President appoints ad hoc mayor for the POT of Santiago de Cali

President Abelardo De La Espriella appointed Nicolás Gómez Arenas as ad hoc mayor of the Special, Sports, Cultural, Tourism, Business, and Services District of Santiago de Cali to handle any matter related to the Land Use Plan (POT) and its derivative instruments. The decision was recorded in Decree number 1479 of 2026, issued on September 30, 2026, and published in the Official Gazette number 53,643 of the same date, signed by the Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Lara Restrepo.

The decree is based on Article 189 of the Political Constitution, Article 66 of Law 4 of 1913, and numeral 1 of Article 11 of Law 1437 of 2011. The Government justifies the measure based on the need to guarantee the principles of morality, transparency, and impartiality of administrative functions, enshrined in Article 209 of the Constitution and Article 3 of the Code of Administrative Procedure and Administrative Contentious Matters.

The origin: an impediment due to conflict of interest

The case dates back to the official letter with filing number 202441120100004171 dated October 11, 2024, filed with the Regional Instruction Prosecutor’s Office of Valle del Cauca, in which Mayor Álvaro Alejandro Eder Garcés declared his impediment to handle POT matters. In the document, he stated that “currently, the apparent conflict of interest persists, given that my relatives up to the 4th degree of consanguinity could have investments in the construction, civil engineering, cement, basic iron and steel industry sectors, as well as in the real estate, property, and hotel sectors, and in real estate activities carried out with own or leased assets.”

Through an Order dated November 6, 2024, issued within the process with filing IUS-E-2024-663718 IUC-D-2024-3855219, the Regional Instruction Prosecutor of Valle del Cauca declared the impediment well-founded and ordered the proceedings to be sent to the Ministry of the Interior for the appointment of the ad hoc official.

Three appointments and one repeal in less than two years

The decree reconstructs a chain of previous appointments that were not consolidated:

• Resolution number 0493 of April 3, 2025: designated Jaime Luis Berdugo Pérez, then General Vice Minister of the Interior, as ad hoc mayor.
• Decree number 1214 of August 13, 2026: the President accepted the resignation of Jaime Luis Berdugo Pérez from the position of Vice Minister Code 0020 of the Office of the General Vice Minister of the Interior.
• Resolution number 1511 of September 3, 2026: the Minister of the Interior designated Kinerith Stephanie Gómez Ríos, advisor Code 1020, Grade 18, of the Office of the Minister of the Interior.
• Resolution number 1557 of September 9, 2026: fully repealed Resolution number 1511.

The Government further recalls that Decree number 658 of 2024 had delegated the function of designating ad hoc mayors to the Minister of the Interior, but that the delegating authority may resume the competence at any time, pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 12 of Law 489 of 1998.

Scope of the designation and obligations of the designee

Article 1 designates Nicolás Gómez Arenas, identified with citizenship card number 1018500147, who holds the position of Chief of the Presidential Office Code 1196, to handle any matter regarding the POT (Land Use Plan) and other derived instruments or in which he must intervene according to the functions assigned to the position of mayor of the aforementioned district.

Article 2 orders that the designee take office before the corresponding instance, under the terms of Article 94 of Law 136 of 1994. Article 3 provides for the communication of the decree, through the Legal Advisory Office of the Ministry of the Interior, to both the ad hoc mayor and the titular mayor. The paragraph establishes that, upon completion of the entrusted management, the designee must submit a report to the Legal Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior. The decree is effective as of the date of its issuance.

The decision directly affects the urban planning of the country’s third-largest city, as the POT defines land use, expansion, and construction regulations of the district. With the President resuming the competence, the designation no longer depends on the Ministry of the Interior and remains in the hands of the national Executive, while the titular mayor Álvaro Alejandro Eder Garcés remains removed from all matters related to the territorial planning of Cali.

Source: Official Gazette, number 53,643 of September 30, 2026, section I (Ministry of the Interior), pág. 3 (official reference: Decree number 1479 of 2026).