One year after his electoral triumph, Petro faces a crisis in his government

The greatest triumph of the Colombian left, the election of Gustavo Petro as president, celebrates his first year with the Government in difficulties to carry out the social transformations fiancees and scandals around them.

On June 19, 2022, Petro, candidate of the Historical Pact, reached the zenith of his political career with his election as president of Colombia in the second round with a vote of 11.2 million votes (50.44%) thanks to his proposal of change that permeated mainly the middle class, which had always resisted him.

“As of today Colombia changes, Colombia is another”, he said in his victory speech, in which he proposed a “great national deal” in a widely divided country, and although he began his term on August 7 with a plural cabinet, the cracks were not long in appearing.

With difficulty he started the “full peace”which contemplates negotiations with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), FARC dissidents and bands of paramilitary origin, and also managed to get Congress to approve his tax reform, but his honeymoon ended there.

reforms in doubt

Without legislative majorities and without the capacity or will to seek agreement, the president is now fighting to win the approval of his controversial health, labor and pension reforms.

In the face of setbacks, he has hardened his discourse, appealing as if in a campaign to the support of the people and questioning the separation of powers by pointing out that Congress, by not approving his reforms, disregards the popular will that led him to the Presidency because the people voted for him. the change.

“The Government has to be clear where it is going and it seems that it is not clear where it is going; If the government lurches and shows signs that one day it goes one way and another day it goes the other, what it does is fuel uncertainty and with uncertainty public policies become much more difficult to apply”said former President Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) on Friday at the national banking convention.

As when he was mayor of Bogotá (2012-2015), the president chose to change ministers who do not represent pure and hard petrism and has raised his tone with the press, a constant target of his criticism.

“We are one year away from victory, if this survey is true, I thank the people for knowing how to resist the onslaught of the media that is the capital of the richest men”he wrote yesterday on Twitter when commenting on a supposed poll released by his followers on social networks that gives his government an approval of 47.7% and a disapproval of 43.3%.

These figures contrast with another poll on June 2, by the firm Invamer, which shows an approval of his management of 33.8% and a disapproval of 59.4%.

“The polls say that the acceptance of Petro is low and that leaves much to be desired since he is barely going to be in power for a year. His image has been eroded by everything that has happened in the Government ”said former left-wing senator Jorge Robledo, who was his partner in the Polo Democrático party.

The scandal of Sarabia and Benedetti

But what has most affected the government is the scandal over alleged abuse of power and illegal wiretapping involving Laura Sarabia, former chief of staff, and Armando Benedetti, former ambassador to Venezuela.

The victim is Marelbys Meza, Sarabia’s former nanny, accused of stealing a briefcase with money, which triggered an irregular investigation by presidential security that was leaked to the press, apparently by Benedetti, as part of internal disputes over charges. .

The two resigned on June 2 and Benedetti, who was key to Petro’s election because of the votes he got for him on the Atlantic coast, threatened to reveal alleged irregularities in his campaign financing, for which he says he got $15 billion. pesos (about US$3.5 million).

In another twist of the crisis, a week later, police lieutenant colonel Óscar Dávila, assigned to presidential security and related to the interrogation and illegal interceptions of Meza, was found dead, presumably by suicide.

“Several things are combined there, each one in its own very serious way”affirms Robledo about the abuse of power and the threats of Benedetti of “tell where he got 15,000 million pesos, implying that they were of obscure origin.”

The opposition, meanwhile, will hold a demonstration tomorrow that will serve to find out if it has more strength or not than Petro, who two weeks ago called the people to the streets to defend the reforms.

Source: EFE