Grajales: from profiting from renewables to health now in Colombia.

(Castellano) (Euskara)

A piece of current news has not been sufficiently important in these parts: the conflict that has arisen in Colombia, between its government and a Basque, Joseba Grajales. Not just any Basque like you and me. But one of the five Basques who has managed to get into the Forbes list of the richest Spaniards, with a fortune valued at 230 million dollars (in the last one he narrowly missed out, but that does not mean that his fortune is not considerable).

In another attempt to preserve the few natural areas that remain, now that this new development offensive is dressed up as renewable and green, it is very clear to us that behind these mega-projects there is nothing more than business. Because, as this case makes clear, they don’t care whether they invest in renewables, health, miltarism1, construction or whatever. As long as it brings good profits, of course.

In our efforts to defend public health, we are aware that the threats are many, because it can be very lucrative.

In this neoliberal era of plunder and extractivism here, but more so in the South as a continuation of colonialist patterns, we need alternatives, popular sovereignty and more democracy, and we must listen to those who stand up and say «Enough», as in the Colombian case.

From renewables to healthcare

This is a land of pelotaris (Basque ball players2), and one of the most profitable modalities is that of the pelotazo (financial hit). Joseba Grajales, who sold his Gamesa wind energy business to Siemens (2017), and the Guascor energy production engines business to Dresser Rand, which in turn was also bought by Siemens… for 5.8 billion euros!3 From these renewable and other energy investments, Grajales became one of the richest in the Spanish Kingdom, with a fortune estimated at 225 million euros.

Another issue that worries us here is the privatisation of the health service, or at least, more of what already has been done, and to recover those services that were once public. Our healthcare system has been sold off year after year throughout the state, reducing its capacity and excluding many people from a decent service. But this is obviously not a local pattern, but corresponds to neoliberalism, and to a very profitable business like this. It is unbelievable to see that companies from here are also involved in this privatisation in countries like Colombia, and how they ally themselves with political sectors that can favour them.

Already when he started with Gamesa (1976) and Guascor, Grajales also began to invest in health, with the foundation of Colsanitas in Colombia in 1980. Since then, and after the energy boom, this has been the sector Grajales has been investing in, creating the holding company Keralty, in which Colsanitas is now included, and turning it in a big company. As they define themselves, «We are a group of private companies»4.

The health reform plan «Health for Life».

In Colombia, the Entidades Promotoras de Salud (EPS) (Health Promoting Entities) are private health services that control healthcare. As is the case here, these EPSs provide services in exchange for government subsidies. But the widespread and imposed belief that private is better managed never holds true. In the case of Colombia, the government allocates more than 7.277 billion euros of public money to them. 61% of the EPSs were operating at a financial loss (as of June 2023), causing a state investment of 2,510 million dollars.

In addition to this, a vast sector of the population is excluded from health care due to lack of resources. One of the main objectives of the current president, Gustavo Petro, has therefore been to reform the health system in order to make it public. «The health system built on greed has produced this. And the health system must be built towards the right of the people. And it would be better, I don’t say perfect, because it doesn’t exist in the world «5, explained Gustavo Petro on 23 February.

The crisis stems from the privatisation and subsequent speculative use of the EPSs, which created a bubble. This speculative bubble, despite all the state investments, finally burst, because its profits are externalised, sucked out by the rich economies, while Colombia was going through the convulsions of its own incessant crisis, but also global ones such as the financial crisis of 2008 or the more recent Coronavirus crisis.

As Colombian specialist medical worker Alberto Pinzón Sánchez noted, it was in 1982 that the Colombian government, following in the neoliberal footsteps of Chile, initiated the privatisation of «all the country’s health care institutions, converting them into health service providers».6 This formula was later deepened by Uribe’s government in 1982, when the Colombian government began to privatise «all the country’s health care institutions, turning them into health service providers». This formula was later deepened by Uribe, who enacted Law 100 in 1993 to constitute a «comprehensive social security system».7

Preto’s proposed reform, however, ran head-on into senators who rejected his proposal in Congress. Coincidentally, these were senators whose campaigns were financed by the health companies that benefited. Grajales, through Keralty, poured hundreds of millions of pesos into the parties that would protect the private system.8

In the US, too, Keralty’s partner insurer (Sanitas USA), Blue Cross Blue Shielf, has been accused of monopolising and was forced to pay $2.67 billion. In the US too, Blue Cross Blue Shield is considered to be one of those responsible for the dismantling of the national public health sector. As in Colombia, Keralty also financed the campaigns of the various presidential candidates.

