President Abelardo de la Espriella announced that his Miracle Fund received COP1 trillion ($309 million) for the reconstruction of western Colombia, which was hit by a 7.4M earthquake on August 10.
The announcement followed announcements by the press, which reported that the Finance Ministry allocated ($192 million) COP625 billion to the fund almost two months after the disaster.
Thank you for your patience, but please understand that the government’s bureaucratic inertia and the situation we’ve inherited are extremely complex. However, we’re working to resolve the issue, and the Milagro Fund is now up and running, thanks to God and the efforts of all the officials in this administration.
President Abelardo de la Espriella
“In November, the government will move forward with contracting another COP2.7 trillion ($835 million),” Vice-President Jose Manuel Restrepo told Caracol Radio.
The money is the first of an estimated COP30 trillion ($9.3 billion) that would be needed to rebuild the damage to airports, roads, hospitals and other public works.
The fund will be managed by De la Espriella’s general secretary, Carlos Rios, and a handful of businessmen with ties to the administration.
The announcement followed increased unrest about the government’s lack of response to the earthquake, which affected more than 400,000 people in the Valle del Cauca and Choco province, and the coffee region.
The government’s initial response was delayed because De la Espriella suspended the process to transfer power a month before he took office on August 7.
