Update on the stadium in Tabio.

Over 8 months ago I wrote about the stadium (polideportivo) in Tabio Colombia that they built breaking several laws. That initial writing can be read here.
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In my opinion the stadium easily represents the ills of Colombia and shows why our over $5 billion in aid under Plan Colombia has failed to work and why the free trade agreement with them is a bad idea.

The events in the last eight months help verify my contentions above. But first a basic timeline.

Polideportivo (stadium) Tabio Timeline

1998 Planeacion has plans for a covered polideportivo that is totally enclosed.

2004 May Town opens polideportivo with open sides – It breaks law for proximity to a public park, proximity to a hospital and has no permission from planeacion. The sounds of play disturb people two blocks away and the play in stadium sometimes goes past midnight.

2005 Independent contractor records noise levels of over 70 decibels in
residential neighborhood with spikes over 100 decibels (60 decibels is legal limit)

2007 23 Abril Corporatcion Autonoma Regional de Cundinamarca (CAR) registeres
noise at 68 decibels outside of stadium. Gives alcalde 60 days to enclose
and insulate the stadium.

2007 24 Sept Mayor ignores CAR resolution. Noise continues in stadium for 150 days until work begins lowering roof only. Noise of hammering metal takes over noise of play.

2007 26 OCT Polideportivo re-opens without being either enclosed or insulated. Lowering of roof makes sounds from play louder. Mayor pays over 48 million pesos ($25,000 USD) to lower roof and paint metal structure of roof. Other contractors said the job should have cost between $5,000 and $8,000 USD.

2007 Nov Mayor says no one will bid on job of enclosing and insulating the stadium. Project means building a second wall with insulation between the two walls, replacing the entire floor with one that fights noise and replacing the entire roof with an insulated one. While paying over 48 million pesos to just lower the roof a month earlier the town offers less than 43 million pesos for enclosing and insulating the entire stadium.

2008 12 Mar Almost 140 days after stadium reopens with even louder noise, CAR issues legal document telling mayor to cease all activity in stadium until the enclosure and insulation is completed.

2008 14 Jun Mayor ignores CAR resolution and noise continues in polideportivo for
another over 90 days. Residents of neighborhood sign document stating that the noise actually increased. CAR engineers come to town. City employees first tell CAR that they have had no events in the stadium. When told by CAR engineer they have photographs of play in the stadium the officials say the town mayor never showed them the paper saying to cease activities. CAR closes the stadium pending enclosing and insulating.

Less than a week later kids with big signs saying something about sports are in front of my house yelling and banging on my door. I find out later that the school let them out of classes to do this action. Also in the crowd yelling are a few adults. One of them is identified as from a photo as a city council member.

Later we hear that the town told the students that my wife and I had filed a tutela (legal document against a government agency) and that we were responsible for closing the stadium. Friends of ours who own a store tell us that city council members came by demanding that they sign a paper to open the stadium saying again that we had filed a tutela. The store owners said they were threatened with difficult times from the city government if they did not sign.

I once interviewed a person who had been a factory manager in many different countries. He told me, “In Japan when something goes wrong on the line everyone accepts blame and tries to fix the problem. In the USA when the same thing happens many people are there trying to solve the problem and get things working again. But in Colombia everyone just says, ‘It’s not my fault’ and walks away.”

Former US Ambassador to Colombia, Myles Frechette, wrote: “Colombians also tolerate long draw-out processes that do not necessarily solve problems.” He also mentioned that the main political entities are perceived and corrupt and unresponsive to citizen needs. In my previous blog mentioned above I quoted an article stating that Colombia needs to strengthen its institutions to protect its people. The full text of that article can be seen here: view link
Frechette noted the same with his comment of: “Colombia really needs to strengthen its democracy.”

In reality, my wife and I did not file a tutela. The city council members and others are lying to the people. The CAR (a government institution) are the ones who shut down the stadium because it broke the law and the town had not made the repairs after numerous requests.

Many people in the USA are against the free trade agreement with Colombia. One of their contentions is that there is impunity from the law for many, especially the elite. Note that in the case of the stadium that the mayor has directly ignored an order from a higher government agency and nothing has happened. Council members are spreading lies. The school officials are letting children out of class to harass citizens after telling them lies. And nothing happens to them.

Many reports, including US State Department reports cite the massive Colombian corruption. People say, and I believe the same, “Colombia is a great place if you can learn to live with the corruption.”

A former paramilitary member now living in exile in Canada said, “In Colombia there is so much corruption, so many politicians that are corrupt. If the corruption continues, so does the war and so do all of the other problems.”

Our entire neighborhood is zoned residential except for the stadium. While the stadium occupies our back wall, a neighbor’s yard is on one of our side of our house. We just found out that the town planning commission gave permission for them to put in an outdoor bar in that yard. They are planning music and lights. And bars here stay open until 2 AM and sometimes later.

On Sunday our doorbell rang. I did not understand the Spanish, but my wife invited the man and woman couple in and asked me to make coffee. Later I was informed that the lady had a son who plays in the stadium. The man had identified himself as the president of the city council. My wife told them all the details described in the timeline above. We played for them a CD of sounds from the stadium that we had recorded from our house. After two cups of coffee they left with what seemed a different attitude. But as mentioned by the man, the mayor has all the power. The city council is just an advisory board and the mayor seems to have his own agenda.

Another government agency, a national one, filed yesterday something called an accion popular against the town and the stadium. My understanding is that the town has 10 days to respond to it with proofs. It is also my understanding that if the accion popular is upheld then they will have to actually tear down the stadium instead of just insulating it.

The secretary at the office where the accion popular was filed stated that in another town the accion popular lost in a similar case.

I guess the town administration heard about the document this morning as I saw a lawyer for the government agency meeting the town mayor at 7AM today. That has be somewhat worried as everything should be done in front of the judge and because corruption is so prevalent here.

It is also my understanding they must announce to the entire town that an accion popular has been filed. Since the town has already accused my wife and I have the first action by CAR, it is entirely likely that we could soon be suffering more problems from town residents ignorant of the truth.

My wife and I have agreed, if we can get enough money for our house we will move to Bogotá. Unfortunately with the stadium, we cannot even get anyone to offer us half the money we have into the house. And that won’t get us any place in Bogota.