The mandate of Senator Carlos Andrés Trujillo in the Conservative Party barely lasted 7 months and 14 days, and ended unexpectedly this Wednesday morning, when the National Directorate of the community unanimously confirmed the steerage given to him by also Senator Efraín Cepeda, who bankrolled the paisa politician by having the majorities on the goda board of directors on his side.
After launching the first blow on February 8 when he announced his appointment as new director in a letter, Cepeda gave the knockout that ended the reign of the Antioquian politician in the conservative awnings, scolding him for snatching the support of the majority of the party’s National Directorate by obtaining the support of 10 of the 18 possible votes.
an inevitable sinking
Trujillo resorted to two political and administrative ‘plays’ to try to prevent the sung ‘coup’ that Cepeda would give him. This was evidenced by the letter (see Facsimile) that he published on the night of Tuesday, February 14, with which he intended to postpone the Board meeting, in which his removal from office would be reconfirmed, arguing that this Wednesday marches that would affect the realization of the event.
This strategy was quickly frustrated by Cepeda’s wing, which issued its own statement minutes later with the signatures of 10 of the 18 directors to discredit the letter from the former Itagüí mayor and leave the meeting scheduled for 7:30 in the morning. this Wednesday. “We summoned a session of the National Directorate in order to elect a board of directors”, they affirmed.
In addition, this newspaper learned that Trujillo and former liberal senator Julián Bedoya –his strategic ally in Antioquia–, got an urgent appointment with President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday at the Casa de Nariño in search of support to avoid the steerage, and they offered him He changed the support of conservatives and liberals for his controversial health reform project, but this business did not bear fruit.
In this adverse context, Trujillo accepted his political defeat and chose to negotiate with Cepeda so that the latter’s election as the new director of the Goths would be unanimous and, in return, the politician from Antioquia would be guaranteed the position of president of the Senate in the legislature. from July 2024 to July 2025.
Did Trujillo get his pita tangled?
Despite the fact that he will continue to have extensive power and influence in Itagüí (his political stronghold) and Medellín, thanks to his alliance with Mayor Daniel Quintero, Senator Trujillo received a severe blow that could affect his electoral claims in 2023 and particularly his longstanding alliance with Bedoya, who assured on February 3 that the Conservative Party would support his aspiration to the Antioquia Governorship.
That electoral pact was left to see due to the replacement of Trujillo, since Cepeda made it clear this Wednesday that he will personally assume the delivery of guarantees for the regional elections and insisted that he will bet on the election of governors of conservative origin. “From now on we will get to work to elect party governors, party mayors, councilors and deputies,” said the new Gothic Director.
In addition, this change in the helm could have a blow to the Casa de Nariño, because although Cepeda plans for his party to continue being part of Petro’s coalition in Congress, he will be in charge of reconfiguring the dialogue between conservatism and the Casa de Nariño, which was broken during Trujillo’s term.
What is clear is that Petro and the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, will have to renegotiate with the conservatives to guarantee their support in approving the health reform, since the spokesman for the Goths in the Senate, Nicolás Echeverry Alvarán, invited his bench to vote against this reformist initiative