Less than five days before his official inauguration as the president of Colombia for the period 2022-2026 next Sunday, August 7, the president-elect, Gustavo Petro, still does not explain why he did not arrive at the meeting he had with more than 500 mayors last Tuesday.
In addition, he has maintained a long silence on his social networks, has suspended and canceled other public appearances and stopped the appointment of new ministers and directors of central order entities.
Faced with the opinions that he usually gives on his social networks, particularly on his Twitter account, the president suspended his statements. His last tweet, until the end of this article, was published on July 31, with the invitation he made to the press to learn about the conclusions of the joint balances that were made with the outgoing government of President Iván Duque.
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Before that, he had spoken about the Special Justice for Peace (JEP), the final report of the Truth Commission, the Indigenous Summit, and congratulated the Colombian women’s soccer team.
Faced with the appointment of his ministers, which he also used to do on Twitter, it has been suspended. The most recent was that of the designated Defense Minister, Iván Velásquez, with the latter, the president has announced only eight of the 18 Ministries that currently exist.
The ministries that have a portfolio manager are: Finance, Foreign Relations, Defense, Environment, Culture, Education, Health and Agriculture. They are pending: Justice, Interior, Sports, Housing, Technology, Transport, Science, Commerce, Energy, Work.
Many have been the names that have sounded, the most optioned and next to be known would be the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, but his appointment has taken longer than estimated.
So far, the lights of Prada’s appointment would be more than clear: he led the junction of that Ministry, has consolidated the political support that the president needs and has replaced Petro in different government events.
In the last few hours, the offer made by Petro to the former president of the Constitutional Court, José Gregorio Hernández, to lead the Ministry of Justice, an offer that Hernández rejected due to health issues, was also known.
“They didn’t want to divulge it, but it got leaked. I greatly thank President Gustavo Petro for having thought of my name for the Ministry of Justice. I have not accepted, although I would have wanted to, due to my current state of health and multiple academic and professional commitments, ”said the former president of the Court on his Twitter account.
One of the silences that has most surprised public opinion are the non-compliances that Petro has had lately in public events: it has failed the ambassadors of Latin America, the mayors of the main cities gathered in Asocapitales and the municipal mayors together with Fedemunicipios .
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Although the president sent a reason with his delegates that he could not attend the event with the Fedemunicipalities due to a joint commitment on issues of security and defense of the State, the reason was not enough for the more than 500 mayors who arrived at the Hotel Tequendama in Bogotá, after hours of travel, to meet with the president.
“It is a lack of respect regardless of the fact that he is the president of all Colombians, it is a lack of respect towards the mayors of the country, where we draw our own resources, from the municipalities to come to the city of Bogotá, we believed that we were going to find a dialogue ”, affirmed Jhon Jairo Uribe, mayor of Remedios, Antioquia.
The inconvenience is due to the fact that, although Petro announces that he will attend the events, he either arrives quite late, or delays his arrival time, or finally does not meet his public agenda and those he calls.
Although delegates of the elected government have stated that it is due to procedures and events related to the presidential inauguration, the silence on the part of the president continues.