To a large extent, the actors’ union supported President Gustavo Petro during his campaign. Despite the high expectations regarding the development of culture during the Government, the most recent appointment in the ICT Ministry turned out to be a disappointment for the sector.
On his social networks, Julio César Herrera, recognized for his role as Freddy in I am Betty the Ugly one, He was outraged by the Government’s decision to choose Sergio Valdés as the new Vice Minister of Connectivity. According to the actor, he is a person who “little or nothing respects copyright.”
The conflict of the actors with the appointment begins with Law 1403 of 2010, which orders remuneration for public communication to artists, performers or performers of audiovisual recording works.
It is there that the Colombian Management Society, founded and directed by actors, enters to collect and distribute the right to remuneration for public communication. Despite the fact that by law it corresponds to them to obtain said money, it has not been an easy task for the union.
The lawyer Santiago Cabrera, executive director of the company, told WEEK the difficult task that has been negotiating with the cable operators that retransmit the work and that, according to the law, must pay. He assured that an agreement has been reached with small companies and that the big ones are the biggest problem.
“In the case of large subscription television operators, 90% of the market, it has not been possible to reach an agreement. They have ignored it.” said Cabrera, who assured that there have been ten years without the fulfillment of the rights.
In this bid to obtain the money, the Colombian Management Society has had to negotiate directly with Valdés, now Vice Minister of Connectivity, in order to obtain remuneration. These talks have not been fruitful.
Julio César Herrera, in conversation with WEEK, explained that Valdés worked with DirecTV and Claro, two of the companies with which an agreement has not yet been reached. For both, the now vice minister led strategies for regulatory issues, which ended in cost reductions for companies.
“He was sitting in on some meetings that we, as a Management Company, had. Now we see that he is appointed as Vice Minister of Connectivity. I understand that this position has to supervise those companies with which he was working. One realizes this and I understand as an actor that four years will pass of a government, in which there is talk of a change, and such a change will not exist ”, Herrera said.
According to Cabrera, although the internal dynamics of the companies are unknown, “some type of interference has over the decision” not to make the payments.
Even Herrera, who was a director of the company, assured that there is a possible conflict of interest: “With what authority is the new vice minister going to tighten these chains? With what face is he going to initiate a sanction process against these companies?
Herrera, who did not support Petro in the campaign and did not vote for him either, invited union members who did to express themselves against this decision.
“What one asks of the comrades who supported Gustavo Petro’s candidacy is to make visible these types of errors that our politicians unfortunately make. I hope they come out and say something about this issue,” he said.
Cabrera, for his part, stresses the negative impact of the decision, but opens the door to dialogue with the Government.
“From society there will always be a willingness to dialogue and spaces for negotiation,” he said.
The actors, who believed in Petro’s proposal, may be harmed by this appointment in the ICT Ministry.