A very public row has erupted on San Andres, the Colombian archipelago in the western Caribbean, after President Abelardo de la Espriella confronted Representative Elizabeth Jay-Pang Diaz and Governor Girley Natacha Ordoñez Bowie during an October 18 visit. His claim: that Jay-Pang's husband, businessman Norbert Vonblon Pomare, is 'behind the Governor's Office contracting'. The moment came as the national government intervened at the Departmental Hospital, where the Health Superintendency found problems with services, finances and management.
The evidence so far is more circumstantial than damning. A review of procurement records cited by Semana found four contracts tied to Vonblon between 2018 and 2024, worth a combined US$541,454. The largest single transaction was roughly US$538,608 for a property in the Coral Palace building, acquired via direct contracting as part of a US$2.218 million stormwater sewer project in District 4. There is also a 2016 landfill contract — Vonblon was paid US$348,507 for hauling and compacting waste at Magic Garden, San Andres' landfill, and it was liquidated after normal completion.
Direct contracting is legal in Colombia under specified circumstances, and none of this proves wrongdoing. The Attorney General's Office is separately investigating alleged corruption in San Andres, including cases involving former governors, and the Presidential Transparency Secretariat has asked the Inspector General, Comptroller General and Attorney General to coordinate. Vonblon has not been charged.
Jay-Pang — a former tourism secretary for the department who also ran SENA's regional office for 14 years — rejected the allegations as 'another falsehood, another slander', insisting her husband's hardware business holds no Governor's Office contracts. Governor Ordoñez, who took office on July 11 after a special election, acknowledged that 'the investment is not reflected in the territory', while noting some current-year contracts predated her arrival.
Why should travellers care? San Andres and neighbouring Providencia and Santa Catalina are popular Caribbean beach destinations, and the functioning of local services — hospitals, waste management, infrastructure — affects visitors directly. The hospital intervention is the most immediate practical issue: anyone falling ill or injured on the islands may face a health system under administrative overhaul. The scrutiny of public spending could also shape how quickly infrastructure and services improve. None of this is a reason to cancel a trip — the islands remain open for business — but it explains why national attention is fixed on this small department, and why oversight of how money is spent there matters both for residents and the tourists who share those beaches.
