Health, the Treasury, the Interior, Science, ICT, Transportation and Agriculture will have new heads, after a second shake-up in less than a year in Petro’s cabinet, which this time includes a break in the coalition that had exercised the parliamentary majority, according to announced the Colombian president himself on his social networks.
The news has shaken Colombian politics due to the fundamental weight that some of the ministries that announced movements have and what this implies for the Government. Through Twitter, Petro reported that the changes of ministers would be made in the areas of Finance, Interior, Health, Agriculture, Transportation, Science, Information and Communication Technology and the DAPRE (Administrative Department of the Presidency), an area that It is not a typical ministry but it functions as such.
The crisis coincides with a moment of deep differences around the health reform proposed by Petro and defended by former minister Carolina Corcho, and which was the pillar of his proposals during the presidential campaign.
“Despite the fact that my Cabinet, and its commitment to dialogue and the pact, was rejected by some traditional and establishment political leadership, we are going to persist with our program and our vocation for great national agreements,” Petro promised in the same statement. in which he made the changes official.
Two of the outgoing, José Antonio Ocampo (Treasury) and Cecilia López (Agriculture), both part of the government of former President Juan Manuel Santos, had made public their objections to the modifications proposed by Petro to the health system, and despite this they remained in the cabinet after the first change of ministers.
Only two of those replaced belong to traditional parties: Guillermo Reyes of Transport and Sandra Urrutia of TIC (Information and Communications Technology), while two other conservatives remain in the Government: Catalina Velasco (Housing) and Néstor Osuna (Justice). ).
The political decisions taken today demonstrate:
1. The invitation to a social pact for change has been rejected.
Those who have enriched themselves with the use of public money have not realized that society demands its rights and that this implies dialogue and pact.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) April 26, 2023
These are the new faces in the Government of Petro
Ocampo, a piece that had brought peace of mind to the markets due to his previous work at ECLAC (UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), will be replaced by Ricardo Bonilla, who was already part of the Petro government.
The outgoing Minister of Finance was responsible for carrying out the ambitious tax reform, which will allow the Government to collect 20 billion pesos (more than 443 million dollars) in its first year of validity. His prestige and experience had made it possible to control the rise of the dollar and mitigate the mistrust of the markets.
Bonilla, an economist and university professor, was Secretary of the Treasury at the time when Petro was mayor of Bogotá, and served as advisor to the presidency, as head of the Findeter territorial development bank, and also in areas such as pensions. His main challenge will be to deal with the negative signals that Ocampo’s departure could send regarding Petro’s economic management.
William Camargo, another former official of the Bogotá mayor’s office during Petro’s term, will move from the National Infrastructure Agency to the Ministry of Transportation. Camargo is a convinced promoter of the underground metro in Bogotá, a position that has put him at odds with the project of building an elevated metro in the capital.
Cardiovascular surgeon Guillermo Jaramillo, ex-Secretary of Health of Bogotá and ex-governor of Tolima, will take over from Carolina Corcho in the controversial reform of the health system.
Mauricio Lizcano, former representative and former senator, former member of the U Party and leader of a new party, Gente en Movimiento, will leave his position as director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency, to take charge of the ICT portfolio instead of Urrutia.
Cecilia López’s replacement in Agriculture will be Jhénifer Mojica Flórez, who was working as director of Ethnic Affairs in the Land Restitution Unit. She is a lawyer specializing in human rights, who participated in various roles in the peace process.
Luis Fernando Velasco, who replaces Alfonso Prada in the Ministry of the Interior, was the director in charge of the Disaster Risk Management Unit, which has recently been responding to the emergency represented by the increase in seismic activity at the Nevado del Ruiz volcano.
The newly appointed group is completed by Yesenia Olaya, a doctor in anthropology who will now be in charge of the Ministry of Science, and Carlos Ramón González, director of the Green Party, who will replace Mauricio Lizcano in DAPRE.
What is the health reform proposed by Gustavo Petro?
The president’s main political flag passed a vital test on Monday, when it received a first approval, in a commission of the House of Representatives, with the favorable vote of the liberal parliamentarian María Eugenia Lopera, a government ally who had objected to the proposal.
However, its fundamental promoter, former minister Carolina Corcho, did not have the same luck. Her management was a source of divisions with the Conservative, Liberal and U parties, whose leaders accused her of not respecting the agreements to which the ministry’s technical teams committed themselves in dialogues with political allies.
Petro’s idea was originally to centralize in the State the provision of services that are currently borne by the Health Promotion Entities (EPS), such as the affiliation of citizens to the health system, the contracting of clinics, the management of insurers and the appointment of drug suppliers, among others.
To make the reform viable, the Government has made some of its proposals more flexible, yielding to the demands of conservative and liberal allies to preserve the existence of the EPS and guarantee competition between them through free affiliation, as well as canceling the idea of regional funds for the management of health resources.
However, fundamental points of the new system that seeks a mixed system (public and private) are maintained, such as the prohibition that the EPS manage clinics or hospitals, to avoid contracting with themselves, or manage the contributions of affiliates.
With EFE and local media
