For 48 hours, EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit has been revealing the dismissals of high-ranking Ecopetrol executives, some of whom are linked to a normal handover due to a change of government and others, to internal investigations that are under the scrutiny of a forensic audit.
In addition to the presidents of Hocol and Cenit, the head of Ecopetrol Brazil also left, among others. But there has just been a dismissal that has particularly caught attention, that of journalist Marcela Ulloa, head of external communications and media relations at Ecopetrol.
Ferrer and the complaint
EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit had contacted Marcela Ulloa about three weeks ago when the Spanish Eva Ferrer admitted to this newspaper the existence of a series of emails in which she was requesting sponsorship from the oil company for a mega-project: Colombia, beyond memory.
But Ferrer told EL TIEMPO that it was initially a personal project that later became a state project when she was hired for the second time in Gustavo Petro’s government, as an advisor to Dapre.
And although she said the project never materialized, it gained importance because in an audio Ferrer is heard linking Verónica Alcocer – her former friend and ex-first lady – with some books that were part of the project and with an alleged non-compliance with photographer Mauricio Vélez.
Ulloa’s complaint
When EL TIEMPO contacted Marcela Ulloa, she was emphatic that she opposed the disbursement of the requested money because it was a project that was not within Ecopetrol’s mission, and that it was going to be developed in a city (Miami) where they also have no operations.
EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit established that Ulloa went further and, after speaking with this newspaper, she reported to the state’s compliance officer, Rodolfo García Paredes, that she had opposed that project by the First Lady’s friend.
Indeed, in an email known to this newspaper from August 5, she sent a communication in which she stated her position, which was sent to Diana Marcela Jimenez Rodríguez, her immediate boss, with a copy to Manuel Armando Sarabia Acevedo, from the oil company’s social media area.
Ulloa documented that: “The procedure for the planning, authorization and subscription of sponsorship and acquisition of promotional items by Ecopetrol: Tacitly states that it is prohibited: the sponsorship of Books, audiovisual projects.”
Furthermore, she warned about risks: “No clear consideration for the Brand was identified to justify Ecopetrol’s participation, nor a direct connection with the business or with our corporate responsibility lines. Additionally, the event will take place in an area where we currently do not have operations or strategic presence, which further limits alignment with our institutional objectives.”
Ecopetrol sources stated that Ulloa’s refusal was transmitted to Dapre, where Ferrer was, and that Ulloa would have been forced to participate in some meetings to move forward with the initiative that ultimately did not succeed.
‘Single mother’
EL TIEMPO contacted Marcela Ulloa who refrained from speaking about both her dismissal and the episode with the compliance officer.
(Consult all the stories from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit here)
However, an executive from the communications area assured that Ulloa’s dismissal could be reversed because she is a single mother and because she reported being a victim of workplace persecution for refusing to approve the sponsorship of the books.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com
@UinvestigativaET
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