The Cerrejón coal mine owned by Switzerland-based Glencore, is the largest economic actor in Colombia’s La Guajira department in the far Northeast of the country near the Caribbean Sea and the Venezuelan border. The open-pit Cerrejón mine has had its share of controversy, with many local people, including the indigenous Wayúu opposing the mine, while others support it and depend upon it for their livelihoods.

During the 2024 Minexpo mining industry event organized by industry trade group Asociación Colombiana de Minería, or the Colombian Mining Association, Juan Carlos García Otero took the time to speak with Finance Colombia’s Executive Editor Loren Moss for a brief but intense interview where nothing was off limits.

Garcia, who is Cerrejón’s social affairs manager, spoke about the mine’s record regarding social and environmental responsibility, touching upon coal’s role in the global energy transition.

Loren Moss: Well, I am here with Juan Carlos García Otero. Thank you for your time. Here we are at MinExpo in Medellín. Tell me about your role and about the company you represent.

Juan Carlos García: Thank you so much, Loren. My name is Juan Carlos García Otero, I am the social affairs manager at Cerrejón. My area is in charge of securing the social license for operating our mine on La Guajira, for the benefit of all the people in that department, but also of the people in this country.

Loren Moss: Well, Cerrejón is, I think, the largest operating mine in Colombia. It’s a coal mine in La Guajira. Tell me, how many employees do you have?

Juan Carlos García: Look, maybe I should clarify that our measurement is not necessarily based on the size. The biggest and most important thing we have, that we are sure of, is that when it comes to people we are the largest. Why? We have over 12,000 employees, between direct ones and contractors, who are linked to the company and make all the development of their own lives and families through the mining operation in Cerrejón. So, in that sense, we are strongly convinced of the importance and significance it has for the department that that work connection happens.

Loren Moss: Because it’s the largest powerhouse in that region of Colombia — from Valledupar to the Atlantic coast — I cannot think of a company with more local economic impact. Tell me please, in general terms, about the importance for the economy of department capital Riohacha and La Guajira.

Juan Carlos García: Cerrejón represents between 55%-60% of the department’s gross domestic product. In that sense, we are a fundamental cornerstone of the development of the region. But we also signify over 105 billion Colombian pesos in social investment that we have done throughout last year through commitments and voluntary and mandatory executions.

We have had over 60 million liters of water delivered to a region that still needs additional efforts in order to provide water for the whole population, and in which we have increased in the last year almost 50% of that volume that we delivered.

We are a fundamental part, with over 11 billion pesos delivered in taxes and royalties, which represent almost 50% of what is delivered by the entire mining industry in Colombia. And in that regard, we leverage the whole country’s development in a fundamental way.

In that sense, I think we truly are protagonists of the development of the region and of Colombia.

Loren Moss: I visited the area on a trip. I was not there for anything related to your company but I stayed at your hotel. That hotel is wonderful — with a view of the mine in the distance. Really, it’s like the best hotel in the region. We went to visit Manaure. Anyway, another thing I noticed when we visited some rural villages — some Wayúu people — is that there was not even a mobile signal or electricity. You are not the power company and you are not the phone company. But apart from the employment and everything, can you tell me about the contribution you offer to the region?

Juan Carlos García: Look, a few things to tell you: The first is that the hotel is not ours, we promoted the arrival of investment for that hotel to be built, and we have a small participation that serves a social purpose in its development. We are basically leveraging tourism, we are strengthening the development capabilities of the community from that area, so that they can get to know the region — besides the existence of Cerrejón. La Guajira is a department worth getting to know, and we are aware that we need to make contributions and to leverage others’ investments to make that happen.

Now, you said you got to know communities, and you say they are not related to us. But they are! And, actually, if you look at exhibits at this exposition, we can see there are communities that we have brought here. Because part of our effort is to generate capabilities and development so that those cultural, productive, and employment activities can happen in the department. And so that people can offer their products in a direct way with better commercialization. So, what we do there is strengthen those capabilities.

