2024-10-24 18:47:00
The name of Catalina del Socorro Perez He is not well known in the halls of Congress. He arrived in the Senate in March 2023 through the Historic Pact after the loss of the seat of former senator César Pachón, suspended for double militancy. Pérez occupied line 22 of the closed list of the Petrista list.
His name was not known in the political movements of the center of power, but he was known in some regions for his leadership and life story. She is the leader of the National Association of User Peasants (ANUC) in Córdoba and Sucre in the 1970s, being the protagonist of the discussions and activism on agrarian reform, which made her receive threats that led to her exile for 21 years in Austria with his son Maximo Jimenez Perezfruit of his relationship with the singer-songwriter Máximo José Jiménez Hernández, recognized as the creator of the Vallenato protest.
His work in relation to agrarian issues and the defense of human rights in Colombia brought him politically closer to Gustavo Petro before he became president and for this reason he occupied an important place in the mixed and closed list of the Historical Pact. Since taking up his seat in the Legislature, more than a year ago, Pérez has judiciously voted for the Government’s projects and participates in the debates of the Fifth Commission, distinguishing himself in his interventions on the environment and on the defense of victims.
However, THE COLOMBIAN He learned of audio in which his son Máximo Jiménez Jr. would be offered a position in the government from abroad through his mother’s Legislative Work Unit (UTL) and would have interest in relation to community marijuana contracts in risk areas such as The Mojana.
“Yes, it’s about jobs, Please send me your CV and I will coordinate it with the person who coordinates me (sic) directly there in Colombia at the UTL. I don’t want Catalina to be approached in public asking for jobs and positions and I don’t know whatthat’s not right, okay? Please”, he says in one of the audios in the possession of this newspaper.
In another communication, Jiménez underlines: “Of course, with pleasure, send your CV, you know people close to you, I know you don’t do it, it’s not harassment, Don’t worry, we see that we are negotiating with some ministries to give us assignments at national level, so I’ll wait.”
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According to sources, the management of both the UTL and the sending of CVs to the entities would be led directly by Jiménez, despite having no connection to Congress other than being the senator’s son. Indeed, Máximo Jiménez Jr. resides in England and works with a technology company, but often travels to Colombia.
The CVs were reportedly addressed to the ministries of Agriculture and Health, although in several cases they did not meet the requirements.
“What I always want is to avoid them sending me another resume or having a resume and then competing with a resume that belongs to us, so that’s not the problem. So it is good that they inform me, because if I receive a CV I will obviously fight for the CV of whoever I find or who sends me the CV, I will do all the analyzes on the CV”says Jiménez in another of the audios.
According to sources, the management of both the UTL and the sending of CVs to the entities would be led directly by Jiménez, despite having no connection to Congress other than being the senator’s son. Indeed, Máximo Jiménez Jr. resides in England and works with a technology company, but often travels to Colombia.
The CVs were reportedly addressed to the ministries of Agriculture and Health, although in several cases they did not meet the requirements.
“What I always want is to avoid them sending me another resume or having a resume and then competing with a resume that belongs to us, so that’s not the problem. So it is good that they inform me, because if I receive a CV I will obviously fight for the CV of whoever I find or who sends me the CV, I will do all the analyzes on the CV”says Jiménez in another of the audios.
“He has taken over the UTL and is manipulating his mother”
In addition to managing curriculum for ministries, Jiménez was allegedly involved in some discussions with his mother, Senator Catalina Pérez, in the Congress premises, which were witnessed by other parliamentarians.
For several months, as confirmed by EL COLOMBIANO, rumors about Jiménez’s alleged mismanagement of the UTL had been reaching the ears of senior presidential officials, who let Senator Pérez know that her son could not handle positions in the government nor could she visit entities exclusively for this purpose. Other sources claim that her son is also manipulating her emotionally and that he has mistreated former UTL employees with rudeness and shouting.
“You stop sending your resume and now you email it again and everyone has access to the resumes. (…) Pto let him know that other people see it too, even though I didn’t want to give the other UTL people access to Catalina’s email, But everyone has access, so everyone can see what they receive, then the resume is in the database and you have to send it again, so protect them, who are they, right?”, Pérez says in another audio.
The annoyance in Congresswoman Pérez’s close environment and in the Historical Pact has increased due to the role of her son: “He has placed equally corrupt puppets around him, bypassing the peasant organizations that brought Catalina to the Senate,” says a citizen of Córdoba close to this political group who prefers not to reveal her identity. “Since it is not she who manages the UTL but her son, they put Héctor Olimpo Espinosa (former governor of Sucre) and Lucy García (current governor) in charge,” he adds.
La Mojana and community pots
The tentacles of Máximo Jiménez Pérez would also have reached the community pot project that the Petro government promoted through the Risk Management Unit (Ungrd) in question as a short-term solution in affected regions such as La Mojana.
According to two independent sources, the non-profit organization AMARS, based in San Pedro (Sucre), founded by Senator Catalina Pérez, has received financial support and guidance from Máximo Jiménez Jr. to implement a project related to the community of pots and pans initiatives in that region that would have been possible thanks to Senator Pérez’s lobby.
EL COLOMBIANO tried to contact Senator Pérez and her son Máximo Jiménez Pérez to know their version of this complaint, but at the end of this edition they did not respond to messages and calls.
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