The Municipal Council of Liberia unanimously rejected two appeals presented against the appointment of Eugenio Román Ocampo as representative of civil society on the regulatory plan commission. The council members agreed to refer the case to the Administrative Contentious Court.
Eugenio Román Ocampo is the first cousin of the municipal president, María Lourdes Ocampo Fernández, and both are part of the commission. This family link as well as the way in which the two civil society representatives were selected have caused discontent and rejection among representatives of the community of Liberia.
However, during the municipal session on Tuesday, July 16, without any comment or debate, the seven council members accepted the legal affairs commission’s resolution that rejected the two appeals and recommended referring them to the Contentious Court.
The council still has to analyze the appeal presented by the Broad Front Party of Liberia, with the support of 38 people, which was also sent to the legal affairs commission.
The purpose of the appellants is for the council to reverse the appointment of engineer and businessman Eugenio Román Ocampo, elected on June 18 from a list of 29 applicants. The other person designated to represent civil society on the regulatory plan commission is lawyer Laura Charpentier Soto.
To Víctor Hugo Chacón, who presented one of the complaints, the legal commission’s rejection isn’t surprising since the same people who chose Eugenio Román Ocampo are there. “That was totally expected,” he said.
The council members who voted in favor of the appointment of Román Ocampo and Charpentier Soto were: María Lourdes Ocampo, Yolanda Alpízar, Ana Lucía Vindas and Nisida Quintanilla. And the legal commission is made up of María Lourdes Ocampo, Rigoberto Viales and Yolanda Alpízar.
Chacón added that he’s waiting for notification of the agreement, as well as the reasons underlying that decision to incorporate it into the file he maintains on the case.
The other appeal that will go to court is the one presented by Damaris Rodríguez, president of the Maritime Land Zone Rescue Association (Spanish acronym: Arezomate), along with eight other people.
I think we’re facing a totally arbitrary council that doesn’t want to analyze its decisions and doesn’t want to give space to civil society. And we have an authoritarian and arrogant municipal president. That doesn’t represent what Liberian society is,” Rodríguez criticized.
The leader insisted that Mrs. Ocampo’s cousin should not be part of the regulatory plan commission because he responds to the interests of a family group and not the community.
The Román Ocampo family is in legal litigation with organizations from the canton because they claim ownership rights of lands located on Cabuyal beach. The case will go to trial in November.
Cabuyal is also part of the so-called “gold coast,” an area of green areas and ocean views where the municipality intends to promote hotel, business and tourist real estate development.
Some Liberians attended the municipal council session this Tuesday, July 16, upset by the appointment of the Ocampo cousins to the regulatory plan commission.Photo: Match Cr for La Voz de Guanacaste
Commission on Pause
While appeals come and go, the commission for the Territorial Zoning Plan (Spanish acronym: POT), known as the regulatory plan, has been at a standstill for almost three months, since the municipal authorities took office on May 1.
Liberia’s mayor, José Javier Calvo, is optimistic and affirms that this committee can resume its work while the courts decide on the appeals over the appointment of the civil society representatives.
“The decision made by the council to send it to the Contentious Court doesn’t cause any delay in the regulatory plan commission as long as what is sent to the Contentious Court doesn’t suspend the effects of the administrative act [the appointments],” he explained.
However, the mayor acknowledged that there is the possibility that the Contentious Court could request a precautionary measure that could suspend this administrative act. In other words, the appointments would be on hold while the case is resolved.
That would cause chaos for me as an administration because it would bring me a real problem both in the contracting (with the company Ecoplan) and in the advancement of the regulatory plan,” he affirmed.
To finance this regulatory plan, the municipality allocated just over ¢189 million ($356,600). Putting together the POT was awarded to the consulting company Ecoplan SRL at the end of 2022. In addition, the Housing and Urban Planning Institute (Spanish acronym: INVU) was hired as a supervisor.
Liberia’s mayor explained that under his administration, the work of the regulatory plan commission won’t continue in the same form, nor at the same “gallop.” His intention, he said, is that there be more socialization because there is a lot of lack of awareness in the community of Liberia about what the POT proposes.
“As mayor and as the municipal administration, I will be vigilant that the decisions made in that commission, and in the implementation of the regulatory plan, are for the benefit of the canton and, furthermore, legally justified,” the leader affirmed.
Calvo recalled that this Tuesday, July 16, the Municipality of Liberia and, specifically, the mayor’s office, launched two WhatsApp numbers to report possible acts of corruption: 8396-0606 or 8448-2934.
He was asked if the council’s position of appointing the Ocampo cousins doesn’t contradict this offer of transparency, to which he responded: “In transparency and the matter of corruption, it doesn’t affect me personally or as an administration in any way.” The decisions made by the council will now be decisions that are being discussed today in the municipal council and are being taken to the Contentious Court.”
The regulatory plan is an instrument through which local governments define the use of land and the territorial zoning of the canton. In the case of Liberia, the POT proposal is only in the draft stage and is under consultation with local residents.
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