Bogotá, 27 Feb. The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced on Monday the surprise departure of the Ministers of Education, Alejandro Gaviria; Culture, Patricia Ariza, and Sports, María Isabel Urrutia, in what is the first crisis of her cabinet after six months of government.
“I appreciate the services rendered by Ministers Alejandro Gaviria, María Isabel Urrutia and Patricia Ariza. With their contributions, they have contributed to enriching the debate and initiating the changes for which the country voted,” Petro said in a speech. in which he referred to the reforms promoted by his government but did not explain the reasons for these changes.
The president has indicated that Aurora Vergara, a sociologist who was vice-minister of Higher Education, will be the new person in charge of this portfolio and has appointed Astrid Rodríguez as the new minister of Sports “so that with new energy they can complete the process of reform that has begun.”
Petro, meanwhile, did not specify who will replace Ariza as culture minister, although the presidency indicated that musician Ignacio Zorro would be in charge for the time being.
HEALTH REFORM, THE TRIGGER
Apparently, the trigger for this crisis was the health reform that was tabled in mid-February by the government before Congress and including Alejandro Gaviria, who was Minister of Health for 7 years with President Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018), was harshly criticized.
The Colombian government wants to transform the health system to strengthen primary care and also provide care to “abandoned territories”, these remote communities where the nearest health center is currently several hours away by boat or mule on steep roads. .
The controversial initiative had provoked deep discussions within the cabinet and one of the most critical voices was that of Gaviria, who also has differences with the Minister of Health, Carolina Corcho, even before the two were appointed ministers by Petro.
Last Saturday, Gaviria launched “an invitation to take on the complexity of social reforms”.
“Slogans, oversimplification, radical ideologies and empty phrases do little to find solutions,” the now former education minister added on Twitter, where he posted a graduation speech he spoke before the doctors of the Universidad de los Andes in 2017. when he was rector of this institution.
In this sense, Petro assured this Monday that “this government of change will not give up on reforms to improve health, pensions and fair working conditions for all Colombians”.
“The objective is simple, the hows and the means complex: we simply seek to ensure that every sick person is taken care of and that the disease is prevented, that every elderly person has a retirement bonus, that every worker has the security of employment”, added the president.
This Sunday, Cambio magazine also published a letter in which Gaviria and the Ministers of Finance, José Antonio Ocampo, and of Agriculture, Cecilia López, as well as the director of the National Planning Department (DNP), Jorge Iván González, question the fiscal capacity of the state to assume the costs of the ambitious health reform.
SURPRISE ABDUCTIONS
The sackings of the three ministers also come after Petro met with the leaders of different political parties this afternoon to win congressional support for health, labor and pension reforms.
The reason for the change of ministers of culture, Patricia Ariza, and sports; María Isabel Urrutia, is a mystery since both declared that they had not been informed of their dismissal and that they had learned it from the presidential speech.
Finally, Petro said he would continue to “seek consensus and agreement to consolidate and deepen our reforms.”
“My cabinet and I, as President of the Republic, remain committed to implementing not only the reforms, but certain reforms that significantly improve the lives of all Colombians,” he added. ECE
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