A Gustavo Petro He has a few hours left to take possession as president of Colombia and the time to appoint the rest of his cabinet, 10 ministers, is running out. On this Friday morning he has taken strength from that María Camilia Villamizar, Secretary of the Government of Medellín and one of the people closest to Daniel Quintero, would be appointed as Minister of ICT by Petro.
In this regard, Mayor Quintero was approached by several media outlets. When asked, the president said: “I have not spoken with Dr. Villamizar.” He immediately praised her for her work in the municipal government.
Quintero finished his answer without giving a clear point about whether what is said about his subordinate is real or if it is just a rumor. However, he said regarding Villamizar that at this moment “his commitment is with the Medellin Development Plan.”
The rumor about Villamizar has caused a stir because she is one of the officials who has staunchly defended Quintero. The inclusion of her in the National Government would be, without a doubt, the quota to the mayor of Medellín.
Who Maria Camila Villamizar?
The relationship between María Camila Villamizar and Daniel Quintero began, precisely, at the MinTIC. There, during the Santos government, the now mayor served as deputy minister, while she was the private secretary of then minister David Luna. “She was the political operator, the one who received and sent resumes,” says someone who worked with her.
During those years, this official, born in Cúcuta, became famous for her difficult relationship with other officials, whom she did not let pass the door of her office, some ended up crying after feeling humiliated.
Villamizar is a lawyer from the Externado University and a specialist in Telecommunications Law and Commercial Law from the Universidad del Rosario. Her strength is in ICT, and above all, say those who have worked with her, in creating “narratives”, perhaps one of the points that the officials of the Mayor’s Office have in common.
In his same Linkedin profile he says: “Director of two of the most important guilds in the ICT sector: Association of the Cellular Industry (Asocek), today Asomovil, and National Association of Media (Asomedios)”. Despite this experience, she has been harshly accused by the Press Freedom Foundation (FLIP) of attacking press freedom.
Villamizar’s character has been maintained in the Mayor’s Office. He works behind closed doors and no one has power over what he does or decides, only Mayor Quintero. Many even wonder why everything related to her is under strict secrecy, or at least it was when she was the Mayor’s Private Secretary.. And beyond that, in the corridors of the 12th floor, she is said to be a “batterer”. And that “no one works with her for more than three months because it is very difficult.”
As Quintero himself said, Villamizar was the one who opposed Juan Camilo Restrepo, who replaced the mayor when he was out of office by order of the Attorney General’s Office. In a government council with the person in charge, Villamizar got into an argument and ended up tearing up and throwing messages like “cabinet, I love you, queer.”
It is still to be confirmed if the official controversy reaches the new National Government.