Tragedy in Colombia in the worst possible scenario

BarcelonaThe magnitude 7.4 earthquake that has devastated western Colombia is not only a humanitarian catastrophe, but also arrives in the worst possible political context: with a new government that has just taken office after a very close election that has left the country deeply divided, and where not even a peaceful transfer of power has been possible. Indeed, the new Colombian president, the right-wing populist Abelardo de la Espriella, suspended contact with the outgoing administration of the leftist Gustavo Petro, and now finds that, just three days after taking office, the vast majority of administration officials are still from the previous government.

Thus, De la Espriella finds himself at the head of a large-scale catastrophe (the death toll has already reached 240) without any prior management experience, as he is a criminal lawyer who lived in Miami for ten years, during which time he defended people accused of drug trafficking and, according to an investigation by the New York Times, even a person accused of money laundering from the Chavista government of Venezuela. Now, after promising a 40% reduction in the state, he finds that he has to mobilize the maximum public resources both for rescue operations and – later – for reconstruction.

It should be noted that the earthquake in Colombia occurs less than two months after another that affected neighboring Venezuela and which, according to official figures, caused more than 6,000 deaths. The images of the earthquake show that in cities like Cali, Pereira, and Manizales, relatively far from the epicenter, five-story buildings collapsed like a house of cards, demonstrating that they were not prepared to withstand earthquakes of this magnitude. And this is despite the fact that Colombia is located in an area where up to three tectonic plates converge (Caribbean, Nazca, and South American) and there are specific areas, such as those closest to the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, which are indeed better prepared after the 1985 eruption that caused 25,000 deaths.

Experience, therefore, shows that states must prepare ever better to face all kinds of destructive natural phenomena, and hence the importance of both having perfectly sized and prepared emergency teams and providing regulations that minimize their impact, for example, with the safety measures that buildings must comply with, urban and forest planning, etc. Obviously, public resources will only be effective if the endemic corruption of the Colombian state is eradicated, which is one of the objectives of the new president.

It remains to be seen what lessons De la Espriella draws from the management of the earthquake, and if this forces him to change some of his drastic austerity plans in the style of Milei. But what is evident is that, in the face of these situations, the citizen expects the state to which they pay their taxes to be up to the task and not to shift responsibilities to private individuals or to entrust themselves to Jesus Christ, as the new Colombian president has done.