"I do not agree with hotels in the Tayrona"

 This is how Julia Miranda maintained it after her controversial departure from the Natural Parks direction after 16 years at the head of the entity.

In the midst of a strong controversy, Julia Miranda, considered one of the most technical environmental officials at the central level, left the leadership of the National Natural Parks last Tuesday, after 16 years of renowned management, had presented her formal letter of resignation to the entity after the request in this regard from the Minister of the Environment, Carlos Eduardo Correa.

The official, who has recognized that she did not want to leave the Natural Parks, doubled the protected area of ​​the Chiribiquete Park and eight new protected areas were declared in the country.

Miranda also comes out in the midst of the controversy over the tourist exploitation of Tayrona Park, an issue that in the second semester of 2019 confronted senators Mauricio Gómez, from the Liberal Party, and Álvaro Gómez, from the Democratic Center, in the plenary session of the Senate. because the first pointed out to the second to lead private meetings attended by representatives of the Dávila family (on the list of 82 Tayrona owners), owners of a large part of the territory, in which they have raised the option of developing projects ecotourists, denouncing in this regard that they did not invite Miranda to these meetings.

Gómez said at that time that the former president "emphasized that it is necessary to provide facilities to entrepreneurs so that they can install investment projects for the aforementioned tourist infrastructure."

To which the natural leader of the Government party and who resigned a couple of months ago from his seat answered airily: “What are you accusing me of? (...) One, who has to live arguing, at least has to learn that clowns are for fun, not to fight with or reply to them ”.

This after another episode, which occurred in May 2019, when Uribe attacked the director of Parks and the entity itself because, in his opinion, it put obstacles to tourism development in Tayrona.

"It cannot be that President Duque says that tourism is Colombia's new oil, and National Parks put all the obstacles that prevent development and tourism infrastructure in Tayrona Park."

The whole fight took place in the middle of the dispute over the tender that National Parks opened, and which is suspended, for the update of the management plan and the new operator that will manage the place.

On the subject, the outgoing director of Natural National Parks said yesterday that she does not agree with the construction of tourist complexes in Tayrona Park.

"Costa Rica is a huge example, because not a brick or a tube enters the parks of Costa Rica because you do have to do ecotourism but the construction of hotels should not be allowed in any case," Miranda told W Radio. .

However, he said that he does not believe that his position had to do with his departure from the entity.

“I don't think it is related, because the State Council itself agreed with us, and settled the conflict that existed in that project: it establishes that the priority is the conservation of the tropical dry forest. That difference has already been solved ”, he pointed out.

In addition, the former official told the media: “We will open a new tender. It ended its concession Aviatur, which had a temporary union. (...) We tried to open the tender, but a group of indigenous people sued us, claiming that we had not done a tender and they stopped the process for many months. "

The Minister of Environment, for his part, informed through his account of the virtual social network of Twitter the replacement of Miranda at the head of Parks: “I have appointed @ Orlandomolano71 as the new director of @ParquesColombia. I am sure that with its experience and dedication to service, Colombia will follow the mandate of conservation and protection of our natural parks and our environmental heritage ”.

Faced with the appointment of Orlando Molano as the new director of the agency, the outgoing official said: "Surely he will have to learn about the subject, but it will be wonderful because he will have a magnificent team that are the park rangers and the heads of the areas protected that have been working for so many years for the environment ”.

Molano was the director of the Bogotá Sports and Recreation Institute, Idrd, in the Enrique Peñalosa mayor's office, where he was criticized for promoting the felling of trees and the construction of synthetic courts. He is an architect and has academic training in Construction Management from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.