Gustavo Petro announced this Thursday that he is incorporating Alejandro Gaviria, the former rector of Los Andes, one of the most prestigious universities in Colombia, into his government as Minister of Education.
At the beginning of the electoral campaign, Petro thought that Gaviria could be a fearsome rival who would stand in his way to the Presidency.
Gaviria's candidacy, like all those of the Colombian center, was deflated and had hardly any repercussion.
However, his name continues to carry great weight among the country's intellectuals.
His appointment is one more sign of moderation by Petro, who since he was elected has misled his critics by appointing people from other political parties, respected for his career, and not just his former allies on the left. .
The announcement represents a break in the intellectual progressive center.
Gaviria was a friend of Sergio Fajardo, the center's candidate.
Both competed in primaries in which Fajardo won.
The relationship came out bumpy from that experience.
Fajardo said that he would never, under any circumstances, support Petro.
Four years ago, between Duque and Petro, he announced his vote in white.
Now, between Petro and the real estate businessman Rodolfo Hernández, he took the same position.
Gaviria, on the other hand, slipped in an interview that Petro was the best option for the moment the country is experiencing.
In the second round, after Fajardo's disastrous result, Gaviria supported the candidacy of the now president-elect.
His old friend even tried to reach an agreement with Rodolfo, who rejected his proposal.
Alejandro Gaviria will be our new minister of education.
He has the challenges of achieving public and free higher education.
Achieve research-focused public university centers of excellence
Substantially increase the number of boys and girls in preschool
– Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) July 7, 2022
Gaviria will take care of the Education portfolio, his true specialty.
During the Government of Juan Manuel Santos he was in charge of Health, after he showed himself to be very knowledgeable due to the opinion articles he wrote on the subject and a debate he then had in one with the previous president, Álvaro Uribe.
Since then, Gaviria has always appeared closely related to health issues, although his true expertise is this role that he now assumes.
At the time he supported Petro, he made it clear that he did not agree with the new health policy that the president wants to implement, which involves ending the EPS, as the intermediary health companies between citizens and hospitals are called. country.
Petro has ignored him on this issue and has put someone who thinks the same as him at the head of the Ministry of Health.
The way in which the president has announced the appointment of Gaviria betrays the feeling that many of those who surround the maximum president have.
Under the tweet in which he made the appointment, he put three more in which he developed the task that he has to carry out.
Surely it is a message for the most leftist sectors of Petrismo who are not enthusiastic about such conservative appointments -in their opinion- like this one.
Petro sets the tone for Gaviria, who is asked to start the march "towards the knowledge society," as the president grandly calls it.
Petro thinks that Colombia has fallen into the hands of easy money with oil and cocaine and has neglected the intellectual development that allows it to compete in the knowledge society.
less in the abstract,
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