2024-03-16 03:31:30
President Gustavo Petro sharpened his speech this Friday, March 15, and opened the possibility of convening a National Constituent Assembly, if his social reforms do not advance in the Congress of the Republic, which is why many have described his words as a threat. .
The head of state spoke his words in the middle of a speech he made in the city of Cali.
The head of state generated controversy with his words. | Photo: El País
“If the institutions that we have in Colombia today are not capable of living up to the social reforms that the people, through their vote, decreed, demanded, commanded and ordered, then it is not the people who are kneeling towards his house, defeated. “It is the transformations of these institutions that have to be presented,” he commented.
What is a National Constituent Assembly?
A National Constituent Assembly is a figure that the Political Constitution has in order to reform it. Article 374 of the Magna Carta states: “The Political Constitution may be reformed by Congress, a constituent assembly or the people through a referendum.”
For this to be a reality, the Senate of the Republic and the House of Representatives must approve a law so that Colombians are called to elections. According to the Constitutional Channel, it must immediately go to presidential sanction and, subsequently, the highest leader of the Colombians must send it to the Constitutional Court, a court that will be in charge of defining its constitutionality.
This is the process that should be followed in Colombia if a Constituent Assembly is called. | Photo: ANDREA PUENTES
After this process, citizens will be able to vote and decide if the call to the National Assembly is justified, in the times and composition defined by Congress. For these votes, the card must have the options ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Likewise, it must include the topics that would be addressed in the Assembly.
Once the National Constituent Assembly is formed, the law indicates that “the ordinary power of Congress to reform the Constitution will be suspended during the period designated for the Assembly to fulfill its functions.”
It is worth remembering that in 1991, Colombia convened a National Constituent Assembly to create a new Political Constitution that finally replaced the Magna Carta of 1886.
Reactions to the president’s words
Petro’s words generated various reactions. | Photo: Presidency
Petro’s words unleashed a great controversy in the country and several political sectors were against it. One of them was the former presidential candidate Enrique Gómez, who said: “They have called us exaggerated, the lukewarm have called us alarmists unnecessarily and from the center of traditional politics that is part of the regime of complicities they mistakenly believe that they will be able to control the dictator. It is the first song for a Constituent Assembly.”
The former Secretary of the Government of Bogotá, Luis Ernesto Gómez, assured: “If governability and the processing of reforms in Congress were difficult, calculate now with the story of the Constituent Assembly. This government makes mistake after mistake, burying its promises of change. Only words will remain.”
Former commander of the National Army Enrique Zapateiro stated: “Democracy is respected, the people in Colombia do not speak through a dictator, Congress is the true popular representation. You cannot govern by dynamiting the rule of law. “It is neither serious nor responsible to incite violence.”
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