When it comes to development, our contributions are focused on facilitating that the different actors — governmental in this case, when we are referring to energy matters — can carry out their functions. In that regard, we have been part of the solution, contributing with our assets to problem-solving, like in the case of Uribia. At this moment, we have some preliminary agreements that allow us to facilitate the access to Cerrejón’s power line, for the improvement of the power in that municipality. And in Manaure as well.

Additionally, we have facilitated our resources to achieve the connectivity of a very important area, the harbor area and Cabo de la Vela, to the national electrical system. If that construction had not been done with Cerrejón’s assistance, those communities would probably not have achieved that — or not have been on the path to attaining such development — through the ultimate entities responsible, the state and the local operator.

So, what do we do? We incorporate ourselves into the solution. We are aware that we are not the solution. But we are more aware that we are part of the solution that can be achieved in La Guajira.

The entrance to 2024 Minexpo, the largest annual gathering for the mining industry in Colombia. (Credit: Loren Moss)

Loren Moss: Well, you are doing really necessary work. It’s needed. There are many places that depend on coal, but long-term, in many places — including the president here in Colombia — they do not see it as an ultra-long-term thing. What is your position as a producer of a product that is necessary now for the short and medium term? And when talking long-term, what is your plan as a company? What is the long-term environmental plan, so it can be successful as a business — but also make long-term contributions with everything that‘s changing in the environmental setting?

Juan Carlos García: I understand. Look, I think that you are touching on many variables that would not be responsible of me to address. Because I am not the one managing them. I am not the one managing the world’s energy matrix. I am not the one who defines how the production of energy will be managed — or how it will be managed in other places.

I cannot give you an answer in that sense. But what I can make totally clear for you is that we, today, have a commitment — and it is to make the most of the entire Cerrejón operation from the standpoint of the people. Meaning, on the basis of the people being able to understand the opportunity that a mining operation represents in an area that needs development. And we need to leverage that effort so that they, when coal stops being part of their reality definitively — a part of their environment — whenever that may happen, they have the alternatives. They will have visualized the options and have built a future leveraged on this reality today that allows us to help them the way we do.

Loren Moss: Here at the event, at MinExpo, we have members of the Wayúu community. Some are producers of dairy, artisans, and musicians. As a big sponsor at this MinExpo event, tell me about the activities you do to promote the development of not only the Wayúu people, but also for all the people who live there in the local area and La Guajira?

Juan Carlos García: Well, look, I believe you would need a show with many episodes for me to tell you everything. But I am going to tell you about only some of the things we do, and I will try to do a run through things we have here.

I want to start off with the musicians. We have an orchestra here, and we do a great amount of work so the guys stay away from vices — from drugs, from activities that are not positive — and connect with music from the point of view of their tradition and their culture. We try to make it possible for music to be a job alternative, like it is for over 50 guys who have been in the orchestra and today do that job professionally. That is part of what we believe in.

We also support sports. We have a huge commitment to strengthening football [soccer] — a sport that is valued and appreciated in La Guajira — and of a championship that we sponsor — and from which [Colombian and Liverpool FC superstar] Luis Díaz came out. You’ve probably heard of him and he has been in those championships.

We continue to believe that strengthening those spaces is useful — not only because of what it signifies, like stories as important as Luis’ — but for the amount of people that distract themselves with sports and what it represents for their lives and their health.

We support enterprises. We support companies. We have companies that develop their company objectives through the direct hiring from Cerrejón so that they are able to generate economy, employment. and sustainability — as well as gain experience in the world of business and trade. They learn hand in hand with a company like Cerrejón.

Then there the artisan crafts. A few years ago, the artisans only produced the supplies, and they would sell it to third parties that were the ones earning the profits. We have been working on strengthening the designs, strengthening entrepreneurship, strengthening the capabilities — and that allows them to make the sales themselves. We take them to every fair event that we can, and they make their own sales directly. That has led, for example, to them surpassing over 100 million pesos in sales last year at the Expoartesanías fair in Bogota.

