A few days have passed since his departure and it is from my soul to write these posthumous words for the man who gave life to my dreams and without promises; We thank you for the unrestricted support you gave us. He became the driving force to reach today what is the “Medical Complex” in Santander and which, to our pride, allowed us to name it after him.

Carlos Ardila Lülle was always our ally. In 1977, our only and great benefactor began the donation process: He gave us, through POSTOBON, the most advanced surgical microscope existing to date, ZEISS brand, and the innovative VOLEX camera for filming surgical procedures. Simultaneously, COLTEJER also gave us the entire supply of surgical clothing and for the 8 rooms that we had in our first headquarters, “the old mansion” on 34th Street and 29th Street.

I had the honor and dignity of being his friend.

I called him periodically to tell him about the future of the clinic and, very respectfully, as a great conversationalist, he asked me about what was happening in Bucaramanga, about my mother and my wife Elizabeth.

In 1990 we started the new clinic and medical center project, with the support of a hundred doctors who joined our idea by contributing the price of the commercial value of their offices to invest in the construction of the clinic and since the resources were not enough With Dr. Juan Carlos Mantilla and other friends we traveled to Medellín to ask Dr. Ardila again for his help.

He received us with special deference and met on the 33rd floor of the Coltejer building and after witnessing our exhibition for an hour, he invited us to lunch and while on tablecloths he commented: “My dear Virgilio, what you are asking of me is not enough for you to finish.” the clinic, I calculate that you need 1,500 million and here they are.”

I had tears of happiness, I hugged him. and I gave him a kiss on the cheek and he immediately commented “since the death of my father Carlos Julio, no man had kissed me.” He made us miss the flight, because 10 hours later, 9 at night we returned to Bucaramanga on his private plane.

The Clinic was completed and in 1993 President Gaviria was our special guest sitting on the right, along with former presidents Alfonso López, Julio Cesar Turbay and Belisario Betancourt. What a wonderful night and one to never forget.

Dr Carlos Ardila, as a member of our board of directors, received us bimonthly where we presented the complete accounting reports and the functioning of our institution, and with his prodigious memory he referred to the pending issues and made considered recommendations that we followed to the letter.

Time passes and 15 years later on a trip he made to Bucaramanga to visit his company and to meet again with his friends the “Tufas”; At the suggestion of his nephew and president of Coltejer, Engineer Héctor Fernando García, he decided, without informing us, to come to the clinic and after an intertwined tour of questions and answers he reminded me of details about the last board report. At the time, the health sector was very depressed and he knew that we had payments for services provided to the EPS with a portfolio of more than 12 months.

The visit stopped and he asked us for a few moments to talk with Héctor Fernando and on the way back he laconically told me “My dear Virgilio, I am going to help you with 5 billion so that you can pay off your debts.”

The Clinic today walks along paths of success, thanks to our directors, human talent at all levels and the generosity of this Santander philanthropist. Carlos Ardila Lülle for whom the social balance of his works was as important as the economic one.

Dr Ardila was extremely generous with friends and employees; As far as I remember, one of the Tufas (HPD) who suffered from real failure, I paid for the entire kidney transplant surgery in the USA.

He always had Santander, his land, in his mind, which he supported with money close to 50,000 million: some examples that I remember are: FOSCAL, the Santander Theater, via Guatiguara, Auditorio Colegio San Pedro Claver, Panachi, Cerro del Santísimo, Water Park (Aratoca), Lake Park, Floridablanca Stadium, Alianza Petrolera Football Club, among others.

In the midst of the pain for the irreparable loss of this exceptional being, there may be his children Carlos Julio, Antonio José, María Emma and María Eugenia, very proud of the greatness and simplicity of the human being they had as a father. May God have him at their right hand. !