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Irene Vélez, one of the trusted ministers of President Gustavo Petro, is leaving her position. Despite the debate that her election represented, since she was pointed out as being very young and unprepared to be the Minister of Mines and Energy, she, with a particular style to express herself, controversial with the press and irreverent even to wear tennis shoes on diplomatic visits , presented her resignation, as she says, so that the “investigations” against her, which also involve her husband and her son, do not “interfere with the execution of the government program.”
“I want to thank President Gustavo Petro for his trust, allowing me to lead a historically technocentric and patriarchal sector,” said Vélez, in a letter published on Wednesday, through Twitter, where he also exposed 35 points related to the achievements of his management.
“Today, although we do not consider the task completed, with deep respect for the institutional framework, I decide to step down from the position of minister to prevent the investigations against me from interfering with the execution of the government program. I will always be ready to respond to the authorities when they require it, ”she added.
And it is that the outgoing minister, in just one week, had to overcome two large-calibre scandals. The first, related to a millionaire contract that her husband, the Dutch filmmaker Sjoerd van Grootheest, obtained with the government and that would have been awarded by the Colombia Peace Fund for the direction of the communication strategy of the Directorate for the Substitution of Illicit Crops ( DSCI).
To this is added that, in a declaration of conflict of interest completed by Vélez in June, she did not include her husband. In this regard, the former head of the Mines and Energy portfolio defended herself by pointing out that it was a “typing error.”
Regarding the contracts, he added that there was “no irregularity, illegality or conflict of interest in terms of the contractual process and activities” carried out by the Dutchman.
Influence peddling?
But the straw that would have broken the camel’s back is the alleged departure of his youngest son to Europe, according to local media, facilitated by influence peddling with Colombian Migration officials. Vélez allegedly intervened irregularly before the immigration agency and used his position to allow his son to leave the country without the proper permits.
The fact earned Vélez an investigation by the Colombian Attorney General’s Office, which he pointed out on Monday, through a releasethat an investigation will be opened to establish if “the official persuaded the server, in order for it to facilitate, last January 2023, the departure of her minor son from the country, despite not having the permission that for this type of situation requires the law”.
Hours later, the Prosecutor’s Office also opened an inquiry against the outgoing Minister of Mines for allegedly committing the crime of influence peddling.
Regarding the resignation, President Petro published a tweet on Wednesday, in which he stated that “Irene is leaving without losing a peso, with significant progress in the regulatory tasks for the energy transition and with the preparation of the new mining code In his administration, the energy communities began to be a reality, their voluntary withdrawal is due to events prior to my government”.
controversy after controversy
Since he came to direct the Mining portfolio in President Petro’s cabinet, Vélez aroused criticism and controversy. That how a philosopher was going to be the head of said agency, that how she abruptly ended a press conference, without giving answers. Why does she wear tennis, before the kings of Spain.
At the age of 40, this philosopher came to office, against those who criticized President Petro for possessing an environmental activist in a sector that is regularly managed by people close to coal extractors and oil companies.
A month after taking office as minister, during the National Mining Congress in September, she was criticized for exposing her thesis on degrowth and how the world powers should apply this theory. “We also need to demand, within the framework of this global geopolitics, that other countries begin to decrease their economic models.”
After the murmurs that generated her comment, the then-minister agreed: “As I would tell my students, please in the second row, those on the right hand, if they silence us so we can continue, thank you.”
A day later, Vélez was questioned for finishing a press conference where she was asked about her degrowth theory and the government’s action plan to combat illegal mining in the country: “There are like 50 questions in one. So I’ll, I’ll… let me talk, please? Well then this ends here. Thank you very much to those who were able to listen, ”she said at the time. Later, she apologized and said it had been an impasse, the result of her inexperience.
He also received criticism for his statements to the media, referring with imprecise figures, in September of last year, to the deficit of the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund. Or when he argued that “Colombia has guaranteed gas until 2037”, referring to the report on the ‘Balance of hydrocarbon contracts and resources available for the Just Energy Transition’in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
What’s more, one of his subordinates, the former Vice Minister of Energy, Belizza Ruiz, accused Vélez of presenting allegedly inaccurate reports and making appointments of acquaintances on the boards of directors of the electricity companies.
The former minister was also emphatic in her position on the energy transition and reiterated, during her participation in the World Economic Forum held in Davos (Switzerland), stating that she was not going to sign new contracts for the exploration of hydrocarbons in Colombia.
Due to his controversies and confrontations, Vélez also faced disagreements with some ministers and a series of criticisms from experts. In addition to two motions of censure in Congress, insufficient to remove her from office.
He was even criticized for risking the economic interests of the country and the former Minister of Finance, José Antonio Ocampo, came out on several occasions and publicly rectified it to “calm the markets.”
Despite this and her false starts, she was one of the ministers closest to Petro and similar in her thinking on how to transform the country’s energy matrix towards renewable energy, leaving oil behind. The president even defended it on several occasions and ratified it in the shake of his cabinet, last Aprildespite sectors that asked for his departure.
The truth is that Vélez becomes the eleventh official to leave Petro’s cabinet, during his first year in office, of the 18 that make it up, and the third woman, among the closest, including the former chief of staff, Laura Sarabia, and the former health minister, Carolina Corcho, to leave the government.