We have also worked on the culture. We build hand in hand with the communities, including Wayúy and black people in that territory, and that is are very valuable and they teach us very important things. But we also need to highlight their language, their traditions, understand them, and co-exist with them.

That is just part of what we do. Here, at the fair, we have brought only a small sample. But, without a doubt, if we get the chance we can tell you about it in greater detail later on.

Finance Colombia’s Executive Editor Loren Moss was able to meet with the couple in Orlando while attending Infocomm, the professional audio/video industry’s most important industry event. CTM’s Cesar Milano explained how the couple came to form the industry and what makes their product line so different.

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Cesar Milano from Clear Tune Monitors based here in Orlando, right? You guys are Colombian and Venezuelan right?

Cesar Milano: Right.

Finance Colombia: So tell me about your product and tell me about how you got started in this business, why did you develop the product, how did you do it, because it’s not so easy to produce electronic devices, and you’re bucking a trend because we think about products now, everything’s coming from Asia, maybe some designed in California, but here’s a company that’s based here in the States with South American roots, how did that happen?

Cesar Milano: So we’re coming from the Latin industry, right? So normally in the Latin industry people see everything that  is made in the US or outside of the US, it’s more expensive, right? And then you cannot afford that product or equipment because it’s from the US. So what I did, coming from the Latin industry, as a sound engineer looking for the necessities of the Latin industry, I started designing the headphones that…

“I believe in the power of music because the power of music can heal you”-Cesar Milano

I believe in the power of music because the power of music can heal you, it can make you happy or make you sad. But it depends, the power of music is so strong, but at the same time that people like to have, in the Latin industry like to have, or pursue the power of music, but they cannot afford that, because it’s too expensive and they cannot afford it, they go for different products, sometimes cheaper products, so I wanted to make an affordable product, but first for the Latin industry, and I started designing 3-driver and 4-driver earsets first for the Latin music industry, and I started pursuing Indie musicians who are touring with the big artists; they having in their mind that they cannot afford the (sets on the market) because they are too expensive

Finance Colombia: Right, I see some of those things are like $20,000.

Cesar Milano: I design the same product, using the same components and all, that big companies use at that moment and make it affordable for them, so instead of making huge profits I rather cut the profit and provide the same quality. Sometimes the companies prefer to make more profits and less quality.

But I don’t like that, so I decided to design products for the Latin music industry first attacking that market and we killed it, I mean we had all the top artists, musicians in the Latin industry using our product. From that, we moved to the US market, now we have our solutions in Europe, in Asia and all of that. So coming as a sound engineer, I have the knowledge and started designing sound with different drivers.

And looking, hearing every single model of the drivers that the company provides, I started designing our own sound, and as the difference between us and the other companies in the beginning is because we are actually…I am a musician too and I know we like to hear, what musicians like to hear. So I put all the knowledge into the monitor and started aligning drivers and making changes, using different (components) for the low end, for the high end and find our signature sound let’s say.

Finance Colombia: And that’s really important because I think you can’t have one size fits all, you know? And you have to say that to a musician, a different musician, a different taste, but the other thing is the type of music, if I’m gonna do rock and roll I probably need a different profile than vallenato, if I’m going with vallenato I need a different profile than cumbia, or reggaeton, right?

And so how do I find the ones that are right for me? You have a whole product line up here, I see that you have—it looks like these are Bluetooth, and looks like your traditional stage monitor we see these days, tell me about your product line.

Cesar Milano: We have the Smart Cable MKII as our lowest product. (Then the Explore P2) is a single dynamic, this is compared to air pods. it’s a 30-hour product, 30 hours of battery life, good quality sound, single dynamic, 10 millimeters, and sound quality is awesome to be honest, is very good.

We go to the CE320 ($249.99) which is a 3 driver in-ear monitor, three speakers per side. So that’s a universal for any musician, for people to just listen to music they can just go and take it off the shelf and buy it from to the store.

