Prosecutors will charge Neiva's ex-mayor Gorky Muñoz Calderón and two former officials with prevarication for illegally expanding the urban perimeter via Decree 1066 of 2023. Issued weeks before his term ended, it was revoked by the current administration. The hearing was suspended and will resume after Easter week.
Neiva's former mayor, Gorky Muñoz Calderón, along with José Eustacio Rivera Montes, ex-director of the Administrative Department of Planning (DAP), and Daniel Fernando Martínez Falla, ex-director of Territorial Ordering, will face charges of prevarication by action, according to sectional seventh prosecutor Sandra Patricia Orjuela. The charges stem from issuing Decree 1066 of 2023 and Resolution 059 of 2023, which expanded the urban perimeter without legal authority, incorporating rural and risk soils classified under Agreement 026 of 2009 as non-urban. This was justified as correcting cartographic inconsistencies, but subsequent technical reports confirmed no such errors existed, per the complaint filed by lawyer Sheiber Cuenca Galindo on behalf of current mayor Casagua, who revoked the decree on January 17, 2024. The decision bypassed citizen participation procedures, inter-institutional consultation, and environmental approval from CAM, as well as the lack of public services availability, as certified by Las Ceibas company. The imputation hearing began last Friday before the Fourth Municipal Criminal Judge but was suspended at the request of lawyers Daniel Sánchez and David Benavidez, resuming after Easter week. Prosecutors deem the acts manifestly contrary to law, usurping the Municipal Council's functions. Cuenca Galindo stated: “there was knowledge of the criminal nature of the behavior.” Neiva's POT, adopted in 2000 and adjusted in 2009, remains outdated.