Because Colombia, since the creation of Colsanitas, is the centre of Keralty’s operations, but Keralty has already spread throughout Abya Yala (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico), the Philippines, the United States and also Spain. In Colombia, Keralty owns Colsanitas and Medisanitas, and EPS Sanitas, the second largest EPS in the country with six million users; Fundación Universitaria Sanitas; and many of the country’s leading clinics.9 Keralti has over $58 million in profits, 7 million customers and over 24,000 employees.10

Despite the failure of his reform proposal to be accepted, Gustavo Petro has continued with his mission, mainly focused on Joseba Mikel Grajales’ EPS, Keralty. On 2 April, he intervened EPS Sanitas for irregularities, and on 3 April, Nueva EPS (the largest in the country, with more than 11 million affiliates)11. In addition, this decision coincides with the request for the rescue of EPS Compensar. With this decision, the government would control access to health care for almost half of the population (24.5 million people).

Since 1998, the Colombian government has intervened 42 Entidades Promotoras de Salud (EPS). The current Petro government, despite its short term in office (from 7 August 2022) has also closed 4 (Santos, from 2010 to 2018, took over 18). There are currently 30 active EPSs.

In response to the rejection of the proposed Health Law, the Nasa indigenous leader Blanca Andrade considered that «the Western system has not helped us, because health has now become a business, and this is for the profit of the entities, the people, but not for the benefit of the population».12

For his part, the national coordinator of the Guardia Indígena, Lucho Acosta, added that «People can enter into disharmony, the territories can enter into disharmony, because the law guaranteed a health system that was also proper to the peoples. We are very concerned because a new vision of health is needed».13

Spanish neo-colonialism

It should be remembered that these are not the only companies to be intervened in Abya Yala. Iberdrola’s companies Electropaz, ELFEO, CADEB and Edeser have already been intervened in Bolivia for not satisfying the needs of the people, of their clients; also in Guatemala with Energuate (in the same way and for the same reasons that it has been denounced even in the USA (Avantgrid) or in the United Kingdom (Scottish Power); or as Argentina did with Repsol and YPF. Because with all of them there is a clear common denominator, and that is that they are investments by Spanish companies seeking quick profit, but neglecting everything fundamental: customer rights, quality of services, environmental impacts, labour rights, etc.

In this common denominator, their presence in Abya Yala corresponds to the Spanish arrival in the 1990s, taking advantage of advantageous conditions, many of them the result of debt, corruption and servile regimes and the application of structural adjustments (and their corresponding privatisations), mercantilist impositions, etc., of lax labour conditions, regulations, etc. (or in favour of large companies). What we call Neoliberalism. On the other hand, they export these profits to their parent company, in this case Spain. So we can say that this is neo-colonialism.

In the case of Gamesa, not only does it limit itself to building windmills, but it has also built and owns – now as Siemens – mega-parks in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. It currently has 113 GW installed in 79 countries, 12,088 MW in Abya Yala14. Mexico’s mega wind farms in Oaxaca, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec15, started the controversy with this energy, before we suffered the same situations here. Because they were built with (and for) other big energy companies and all of them were rejected by the communities and their communal lands were appropriated. Now Gamesa is also negotiating a 500 million mega-project with Egypt.

Gamesa’s mega-park in Oaxaca.

But in addition, this investment and profit is made in collusion with governments – understanding that companies also influence governments and policies through campaign financing (as this case illustrates), bribery, etc, and in many cases these leaders are reciprocated by the companies with positions in the companies once they leave the institutions16. But if conditions or the government change, companies react. This is why many now have clauses in their contracts that guarantee millions of dollars in compensation if the contract is signed, which prevents the government from taking action, and if they do, it is considerably more profitable for them.

