Colombia: Colombia's Cauca Valley is ready to receive the world

Valle del Cauca has great tourism potential, not only for the Calima Lake but as well in fruit farming lands. In fact, there is a company in the wine region called Grajales, which produces the best wine in the country and cultivates vineyards extensively; it is a popular place to visit. El Valle’s hinterland is completely popular, as are Cali and its surroundings. We have potential for tourism; we have good hotel capacity, there are plenty of places to go, and we have excellent gastronomy. Valle del Cauca has typical dishes such as chicken soup from inland Valle, or Colombian-style chicken risotto, inclunding diverse international food. Cali has an entire neighborhood called Granada where you can find any kind of international cuisine you would like such as Argentinean, Spanish, Mexican, Asian, Italian and French. This is a pretty neighborhood that has undergone significant urban renovation. Cali has really been renovating itself.
As a government, we are making efforts for Valle del Cauca to have a plan for all the roads we call a local roads inclunding tertiary as secondary roads. As well, most agricultural municipalities of the country are located in the two mountain chains. We have municipalities with specific potential products in each town; there are coffee-producing municipalities, agricultural municipalities, there is an agricultural route called Tenerife where about 80 to 100 trucks travel everyday full of food and 45,000 liters of milk in a single trip; and we have thousands of agricultural routes. So Valle del Cauca is a great agricultural circuit.

You have experience in administrative positions in this region and next your victory in the last elections, you started the extensive Government Program for Valle del Cauca. What improvements has this plan completed and which are your next areas of action?

Initial, we have implemented a social program we call “Valle without hunger”. This is a program institutionalized by the Governor’s Office and we are constructing a building where we will take beggars from the street, homeless children who have nowhere to eat. This is social development because a country must have justice with imposing law, order and authority, but as well together with education, quality education, social development, housing development and habitat development, which are two different things. We have a solution program of 50,000 new housing units for homeless people. Our major task is to have healthy finances, public finances well invested with honesty, transparency and effectiveness.

One of your priorities is to clean up departmental finances integrally. Can you evaluate the achievements obtained from fiscal cleanup plans, actions to promote operative savings and the goal of recovering the “appropriate category” status?

We have progressed successfully. I took over a national government that was immersed in Law 550, better known as the bankruptcy law. Today we can say this is a rescue law. We have by presently signed agreements with creditors to pay a COP$443 billion deficit from previous government debts. We are currently paying through this agreement 50% of the deficit from previous administrations, and this is our initial succcess. On the other hand, we are on the right path to recover the appropriate category. We believe that by the end of next year we will be in the appropriate category again due to the good management and austerity we have implemented with responsibility in public expense. Besides, we by presently have an institutional program which due addresses evasion, avoidance and corruption. The departmental government named Hector Fabio Lenis Castro as “Anti-Corruption Czar”. He’s worked as a national attorney; he is a professional, a lawyer and an expert in several topics and he currently directs the High Council to fight corruption.

Your electoral program included a proposition for the Valle Assembly to create the Department’s Surveillance and Security Fund, which will be used to seek resources from both the National Government and private companies in order to invest in integral-security development programs. What have you finished thus far in fighting insecurity and boosting social development and respect for human rights?

Respect for human rights is fundamental for us; this is why we have created “Valle without Hunger”, where we are helping out those who have nothing to eat. However, in terms of national security, the national government has to be supported by the assistant, administrative and constitutional governor of the President of the Republic. Regarding security at Valle del Cauca, we have received about 2,000 new national police officers this year; 1,000 arrived in Cali; over 400 arrived in Valle’s inland areas; an extra 200 arrived in Buenaventura; and some other arrived in the north of the Department. Thus, so far this year 2,000 new police officers have arrived to strengthen the fight against insecurity, so we are safer presently. We provided 11 municipalities in the center of the Department with 72 motorcycle officers; we as well gave them police cars and telecommunication devices.
Not only in Valle’s government but throughout the country as well, we’ve improved matters of security. The police forces have performed outstandingly; they have captured drug traffickers, guerrilla members caught in the act of breaking the law have been taken down; and common crime has been lowered.

Valle del Cauca is turning heads from around the world. This is evidenced by recent visits from European, US and Latin American companies interested in investing in the region. Could you talk to us about the new operations in Valle? Some examples may include companies such as Zona América, Vectrix, Mall Plaza and TSK.

