The candidacy of Juan Carlos Upegui could have received economic support from the Mayor of Medellín

Candidate Juan Carlos Upegui assured that he will attend the hearing scheduled by the Prosecutor’s Office in which he will reaffirm his comments about Federico Gutiérrez – credit juancaupeguiv / Instagram

The controversial candidate for Mayor of Medellín for the Indepedientes movement faces an accusation made by lawyer Gloria Jaramillo, in which irregularities are pointed out in an inter-administrative contract between the Ministry of Communications and the university institution.

You may be interested: Council of State admitted annulment lawsuit against the political party of Federico Gutiérrez, candidate for Mayor of Medellín

This contract seeks the support of the university for “management of strategies framed within the communications governance pillar”, that is, generating images and audiovisual material for the Mayor’s Office. Said contract was signed on February 13 of this year, for a sum of 9,050 million pesos. From this date, the corresponding material would be generated for eleven months.

The contract between the institutions sought to support the management of communication strategies for the Mayor’s Office.

However, what came to the attention of the lawyer who filed the complaint was a folder with multimedia material of five people who would compete in the next elections. This folder was found in the monthly contract supervision reports. The people would include, according to the evidence, Juan Carlos Upegui (candidate for Mayor); Ana Valle (pre-candidate), Carlos Romero (Council), Juan Daniel (undersecretary in the Mayor’s Office) and Sergio López, (to the Council).”

You may be interested: Juan Carlos Upegui will reaffirm his comments about Federico Gutiérrez: “We are here to defend the truth and we will not be silenced”

This evidence appears in the documentation presented by Jaramillo. There are some photos of the drive folder in which the subfolders with the multimedia content were found. The lawyer pointed out that in these folders they found shots and videos that would have been edited on behalf of the contract, within the framework of the management of communication strategies for the Mayor’s Office.

The lawyer, from her social network account “We are just beginning to unmask the origin of the money from the campaigns.”

You may be interested in: Controversy in Medellín over a pastor who would have offered pounds of pork in exchange for votes

Because of this, the Mayor’s Office of Medellín has sought to respond to the accusations. In an official statement published on September 5, the District Administration clarified that it is necessary to demonstrate to public opinion the alleged falsehood of these facts.

The document states that “it is false that the Mayor’s Office of Medellín is working on any political campaign with the National University of Colombia – Medellín Headquarters. The purpose of the contract is exclusively to strengthen the management of the Communications Secretariat of the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín.”

Likewise, that the disclosed accusations were published “in a malicious and dubious manner” and that this complaint “is framed in the contract and within the functions of that contract there are none of the activities that are mentioned there”, referring to the incrimination of lawyer Jaramillo.

Given the evidence of the folders found in the drive, the Administration also assures that “the videos, links and images recently reviewed through social networks are not part of the fulfillment of the contract nor do they have the approval of any of the contracting parties.”

Even so, the Mayor’s Office also offered an apology for the controversy, deeply regretting that, for political reasons, speculation is generated that attempts to tarnish the good name of the National University of Colombia – Medellín Headquarters and the joint work carried out within the framework of the contract. ”.

Regarding the agreement, the statement emphasizes the fact that the National University is a certified institution and suitable to execute contracts like this, due to its historical commitment to excellence and its recognized prestige.

In response to the events, various public figures have spoken out calling for a thorough investigation, so that the control organizations can clarify all the facts surrounding this controversy. For example, the deputy from Antioquia assured from X’s account that he will investigate thoroughly and, if necessary, “we will take this to the ultimate consequences! We will take care of Medellín and Antioquia,” he indicated.

Source