Therefore, we understand that we need public services, at the service of the people and not of a few and their greed, that guarantee quality, and that really comply with the democratic principles by which we are told we are governed. On the other hand, we understand that each country is sovereign, but above all, that if a people and its government show disagreement or dissatisfaction, those companies are obliged to comply and owe respect.

Close ties with the PNV

As journalist Ahoztar Zelaieta reported, Keralty has close ties with the PNV: one of Keralty’s CEOS is the former vice-president of the Basque Country, Jon Azua, founder of consultancies aligned with the PNV. But Keralty is also the company in which the Basque Government’s Minister of Health, Jon Darpón, has been involved when he was forced to resign due to the recruitment scandal (OPE – Public Employment Offer) in the Basque public health service, Osakidetza; or Fátima Ansotegui, dismissed as Vice-Minister of Health Administration and Financing, and María Teresa Bacigalupe, Deputy Director of Quality at Osakidetza. Other Grajales’ companies also include former leaders of the Jeltzales (PNV).17

Companies in the Keralty group received more than 2 million euros in 2016 and 2019 from the Basque Government, from funds to boost innovation (business R&D, Hazitek, as well as subsidies of 41,941 euros in 2020, other public aid from European funds, and others).

Before (1990s), Gamesa itself already pocketed numerous public subsidies from the 3-R plan, granted by the then Basque Government Minister of Industry, Jon Azua himself, one of Keralty’s current directors.

Keralty is also linked to several companies that appear in the so-called Panama Papers.

Responsibilities

In this case, both the PNV and the Basque Government should demand explanations from a company and a businessman domiciled here in the Basque Vountry. And if they are really as committed to development and the defence of public services as they say they are, and in this specific case, of health, they should reprove Joseba Grajales and Keralty and act accordingly, and contribute to the Colombian government in its plan.

And if they really promote cooperation, they will be clear that this does not only mean donating money to projects, but promoting the sustainability of other countries, their economies, and also that of the environment, which means to respect their sovereignty, their territoriality, their services and their resources. For this reason, we also extend our responsibility to Basque and European NGOs, so that they are (re)aware of the current Colombian government’s well-founded attempt to guarantee the rights of its citizens, going beyond mere aid collaboration and promoting real policies.

We must remember that these events occur when the Spanish government promotes intervention in the face of the appropriation of national companies by foreign capital. Such is the case of the Telefónica company, in which the government has initiated a recapitalisation through SEPI, in order to make the latter its main shareholder and oust Saudi capital.18 Similarly, the Spanish government is promoting an investment to counteract the purchase of Talgo by Hungarian capital.19 Therefore, as conscious of the defence of national patrimony as we are, we must also understand the same for other governments, as in this case Colombian one. Even more when what is at stake is an issue as crucial as health, especially when it concerns the most disadvantaged sectors of society.

NOTES:

1Gamesa originally explored going into the military industry (https://www.elconfidencial.com/mercados/2023-02-04/historia-gamesa-sale-de-bolsa_3569887).

2Or Basque pelota, also known in English as Jai Alai (literally in Basque “Joyful fiesta”, from the names given to the ball courts) – playing with the spanish word for financial hit or strike, “pelotazo” (ball shot or hit)

3The other side of all this: now Siemens is in crisis, when renewables are booming and energy generates so many millions, and it has been rescued by the German government with 7.5 billion and by the Spanish government which has done the same with Gamesa!

8Liberal, Conservative, La U, Alianza Social Independiente, Centro Democrático and Colombia Justa y Libres in the congress campaigns of 2022.

9Clínica Reina Sofía, Clínica de Chía; Clínica Iberoamericana in Barranquilla, Clínica Infantil Santa María del Lago, Clínica de Sebastián de Belalcázar in Cali.

16 Illustrative case: Felipe Calderón, ex-president of Mexico who helped Iberdrola to establish itself (and in what a way!) in that country, then signed up by the Spanish energy company.

https://aplaneta.org/informe-la-insolacion-mexicana-de-iberdrola-impactos-socio%e2%80%90ambientales-de-los-mega%e2%80%90parquesfotovoltaicos-de-iberdrola-en-mexico

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