In an environment of political tension in Colombia, the Minister of the Interior, Juan Fernando Cristo, has launched a proposal to promote a National Agreement, with the aim of establishing minimum consensus between different political, social and economic sectors of the country.
This attempt to find common ground comes at a time when the country is polarized and attempts to de-escalate language in political debate and deliberation, eradicate stigmatization, and respect difference and dissent in all settings.
The government has emphasized that the proposal is a tool to find points of convergence that can be respected and assumed by all parties, regardless of their ideological differences.
What does the National Agreement imply?
The National Agreement proposed by the Executive revolves around what Minister Cristo has called “Minimum Agreement against Violence and Democracy”, which includes commitments in areas such as respect for institutions, strengthening the rule of law and the implementation of inclusive socioeconomic policies for the most vulnerable sectors of the population.
According to the minister, these pillars are essential to avoid political and social confrontations, and represent an effort to overcome differences in order to seek national reconciliation and peaceful coexistence that Colombia still longs for.
“This is an inclusive and participatory process that will seek a methodology for building consensus and agreements and that will convene the different instances of institutional dialogue and representative social sectors,” declared Minister Cristo.
For political analyst and professor at the Javeriana University of Bogotá Camilo González, it will be very difficult for the proposal to be well received by various sectors of the opposition, because the parties are already “thinking about the presidential elections.”
“As the elections approach, the discussion is about how to organize to win the 2026 elections. 2025 is already a pre-electoral year, the parties are going to begin to formalize alliances and even define candidates and in that sense the parties will not “They are going to focus on that discussion,” González explained to the Voice of America.
The political context
The call for this National Agreement comes across a particularly complex moment. On Tuesday, the National Electoral Council (CNE) decided to open an administrative investigation against the presidential campaign of President Gustavo Petro for allegedly violating the economic limits in 2022, which further strains the political environment and which has been described by the president as a attempted “coup d’état.”
Furthermore, Petro has suggested on several occasions the possibility of calling a Constituent Assembly given the impossibility of his social reforms have not been approved in Congress, which has been seen by some opposition sectors as a strategy by Petro to consolidate power.
Analysts consider that this CNE process could place the discussion of the National Agreement in an uncertain panorama, since it will depend on whether the political forces are willing to commit to a dialogue.
“Not all of the agreement is going to be a reality because the parties that join will not support everything proposed and surely the parties will say yes to some points,” González added.
In that order, for Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao, delegate of the Colombian Episcopal Conference for Church-State relations, the National Agreement expresses the urgency of finding solutions to the problems that afflict the country.
“There are millions of Colombians who are disconnected from a structure of state presence and in order to move forward we have to place ourselves in front of these territories and if as a nation we manage, with a great decision from all sectors, to focus on these populations, we will take a step forward.” very important,” he said.
Although the National Agreement seeks to establish a minimum platform that transcends political differences, Monsignor Fabio points out that it is necessary to continue looking for “paths” to find a “broad” consensus in such a polarized environment.
“The church continues to insist on the need to acclimatize the dialogue and that we set ourselves the task of defining those points that, without leaving behind identities and diversities, we can converge on the need to build a much more reconciled nation,” he highlighted.
Despite the optimism with which the proposal that must be discussed in Congress was launched, analysts point out that the way the relationship between the ruling party and the opposition has developed complicates the possibility of achieving a broad consensus.
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