabello Blanco’s Attorney General's Office accuses her without hesitation, stating that she acted “with a level of negligence and carelessness so great that it cannot be justified by any circumstance, demonstrating absolute disregard for the rules and obligations she was under.”

Those harsh words are likely due to the treasurer’s surname, Guañarita. In contrast, the former minister is Karen Abudinen Abuchaibe, and she likely has her cousin Christian Daes Abuchaibe’s number on speed dial—he’s the owner of Tecnoglass, a company as Barranquillan as Margarita Cabello Blanco herself. According to the New York Stock Exchange, Tecnoglass is worth over 3 billion dollars. The Guañarita Group doesn’t appear in Forbes.

When Margarita Cabello Blanco states that justice is the fundamental pillar on which a democratic and equitable society is built, and that her commitment is to work tirelessly for a justice system that is not only impartial, accessible, and efficient but also perceived as such by all Colombians, she refers to those investigated with the surnames Guañarita or Malte.

Cabello Blanco's Attorney General's Office also acted with severity against a former councilor of Piedecuesta, another unknown individual named Octavio Cárdenas Almeida, who was removed from office and disqualified for 13 years because, when approached by police during an altercation, he angrily resisted, saying, “You don’t know who I am.” Cabello Blanco’s Attorney General's Office also applies its version of impartial justice with bias when the accused is part of the Petro government, as happened with the former governor of Nariño, Camilo Romero. He indeed committed a serious offense, as he failed to oversee and control the actions of the Treasury Secretary in awarding a contract to market 80,000 boxes of liquor. Karen Abudinen, on the other hand, was allowed to claim she had delegated her responsibilities.

In Sutatausa, someone is trembling. Cabello Blanco’s Attorney General's Office accuses them of a “serious offense with intent.” The former mayor of that municipality in Cundinamarca, Jaime Humberto Arévalo Villamil, who didn’t sign a failed and collapsed 1 trillion peso contract, has been charged for participating “in the socialization of a road paving project.”

Karen Abudinen was irrevocably and irreversibly condemned by the court of public opinion, as she acted with a degree of negligence and carelessness so severe that it cannot be justified under any circumstances.

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  • cabello
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  • attorney general
  • Colombia
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