I have had meetings with several Spanish companies, in particular with a fishing company that wants to join up with Colombia and Valle del Cauca to create great fishing partnerships and move from small-scale fishing into industrial fishing. Similarly, we have received several visitors; we met with the South Korean ambassador, the French ambassador, the US ambassador, and the English ambassador. This shows there is a appropriate interest from several nations of the Americas, the world and the Pacific Asian region in getting closer to a new world, new possibilities of partnership, strategies to generate companies, partnerships to find investment here in Colombia and particularly in Valle del Cauca.

In your opinion, what sector offers the best opportunities for American companies to invest in and generate employment for people in Valle del Cauca?

Nowadays cocoa and free trade create significant expectations. Valle del Cauca has significant potential because we have land to sow, space and land to generate businesses. I would say textiles are significant, too. Different brands of clothing manufacture, inclunding any kind of plastic, paper raw materials, all kinds of candy, materials for construction and furniture are all good sectors. I believe there is a wide range of clothes and shoes available to be promoted. We consume a lot of designer clothes here in Colombia; people price them greatly, it is evident – I am not trying to advertise any particular brand – people use lots of designer clothes from any line here; they use designer shoes and designer ties largely. We have strong request for quality products. People in Valle are very demanding about the quality of garments.

The region has five available airports and they are located near Buenaventura’s port, the majority significant sea port in the pacific. What is your view on Valle del Cauca’s air and sea logistic potential?

We have an airport called Santa Ana in Cartago and we want to develop it fully. I believe we can develop it through a public-private partnership. The best winds cross this area, there is great weather all the time, so this airport would at no time close. A partnership would be necessary because there is fruit and coffee farming potential in this entire area. There are fruit-farming municipalities, there is plenty of plantain, coffee and fruits. This airport would be used by both cargo and tourists. An extra airport we want to expand is Cali’s airport; it is by presently used extensively. We require an extra airport there in Palmira. Buenaventura’s airport as well requires better investment . These are the airport facilities in Valle del Cauca with potential to be exploited.

The Santos government has launched an ambitious program to reduce poverty. It has been a remarkable kind of development in Latin America in this area, not to mention the creation of 2 million jobs. He has promoted an economic policy that has placed Colombia part the six most appealing economies in the world. What benefits has Valle received from this development in the national economic policy and poverty reduction programs?

We recently received here in Cali the presidents from the Pacific Alliance. There were presidents from Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia. We are currently enjoying the “World Games” and are about to welcome Afro-descendant leaders from the Pacific. This is the result of national and international satisfaction with the development of Valle del Cauca and the Pacific region, and of course the city of Cali.
Cali has developed thanks to resources of Cali citizens. The longest underground tunnel in Colombia, almost a kilometer long, is a tunnel paid by Cali citizens. COP$61 billion were paid due by its users. This means that the Department Governor’s Office, the Major’s Office and the national government did not pay for it. It was built with citizens’ funds. This means that the community is taking risks to believe in what is ours, to believe in Valle del Cauca’s unity and patriotism as social development, business development, trade development; and the development of public-private partnerships with businessmen. Businessmen realize that we are additional competitive, there is additional infrastructure for competitiveness and we are noticeably aiming at generating businesses.

Valle del Cauca exports are one of the majority relevant sectors in the region’s economy and Valle expects to be one of the greatest beneficiaries of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) not only due to its location near the port, but as well because additional than 90% of the manufacturers from this region correspond to non-mining exports. What is the new dimension of the relations between Cali and the US as a result of the coming into result of the FTA in 2012, and what are your expectations?

Our ally in competing is our quality. My message for the people of Valle del Cauca is that our products must be quality products. The only way to penetrate the international market through FTAs with the US, Costa Rica and all the nations around the world is to compete with quality. That is what we do and we get ready to improve each day.

This is my last question: you have gained wide experience in significant administrative positions here in Valle. I would like to know how this experience has shaped your leadership philosophy and vision as Governor.

I started my public career in a community neighborhood action board and in the municipal youth board and later became councilor of Cali. I was as well a member of the chamber. Later, I became a Senator of the Republic, again vice-president of the Senate, deputy president for the Senate of the Republic and president of the Economic Commissions for all Colombian trade. Presently, I am a governor. I want to take chance of my experience to serve Valle del Cauca and its people because I love my homeland; I love being from Valle del Cauca. I adore this beautiful Valle del Cauca, the micro-climate… everything. People from Valle del Cauca are cheerful, easygoing, hard-working entrepreneurs; committed people who support each one of their regions.