What the Inspector General said

In San Andrés we get used to honking, waiting and hunting for parking where there is none. What we should not accept as normal is a court order meant to protect life on the island going years without being fully met. On November 10, Colombia's Inspector General's Office (Procuraduría) brought disciplinary charges against former governors Everth Julio Hawkins Sjogreen (2020-2023) and Nicolás Iván Gallardo Vásquez (2024-2026) for allegedly failing to comply with a tutela ruling by the Archipelago's Administrative Court ordering measures to ease the effects of overpopulation. El Universal, Asuntos Legales, Radio Hoy and Diario del Cauca reported it.

Hawkins is questioned over alleged omissions regarding the OCCRE residence-control office, irregular settlements and buildings, and the vehicle fleet. Gallardo is questioned over controlling the growth of cars, motorbikes, mule carts and golf carts. The Procuraduría provisionally classified the faults as serious, by gross negligence.

What this case is not

It needs saying plainly, because rumours travel faster than a motorbike on the ring road: this is a disciplinary proceeding. It is not a conviction, not a criminal charge, and nobody has spoken of missing money or corruption. Gross negligence means the watchdog believes, at this stage, there was carelessness in complying with an order, not intent to break it. Both men have the right to a defence and the process is just beginning.

Gallardo has already replied. According to the document published by El Extra, his administration carried out the 2024 vehicle census, gave the Court a comparison with the 2017 census showing an 8.75% rise in the fleet, requested an injunction restricting vehicle entry, which the Court granted for three months on May 26, 2025, asked on August 15, 2025 to extend it for two years, which the Court denied on April 6, 2026, insisted again on June 2, 2026, and asked the Ministry of Transport to create a special traffic zone for the Archipelago. No public response from Hawkins is known so far.

The question that matters

Here is the knot. If a governor asks to stop cars coming in and the brake lasts three months, who really holds the key to the door? The island deserves to know why the extension was denied, what the Ministry of Transport said about the special zone, and how many vehicles have arrived since the restriction ended. The administration's 8.75% and the "exaggerated increase" cited by the Procuraduría cannot remain two versions that never meet: the 2017 and 2024 census data should be published, complete, in a format any citizen can check.

The same goes for the OCCRE. We have talked about residence control for decades and still lack, in plain sight, how many people live in the Archipelago, how many cards are issued each year and how many visitors overstay. Without those numbers, every government inherits the problem and every ex-governor ends up explaining himself to a watchdog.

The turn of those in office today

Governor Girley Natacha Ordóñez Bowie took office with the tutela still in force. The 33-project portfolio presented by the National Planning Department on November 3 includes an electric public transport system worth 176 billion pesos. Welcome, but an electric bus will not do much if motorbikes and cars keep arriving unchecked behind it. The question for the Governor's Office is simple: what is the plan to comply with the Court's order, with measurable goals and dates?

What we demand

We ask for four things. That the Governor's Office publish the vehicle censuses and the reports sent to the Court. That the Ministry of Transport answer the special-zone request in public. That the OCCRE release figures on residents and overstays. And that the Departmental Assembly summon whoever is responsible to explain how the tutela will be met from now on.

Overpopulation will not be fixed by a list of charges, just as it was not fixed by press releases. Two former governors will have to explain themselves, and hopefully they will do so in full. But if four years from now another ex-official sits in the same chair answering for the same order, the loser will be the Archipelago. And here space, like patience, is running out.