And from there we jump to the custom line, we have from 3 driver all the way to 10 drivers. The custom line, you customize it. You can put any color, any logo, any picture, whatever you want to do, you can customize it, but the thing is we have to do the impression of the ear and manufacture it and just make it for you, it’s just special for you.

Finance Colombia: What’s the turnaround time? If somebody says “ok, I want a customized ear set.” Then, ok I’m ready to make my appointment to do the ear mold, do they have to fly to Orlando?

Cesar Milano: No, they can go to any audiologist. If they’re in Orlando, they can come to our office and we do it for free here, we take the impressions, the mold, but normally they can go to any audiologist in the world, the impression they send it to us and we manufacture it.

When we receive the impression, it usually takes about four weeks, the turnaround time is basically one month, but it all depends, sometimes we have rush orders as well. The other day, (Puerto Rican Reggaetón artist) Anuel called and said: “Hey I need 10 drivers for tomorrow!”  (Laughs). “Ok, we can do it; we have a rush order for $500 extra.” So we can do that. There is no limit. We can do anything.

Finance Colombia: Now, a question I have too, is: I’m a journalist now but back in the 90s I was a broadcast engineer. And back at that time, the 70s 80s, 90s there was a crazy audiophile industry that has largely—it hasn’t died but it’s not the same as it used to be. But I would imagine because now everybody’s going to portable devices and things like that, there are still people really, that they’re not performers, they’re not musicians, they’re not pros, but they are audiophiles and they want high end sound and personalized products and I think that this also provides an option. Have you explored that market at all?

Cesar Milano: Yes, of course. Actually we designed two monitors for audiophiles. Nine and ten driver earsets called the DaVinci. Why DaVinci?

Finance Colombia: Is that because he was an innovator?

Cesar Milano: It’s Innovation. So we call it the DaVinci and mainly we designed the sound for the audiophile, but it was the one that all the musicians started buying.  So with that one, with the DaVinci we went to a couple of shows especially for audiophiles, and we went all the way to Asia, because in Asia there are a lot of audiophiles.

But the sound of the monitor is good. Even all the reggaeton artists are using the DaVinci.

Finance Colombia: Wow. That’s great. So you’re from what part of Venezuela?

Cesar Milano: Maracay. Like an hour from Caracas

Finance Colombia: Okay, and your wife is Paisa (Someone from the coffee growing region around Medellín Colombia)?

Cesar Milano: Paisa!

Finance Colombia: And you guys met here or there?

Cesar Milano: Here.

Finance Colombia: That’s great, here in Orlando. And so if people want to contact you, do you sell directly only or do you sell through the channel? If people want to order, what are their options, if people want to buy or they want to find out more?

Cesar Milano: So for custom, they can contact us via our website, but on our website we have dealers and reps all over the world. On our website they can find all the information. For the universal fit products we have Amazon, our website as well, different channels, all over the internet.

Finance Colombia: Super cool to see not just that there’s a Latino high-tech company that’s innovating in sound but also here in Florida because people think of all this kind of stuff as always in California or in the West Coast, or as you say, in Asia, but that you guys are doing this here is really cool! Now, I’m curious, most of your market is still mostly in Latin America, is it mostly in the US, is it Latinos in the US? Tell me about your market.

Cesar Milano: Well, its’ still Latin American and Latinos in the US, but have everything, I mean, we have a market in the US, Asia, Europe, we have a lot of Europeans, no limits. In the beginning we started with the Latin Industry but that helped us to go to other markets.

Headline photo: Cesar Milano & Sandra Cardona of Clear Tune Monitors ©Loren Moss

Currently, when trying to accessing the website in the country, users instead see a notice from the República of Colombia citing various legal statutes and the names of law enforcement agencies, including the investigative unit of tech crimes.

The online portal was ordered to suspend operations in Colombia for 30 days amid accusations that it has failed to refund money to people who bought tickets for events that were later cancelled.

