De la Espriella Buries the Victims Under the Rubble of His Own Political Pettiness

There are no protocols that matter: this is political selection of lives.

That Abelardo de la Espriella has gone five days without formally requesting international aid after an earthquake that has left thousands trapped, cities in ruins, and a collapsed health system is not, as his spokespeople insinuate, a problem of «bureaucratic procedures.» It is, plainly and simply, a cowardly political decision disguised as technicality. And what is worse: it is a decision that is costing lives.

The argument of «national capacity not exceeded» is an insult to intelligence. What national capacity? That of firefighters working 48 consecutive hours without relief? That of Pereira’s hospitals treating patients in hallways? That of backhoes that are not enough to remove the rubble?

The tiered system — municipality, department, nation — was designed for local floods or minor landslides, not for a catastrophe that split half of Colombia in two. Clinging to that manual when the country is bleeding out is not technical prudence: it is active negligence or, worse, feigned ignorance.

And do not come with the story of «time for paperwork.» The emergency decree is signed in an hour if there is will. Diplomatic notes are drafted in minutes. What takes time is not the paperwork; it is deciding whether to swallow pride and recognize that the government cannot do it alone. For a leader who has just taken office, that is untenable: his image of strength is worth more than the arms that could be pulling people out alive.

While De la Espriella protects his ego, beneath the rubble, Colombians stop breathing.

But hypocrisy reaches its most disgusting point with the case of the United States. How is it possible that a U.S. rescue team is already on its way without a formal request, while Mexico’s offer — 255 military personnel, canine teams, 8.4 tons of equipment — remains frozen? And China’s, with one of the most tested earthquake rescue experiences in the world? And El Salvador’s, offered by Bukele? And the UN’s, which has global logistics and is only waiting for a call?

The answer is so obvious it hurts: there is no bureaucratic obstacle, there is an ideological filter. Aid from Trump is accepted due to political affinity. Aid from others is scorned due to geopolitical calculation. This is not disaster management: it is Creole Machiavellianism applied to a humanitarian tragedy. It is telling the world that the dead do not matter, only to whom we owe favors.

Mr. De la Espriella: protocols do not save lives; rescuers do. While you play at selective diplomacy, the golden minutes for finding survivors are running out. Every hour without Mexico’s teams, China’s, the UN’s, is an hour in which a Colombian under the concrete ceases to be a possible rescue and becomes a cadaver to be exhumed.

The conclusion is brutal: you are not protecting sovereignty; you are protecting your image. And that calculation, in the midst of this tragedy, is not only negligence. It is, in plain terms, complicity with death. Because when one has the power to ask for help and does not do so, the responsibility for every life lost is not the earthquake’s: it is yours.