Antioquia Governor announces fire rewards and reconstruction proposals

Antioquia Governor Andrés Julián Rendón has announced a 500 million peso reward fund to identify those responsible for recent forest fires in Abejorral. Following a visit to the municipality, Rendón stated that all 27 fire incidents recorded in the area in recent months were intentional rather than accidental, and the incentive aims to involve the community in judicializing the perpetrators.

In a separate effort to address the aftermath of the August 10 earthquake, Rendón proposed expanding the ‘Obras por Impuestos’ (Works for Taxes) mechanism to the national government. Alongside Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez, the Governor suggested increasing the percentage of resources companies can direct toward public works from 1% to 10%. This change could potentially increase annual funding from 1.5 trillion to between 14 and 15 trillion pesos, providing significant resources for reconstructing earthquake-affected zones. The proposal also suggests utilizing royalty funds for these reconstruction projects.