Senator Miguel Uribe at the headquarters of the Democratic Center party, in Bogotá, on August 4, 2022. Camilo Rozo
Miguel Uribe Turbay is again Gustavo Petro's opposition.
The senator from the Democratic Center (CD), who as a councilor for the Liberal party in Bogotá faced the Mayor's Office of Petro, now leads the counterweight to the new government in Congress.
“We are a minority, but soon we will be a majority.
We are the life insurance of Colombians”, he says three days after the change of government.
Petro begins his term without major forces in the opposition, except the party of former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez.
The senator acknowledges that they are at a disadvantage in the legislature, but believes that although they are few, it will be enough for them to tackle what, he says, they see as a risk to the country.
A 36-year-old lawyer, Uribe Turbay landed in the former president's party at the invitation of himself, who gave him his place heading the Senate list.
He achieved the largest vote of his party in the March legislative elections and since it is known that Gustavo Petro will be president, he has opposed each of his announcements.
His arrival at the Democratic Center responds to a renewal that Uribism seeks, which this year failed to have a presidential candidate and bears the weight of the unpopular management of Iván Duque.
Uribe Turbay presents himself as a young politician who defends the ideas that brought Uribe Vélez to power 20 years ago.
He says that he believes in forgiveness: her mother was journalist Diana Turbay, murdered in 1991 during an operation to rescue her from kidnapping, but he opposes any dialogue with armed organizations if it implies legal benefits.
"Everything is on the way to 'total peace' actually being total impunity," he says about the new government's flagship plan, this Thursday from the headquarters of his party.
Uribe Turbay, who was also Secretary of the Government of Enrique Peñalosa in Bogotá and wanted to be mayor in 2020, promises a respectful tone from the opposition: "We will do it in a democratic and intelligent way."
Ask.
A few days after the presidential inauguration of Gustavo Petro, what is the feeling in the Democratic Center?
The left comes to power for the first time.
Response.
Three days... We are seeing that the risks that we raised in the campaign on this new government are materializing.
He has made some announcements that generate unease and deepen uncertainty.
The arbitrary creation of taxes, a tax reform at a bad time, but also the institutionalization of the front line, the process of impunity and forgiveness that it is promoting for drug trafficking groups and the possibility of ending extradition, is not the way for total peace, but for total impunity.
The new president started off on the wrong foot.
P.
You begin your term with majorities in Congress.
R.
It is evident that Gustavo Petro put together a national agreement with people who have completely different views.
It is an agreement for convenience, and when that happens, private interests prevail and not those of the country.
I, in particular, believe that democracy, the market economy, the independence of powers and the ability to fight crime are at risk.
Faced with this panorama, we made the decision to make a democratic and intelligent opposition.
P.
What will that opposition be like?
R.
It has to be constructive, we will support everything that is appropriate without expecting anything in return, but we will also oppose what we consider to be harmful to Colombians.
We are not going to resort to violence, we are not going to resort to blockades or de facto roads.
It will be a democratic opposition, we are ready to build.
It is an opposition that seeks to represent the interests not only of the Democratic Center, but of all of Colombia.
We are the only representatives of those who do not vote for Gustavo Petro, the only party that is clear about the principles and convictions it defends.
P.
President Uribe will not be in Congress, this year they did not have a presidential candidate and the left won.
It has not been a good year for the Democratic Center.
R.
We are a minority in Congress, but soon we will be a majority in the street.
Anyone who is afraid of this new government, anyone who is afraid of losing everything has only one option and that is the Democratic Center.
We are the life insurance of Colombians.
P.
As an opponent of Gustavo Petro's mayoralty from the Council, you knew his management closely.
For some, the Petro that won the presidency is not the one that governed Bogotá. Do you also recognize a change?
R.
Petro has always been the same.
One changes, but not so much.
What we see today is that he learned from his mistakes and managed to build an agreement with politicians that reassures some sectors.
Q.
What do you expect from your government?
R.
