2023-08-01 07:01:00
Just before completing his first year in power, President Gustavo Petro is going through a bad time marked by adverse judicial, political and electoral events.
Also read: $25 million more and other details of the search and capture of Nicolás Petro
For the president, the month of July seems to be forgotten, since in its course he had to face everything from the capture of his eldest son, Nicolás Petro Burgos, to the dismissal of his Minister of Mines, Irene Vélez.
The head of state will begin – on August 7 – his second year in command of the Nation with an atmosphere of crisis in the Casa de Nariño, since he also had two key political setbacks: he lost control of the Senate Board of Directors and the The Historical Pact hinted at fissures and disorder ahead of the elections, which could make it lose room for maneuver to promote its reforms.
This adverse situation could leave the president in a bad light before public opinion and further affect his image in the middle of an election year. The most recent Opinometer carried out by the Datexco firm gave clues about this, which this Monday showed that only 31% of the 700 Colombians surveyed, by telephone, approve of Petro’s management and 58% disapprove of it.
Two judicial troubles in his environment
Last Saturday the country woke up to the news that the Attorney General’s Office captured the eldest son of the head of state in a luxurious home located north of Barranquilla for the alleged crimes of money laundering and illicit enrichment.
In addition to Petro Burgos, his ex-wife, Daysuris Vásquez, accused of money laundering and violation of personal data, was captured. The arrest of both occurred after Vásquez accused the president’s son of receiving million-dollar sums of irregular money for Petro’s presidential campaign in 2022.
After assuring last March that he did not raise Petro Burgos, the president spoke again and disassociated himself from the scandal, pointing out that he hopes “these events will forge his character (his son’s) and he can reflect on his own mistakes.”
This was the second judicial event that recently hit Petro, since less than two weeks ago the Prosecutor’s Office opened an inquiry to its Minister of Mines, Irene Vélez -who left office- for convincing an Migration official to allow the departure from the country of your minor child, in January, without meeting the legal requirements.
political headaches
In addition to the judicial sphere, the politician also takes away the president’s sleep. And it is that only 12 days ago the president witnessed a heavy defeat in Congress when he lost the Presidency of the Senate. It was undoubtedly a failure because the government expected Angélica Lozano to be elected, but that election was won by Iván Name, who has marked differences with Petro.
Despite the fact that this political failure occurred on July 20, Petro only met with Name until this Monday. The new president of the Senate made it clear that he will not work responding to the interests of the Government and assured that Congress “is not only a factory of laws, but also an instance of democracy so that what is not convenient does not come out.”
For his part, Petro also made his dissatisfaction clear after this defeat, as sources from the Palace assured that the previous week he scolded the bench of the Historical Pact and told his full ministerial cabinet that every day his performance will be evaluated, thus that he would be anticipating possible changes.
Even from the House of Nariño, versions emerged that the president would ask the resignation of his ministers of the Interior (Luis Fernando Velasco), Foreign Affairs (Álvaro Leyva), Housing (Catalina Velasco) and ICT (Mauricio Lizcano), apparently dissatisfied with his performance.
These events represented a series of adverse events for the president in July, but they did not end there, because last Saturday at 6:00 pm –12 hours after the capture of Petro Burgos– news was confirmed that could shake the Expansion of Petro’s political project in the regions.
Registration for the October 29 elections was scheduled to close at that time, and various voices from the Historical Pact recognized failures and disorder in the delivery of their guarantees and selection of candidates for mayors, governors, assemblies, and municipal councils.
Among them, Gustavo Bolívar, candidate for mayor of Bogotá, stood out, who described the delivery of guarantees as a failure and stated that the community will disappear if they do not “define democratic mechanisms to choose candidates.”
This series of false starts have caused the decline in the approval of the president in measurements such as the Datexco Opinometer for W Radio, but they also made it clear that more than external forces that seek to destabilize the Government -as Petro has suggested-, the scandals they are exploding inside the Casa de Nariño itself.
And although these are not the only controversies that have tarnished the Petro government, they do leave a feeling of crisis in the president’s environment, since it is a series of adverse scenarios that Petro will have to overcome to implement his social reforms and not give in. ground in regional elections.
And it is that the first year of the Government of Gustavo Petro was marked by various controversies that broke out in the House of Nariño. The case that has made the most noise for the president is that of Laura Sarabia and Armando Benedetti, who left their posts in the Government after the Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation for the alleged entry of illegal money into Petro’s presidential campaign.
In addition, the president has starred in other controversial events such as his assertion that he is the head of prosecutor Francisco Barbosa, which the Supreme Court denied; his insistent request for changes that puts the construction of the Bogotá Metro at risk; the 21 international trips that he has made in 11 months and that have cost the country 5,600 million pesos; and his recurring fight with the Attorney General’s office, which he refuses to comply with.
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