“Always present”. That is the motto he uses on social networks, on the flags and on his ‘rags’ the controversial bar of Atlético Nacional ‘Los del Sur’, protagonist of recent acts of violence at the Atanasio Girardot stadium in Medellín that held in suspense the possibility that the green team of Antioquia could play competitions in that setting.
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But not only that. The phrase also identifies a firm directly linked to that bar. It is ‘Siempres presentes social and cultural corporation’, a non-profit entity that has signed, from 2017 to April 2023, at least 38 contracts with the municipality of Medellín, which exceed $2,200 million pesos.
All these contracts are related to events or activities related to football, coexistence and barismo. And, in addition, they were subscribed by direct contracting or by the so-called ‘special regime’, which allows greater speed in contracting on issues, according to the norm, of high social impact or urgent.
The particularity of this firm that contracts with the municipality of Medellín is that the deputy director is Andres Felipe Munoz Lara, one of the main and most recognized leaders of the controversial barra brava del Nacional and who was recently acquitted by the authorities in a process for induced abortion.
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This was confirmed by the TIEMPO Data Unit, after consulting open information that rests on the Secop contracting platform, in the Single Business and Social Registry (Rues) and the Anti-Corruption Portal of the Presidency of the Republic and the Administrative Department of the Public Function.
The particularity of this firm is that the deputy director is Andrés Felipe Muñoz Lara, one of the main and most recognized leaders of the controversial barra brava.
Of all, the most recent contract attracts attention. It was made with the Medellín Mayor’s Office and thought directly for the members of the ‘Los del sur’ bar.
It is an agreement for $120 million pesos, whose purpose is the “provision of services to develop pedagogical actions that contribute to youth coexistence around football”. (See here the contract).
However, one of the attached documents from the previous study makes it clear thatThe work will be done exclusively with members of ‘Los del sur‘ through “pedagogical, academic, experiential and territorial content that addresses issues focused on strengthening the leadership of young people” of that bar. (Download the previous studies document here)
Attached document that establishes the guidelines of the contract.
The contract appears signed on April 11, 2023, that is to say, five days before the riots and the invasion of the field, carried out by the bar of the green team, and that forced the suspension of the match between Nacional and América. The reason for the attack by this group was the elimination of perks and demands that the baristas made of that club.
The agreement, which has an execution period of six months, will end on October 10, 2023.
Contracts with Inder Medellín
‘Always present Social and Cultural Corporation’, is registered with the Medellín Chamber of Commerce under registration number 1517121, renewed in 2023. The first time it was registered with the authorities of the department of Antioquia was on August 12, 2023.
Its main activity, as it appears in the Rues, is “activities of other ncp associations” which, according to Colombian legislation, groups organizations or special groups that promote ideas before public opinion.
Andrés Felipe Muñoz (center) is recognized as one of the founders of the band Tres de corazón.
The second activity that ‘Siempres presentes’ has registered is related, according to the data consulted, with “research and experimental development in the field of social sciences and humanities”.
As legal representatives, the Medellín Chamber of Commerce has registered: Raúl Eduardo Martinez Hoyos as director and Muñoz Lara as assistant director.
Martínez Hoyos, a Nacional fan and close to the leaders of the ‘Los del sur’ barra, is currently recognized in Antioquia for being a researcher and writer specializing in urban planning, bars and football culture in the popular sphere.
(Read also: Once Caldas pays dearly because of his bar: this is the sanction of the Dimayor)
For his part, Muñoz Lara, who is also a musician, He is one of the most visible faces of the barra brava and one of its most influential leaders.
And the corporation created by both achieved between 2020 and 2023 (Daniel Quintero’s government period) nine contracts with the Institute of Sports and Recreation of Medellín (Inder), the body in charge, among others, of the administration of the Atanasio Girardot stadium, stage where the teams Atlético Nacional and Deportivo Independiente Medellín play.
The agreements signed with the Inder in the current administration add up, in total, a value of $707 million pesos. They were signed, the first on October 2, 2020 and the most recent, on March 10, 2023.
This last contract has a value of $50 million pesos and its purpose is to “support the city event called ‘Football in community memory. museography of objects and t-shirts of Atlético Nacional”.
The duration of the execution, in total, was four days: it began on the 11th of that month and ended on the 15th. The communications advisory office was in charge of direct contracting. See the contract here
Contract for $50 million pesos from Indeportes with Siempre presentes.
But that’s not the most burdensome. The largest of the nine signed with Inder in this period It has a publication date of December 8, 2022 and is worth $300 million pesos.
That money, says the information from Secop, was given by Inder to ‘Siempres Presentes’ in order to support the city event called “Colombia and the World Cup. Museography of the Colombian National Team and other soccer sections”. It was also held by direct contracting and was valid for five days. Download that contract here.
Two other contracts, signed in 2021, also have to do with ‘city events’. One, called ‘the bar to the neighborhood’, which cost $40 million pesos and another for an activity called “Football is coexistence”, for $60 million pesos.
an old relationship
The Esmad watches over the brave bar of Nacional.
Jaiver Nieto / EL TIEMPO
But the contractual activity of this entity and its relationship with the governments of Medellín is not recent. In fact, it began on May 30, 2017, under the administration of Federico Gutiérrez.
At that moment, ‘Always Present’, signed its first contract worth $75 million pesos, whose purpose was “to support the promotion of peaceful coexistence, tolerance and respect for the difference associated with soccer and barrismo in Medellín, through the contest with the ball on the head, soccer writings and coexistence 2017, in order to contribute to sport and coexistence in the city”.
We invite you to read: Barras bravas: what have Argentina and Chile done to combat their violence?
The relationship of ‘Siempres presentes’ with the Medellín Mayor’s Office began under the administration of ‘Fico’ Gutiérrez
A little less than a month later, on June 13, lThe same entity signed another contract worth $81 million pesos, whose purpose was “to unite efforts to promote peaceful coexistence, tolerance and respect for the difference associated with soccer and barrismo.”
Later, on November 1, another contract appears, for $48 million pesos, to “support the promotion of coexistence within the bars and neighborhoods of Medellín, through training processes for leaders and the community in general in promoting the culture of sport and coexistence”.
In 2018 there was also recruitment. The Secop registers a total of seven contracts worth $142’500,000 pesos. Six of them were made with Metroparques Antioquia and one, again, with Inder Medellín.
For 2019, ‘Siempres presentes’ was awarded 13 contracts for a total value of $629 million pesos, with three public entities: 11 with Metroparques, one with Inder and, for the first time, one directly with the Mayor’s Office of Medellín.
The latter is precisely the one with the greatest resources, since $280 million pesos were allocated for the “provision of professional services to develop pedagogical actions that contribute to youth coexistence around football”.
This, in fact, is the second largest contract of the 37 that this social organization has signed with entities from the municipality of Medellín. (See the details of this contract here.)
To date, the ‘Siempres presentes’ corporation, according to the Anti-Corruption Portal, It does not have any type of fine for non-compliance, sanction, or process for fiscal responsibility.
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