The suspension was mandated after, according to SIC, the parent company, Grupo Tuticket.com Colombia S.A.S., failed to comply with a November 2017 order to refund 1,910 tickets valued at a combined $130,000 USD (382 million pesos) for 17 different concerts and events that were cancelled in 2015 and 2016.

Among the cancelled shows were a two-day My Little Pony event in May 2016, the Festival Vallenato Tour 2016, a Fito Páez concert in Medellín, a Chayanne concert in in Barranquilla, and two Laura Pausini concerts in Bogotá and Medellín.

Photo: Pexels / Pixabay

A young silletera in last year’s parade with her silleta

Business travelers to Colombia in the coming weeks would be unwise not to make time for this year’s Feria de las Flores (Flower Fair) taking place in Medellin. Colombia is one of the world’s top flower producers, and Medellin’s Antioquia region is a flower production epicenter. The annual celebration of this bounty takes place every year with a parade and judging of silleteros, people carrying exquisitely designed flower mounts, “Gigantes de Flores,” giant flower topiaries, artistic events, nocturnal exhibits, bazaars, and agricultural events.

Most events are free, but some privately organized events associated with the Feria, such as the kickoff concert sponsored by Pilsen Beer, require tickets. The July 31 kickoff concert features salsa singer Rey Ruiz, Vallenato crooner Martín Elías, and Reggaetón stars Zion Y Lennox.

The Silletero parade takes place on Sunday, the 9^th of August and starts at 2pm at the Guayaquil Bridge, and terminates in the Plaza Mayor—Medellin’s equivalent of a Town Square, where the finalists and winners of the Silletas contest will be featured.  This year’s parade consists of 420 adults, and 80 youths between the ages of 7 and 17.

Last year’s parade

Purdue University’s marching band will be visiting from the United States, a cohort of over 200 students, 10 technical directors, and conductor Jay Gephart, performing in the parade, and at other sites during the Feria. Purdue University already has strong links with Colombia, including programs with EAFIT University, and Ruta N.

Currently confirmed performers:

• Purdue University Marching Band (USA)
• Rey Ruiz
• Martín Elías
• Zion & Lennox (Puerto Rico)
• Miranda
• Zona Prieta
• Haydée Milanés (Cuba)
• Yury Buenaventura
• Gospel Voices (USA)
• Grupo Profetas
• Grupo El Sur Suena Cubano (Cuba)
• Grupo Bahia
• Edmar Castañeda (USA)
• Grupo Fatso
• Grupo María Barilla
• La Bambarabanda
• Victoria Sur
• Trío Barahú
• Yolanda Be Cool (Australia)
• Roger Sánchez (USA)
• ChoQuibTown
• Astronaut
• Tego Calderón (Puerto Rico)

On the first and second of August, the floral bazaar takes place in the Ciudad del Rio park from 10am to 8pm featuring local designers, cultural goods, youth entrepreneurs and craftspeople, and culinary offerings from local restaurants.

Sunday, August 2^nd is Noche Negra (Black Night) and features Gospel Voices from the United States, a choir featuring singers from Central State University in Ohio, Prarie View A&M University in Texas, and Alabama A&M (Agricultural & Mechanical) University. Colombia’s Grupo Profetas, musicians that fuse reggae, rock, and hip-hop with AfroColombian music and featuring African Antombo Languangui and Colombian Pablo Fortaleza will perform.

Jazz group El Sur Suena Cubano from Cuba, featuring Kelvis Ochoa, William Vivanco, and drummer Yissy Garcia is performing, as well as Colombia’s own Grupo Bahia, representing the sounds of Colombia’s Pacific coast.

Friday the 7^th of August will see a classic car show that runs from El Colombiano newspaper facilities to EAFIT University. From August 4^th to 9^th, orchids and parrots will be on display in the Jardín Botánico (Botanical Gardens). The last weekend of the feria features a concert with the likes of Yolanda Be Cool, De Bruces a Mí, Astronaut, ChoQuibTown, and Tego Calderón.

Photos of the 2014 Feria de las Flores provided courtesy of the Medellin Convention & Visitors Bureau