Colombia: the confrontation between Petro and the president of Congress worsens

The confrontation between the Colombian president, Gustavo Petroand the president of the Congress of the Andean country, Iván Name, became more acute this Friday when the head of state told him to close the Senate.

The new clash arose after Name adjourned last Monday the Senate plenary session in which the pension reform was going to be discussed as a protest against Petro’s accusations against Congress, which did not approve the reform of the health system, one of the Government flags.

“We were defeated not by a few parliamentarians financed by foreigners. “We were defeated by a flagrant violation of the Constitution and the law,” the head of state assured at the time.

Given this situation, Name described President Petro’s statements as “injurious and slanderous” and warned him that “they violate the dignity held by all the members of this legislative cell.”

The discussion continued on Friday when Petro wrote on social media: “They tell me that I do not respect the independence of the branches of public power, on the contrary, those who do not respect them are those who close them. “They arbitrarily closed the Senate of the Republic.”

Name, who is an opponent of Petro, responded by saying that “One way to close institutions is to discredit them. “I have the legal, constitutional and moral responsibility to defend the institution of Congress both from the infamies that discredit it and from the sneaky threats to revoke the mandate of congressmen through ‘street constituents’.”

Last month, the head of state opened an unexpected debate on the Constitution by proposing the convening of a national constituent assembly given the difficulty in getting Congress to approve his reforms.

That initiative has been criticized by politicians of all stripes, including some who supported it in the 2022 presidential elections.

Name, a senator for the Green Alliance party, concluded his response to Petro by stating that it is not true that Congress is closed and that, in fact, it will resume its sessions next Monday.