A Year of Turmoil: Highlights and Challenges of Gustavo Petro’s Presidency in Colombia

Bogotá — The first year of Gustavo Petro in the Colombian Presidency will be remembered for three relevant events: the change of 11 ministers in 12 months, the criminal investigation against his son Nicolás Petro for illicit enrichment and money laundering, and the approval of only one of the reforms that has been filed before the Congress of the Republic.

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“A year ago, Petro had the support of more than 70% of Congress and today, after a very conflictive relationship with the legislature, it is even in doubt if it has a majority of 50 plus one. The most important thing and what defines this first year has to do with that relationship, the President believes that he can manage to govern and order him to process as if he were a notary the projects that are part of its agenda, and it turns out that Congress has that constitutional role of debating, reforming and modifying”, indicated Fernando Posada, a political consultant.

To which he added that this relationship with the parties has been decisive for the conformation of the ministerial cabinet and that in these 12 months, in addition to the 11 changes of ministers, there has also been the departure of many deputy ministers, directors of state entities, from the chief of staff and ambassadors. “There has been an evident lack of stability within the Executive, where those who have been affected the most are the most critical and experienced voices, such as Alejandro Gaviria, Cecilia López and José Antonio Ocampo”.

cabinet changes

The most recent change is the appointment of Juan David Correa, writer and editor at the Universidad de Los Andes, as Minister of Culture. For more than three months, Ignacio Zorro was commissioned, who remained as deputy minister and will lead the musical pedagogy program in public schools in Colombia.

This modification was added to two more ministerial shake-ups: one occurred at the end of April, when the President removed 7 ministers, those who were in charge of the portfolios of: Hacienda, Jose Antonio Ocampo; Agriculture, Cecilia Lopez; of the Interior, Alfonso Prada; Health and Social Protection, Carolina Cork; Science, Technology and InnovationArturo Luis Luna Tapia; Information technology and communications, Sandra Milena Urrutia Perez and TransportGuillermo Reyes.

And the other in February, after only six months in office, removed Alejandro Gaviria from his cabinet, from Health; Patricia Ariza, from Culture; and Maria Isabel Urrutia, from deporte.

Regarding these changes, Petro stated: “Our commitment is always to seek the best living conditions for all citizens. Today a new cabinet is being built that will help consolidate the government program, a program that will be the basis of a frank and sincere national agreement to continue working at the service of the communities throughout the country.”

For the manager of the firm Estrategia & Poder and political consultant, Carlos Arias, “the ratification and change of ministers confirms the radicalization of Gustavo Petro’s speech considering that the two strongest ministers in the cabinet, Cecilia López (now former Minister of Agriculture) and José Antonio Ocampo (now former Minister of Finance), they are replaced by thoroughbred petristas who have been with Petro since his time in the Mayor’s Office”Carlos Arias, political consultant and manager of the firm Estrategia & Poder, told Bloomberg Línea.

To which he added that the decisions that are made in the portfolios will obey ideological needs and the commitment to change that Petro has raised since he arrived at the Casa de Nariño.

Nicolás Petro, investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office

On Saturday, July 29, in Barranquilla, the son of President Gustavo Petro, Nicolás Petro, and his ex-wife Day Vásquez, were captured by the CTI of the Attorney General’s Office. He for the alleged crimes of money laundering and illicit enrichment and she for the alleged crimes of money laundering and violation of personal data.

Both are collaborating with justice and today they are on probation.

The accusing entity argues that, presumably, the son of the head of state he was left with more than $1,000 million that, irregularly, would have been delivered by the ex-capo Samuel Santander Lopesierra and Alfonso ‘el Turco’ Hilsaca. A money supposedly transferred to the presidential campaign of Gustavo Petro, but that would have ended up in the hands of his son.

The Prosecutor’s Office speaks of an unjustified increase in assets that would not be the result of the work of the representative of the Atlantic, but of clandestine income of money between 2021 and 2022. Therefore, according to Mario Burgos, the prosecutor in the case, Nicolás Petro would have to earn $200 million a month to justify his expenses.

Due to the foregoing, the Commission of Investigation and Accusations of The House of Representatives is already carrying out a process against President Petro, which is in the preliminary investigation stage.

One of five approved reforms

In his first year in office, President Gustavo Petro has only achieved the approval of one reform: the tax, today Law 2277 of 2022, sanctioned in December of last year. The collection will be $19.7 billion in 2023 and an average of $20 billion in the following three years.

Among other things, it established a surtax for the extraction of coal and oil that will depend on international prices and reduced the amounts, from which evasion becomes a crime.

For the rest, the legislature has dropped two reforms: the labor, which intended to change the daytime and nighttime working hours and increase the payment of the holiday surcharge, and politics, with which it was sought to establish unique, closed, blocked and alternating lists between men and women. The latter ended up being withdrawn by the same Government as it became a totally different project from the one established.

And two more reforms that are limping in Congress, the health and pension reform. Both political and academic sectors have raised several objections for the changes that are intended to be made to the systems and for their fiscal sustainability, so their future is uncertain.

Despite this, the President has already announced that he will file two more reforms: that of public services and the change to Law 30, through which higher education is organized.

What to highlight from the first year Petro?

“What progress have we made? First, the policy of reindustrialization. There are signs of industrial growth and reactivation of the manufacturing sector. What is essential to have an exportable offer. This year we can also highlight the reestablishment of trade relations with Venezuela. said Javier Díaz, president of Analdex.

For his part, Jorge Bedoya, president of the SAC (Colombian Farmers Society), said that “the good thing is that a large dose of budget was put into the Ministry of Agriculture and its agencies on issues relevant to the sector and the Government such as Agrarian Reform, the indicative credit plan, mechanisms such as the interest rate subsidy and agricultural insurance were strengthened. Not at the levels that one would like, but there have definitely been important changes in the budget issue.

However, he commented that the level of execution of entities such as the Rural Development Agency (ADR) and the National Land Agency (ANT) is not adequate.

The Petro Government also launched Transit to Citizen Income, a program that guarantees an income of up to $500,000 per month to households in situations of extreme poverty. During cycle 2 of this initiative, and according to information from Banco Agrario, 1,851,000 families have benefited with payments made for $733,000 million.

On the other hand, on August 3, a six-month bilateral ceasefire between the ELN guerrillas and the National Army came into effect. This is the longest agreement in this sense, which is given in the framework of the negotiation with this subversive group, and which will be verified by the United Nations.