The elected president of Colombia, Gustavo Petroannounced this Saturday, a day before his investiture, that the lawyer Alfonso Prada, who was his head of debate in the electoral campaign, will be his Minister of the Interior, a key portfolio for relations with Congress.
“Alphonse Prada will be the Minister of the Interior. He has been a councilman and representative to the Chamber. He will be responsible for relations with the legislature and for drawing up policies on human rights, citizen participation and land use planning”, wrote Petro on his Twitter account, where he has announced one by one the members of his cabinet.
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Prada He will replace Daniel Palacios, the last Minister of the Interior of outgoing President Iván Duque.
The appointment of Prada, 58, was given as certain for several weeks given the closeness he had with Petro in the presidential campaign, which he joined only a few months ago, and for his skill in handling political affairs.
Alfonso Prada He began his political life in the 1980s in the New Liberalism, a movement that emerged as a dissidence of the Liberal Party, of which he was a councilor in Bogotá, and later was a representative to the Chamber for the Green Party.
His great leap into politics was made in 2014 when he was coordinator of the campaign for the re-election of then President Juan Manuel Santos, who later appointed him director of the National Learning Service (SENA), the country’s school of arts and crafts.
In 2017, Santos appointed Prada Secretary General of the Presidency.
After the choice of Petro, Prada He maintained an intense agenda of contacts with different political groups in the different regions of the country and even replaced the elected president in some public acts.
Petrowho will be sworn in as president this Sunday, the first from the left in the country, before numerous international guests, including the King of Spain, Felipe VI, has not yet completed his ministerial cabinet, which is expected to be done between now and morning.