I can foresee that it will be a government of persecution of the opposition, the opponents, the businessmen, the press.
I deeply believe that this is going to be a government that is going to affect the Colombian economy and is going to vindicate the violence by supporting criminals and persecuting the public force.
Just as I made a judicious, firm, and transparent opposition from the Council, the Democratic Center will do so thinking of Colombians during these four years.
Miguel Uribe outside the headquarters of the Democratic Center party in Bogotá, on August 4, 2022. Camilo Rozo
P.
Former President Uribe chose you to lead the Senate list and gave him his place, what do you feel is your responsibility to the party now that you hold your position in Congress?
R.
Represent the interests of Colombians.
Our commitment cannot be to exclusively represent one political sector, it has to represent everyone.
The great challenge is to make an effective opposition, to be able to really defend the country with results before a steamroller in Congress and before a machine, let's say, of official publicity, which the new government will surely set up.
P.
The new Government has announced several reforms, are you equally concerned with all of them?
R.
The tax reform, in the first place.
It is completely unfair that the Government does not think of any effort of austerity, savings, efficiency and, on the contrary, raises new taxes to suffocate Colombians.
This can harm the middle class, drive away foreign investment and generate legal uncertainty.
We are also concerned about the agrarian reform and the discourse surrounding the land.
There is a discourse that has led to intimidating landowners with invasions or threats of invasions, especially in Cauca.
P.
How do you see the proposal of the appointed Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva to open the door to a process of acceptance for the Clan del Golfo?
R.
I am concerned about the desire of this Government to promote impunity.
It is absolutely irresponsible to talk about benefits and a political dialogue with drug trafficking and terrorist organizations, when the Public Order Law establishes the possibility of collective submission.
Evaluating non-extradition, social pardon for criminals, and the institutionalization of the front line raise concern.
This will lead to rewarding the perpetrators, creating a climate of impunity and deepening the violence.
Q.
Will you oppose any rapprochement with any armed group from Congress?
R.
The problem is the political status and the benefits that this government is willing to grant to criminals, particularly drug traffickers.
There is also the ELN, with whom one cannot sit down and talk while they are killing people.
Dialogue is welcome if they stop murdering, planting bombs, committing crimes.
The problem is the conditions offered by this new government.
Q.
Do you think that Iván Duque's security policy was correct?
R.
Attributing the violence in the country to the Duque government is unfair.
Anyone who had come there [to the Presidency] would have found the same thing.
Although part of the FARC was demobilized with the Havana process, dissidents have emerged, the ELN has been strengthened and the power of illegal groups has been reconfigured.
We all want peace, but not along the path that the new government is proposing, which is creating a climate in which groups outside the law feel comfortable approaching, but not submitting.
They have made it clear to us that instead of applying the Penal Code they want to establish a political dialogue and grant them benefits, without guaranteeing that there will be no repetition.
P.
They say that you see total impunity in the Petro Government's total peace proposal, what do you think should be the way to achieve peace?
R.
Peace is a concept that is built not only with public force, but also requires social investment.
Where one manages to open a space, dismantling a criminal organization, has to fill it with social investment and opportunities.
There are several ways to defeat the criminal organization.
Of course, there is the use of the legitimate force of the State, but also that of subjugation and demobilization, as long as impunity is not promoted, nor is the victim abandoned.
P.
Four years ago the Democratic Center took Iván Duque to the presidency, what legacy does he leave them?
A.
Iván Duque was profoundly successful in handling the pandemic.
He has been recognized not only from the point of view of health, but also from that of economic recovery.
Unfortunately, the pandemic deepened historical problems that could not be addressed properly.
The legacy of Iván Duque, however, will be to have sought to be a conciliatory president, to build bridges and build on what has been built.
He was a president who understood that the best way to carry out a broad social policy is to protect the company, commerce, industry and the entrepreneur.
P.
Colombia looks out this Sunday to a new path, after 20 years of Uribism in power.
Going back a bit to the beginning, how do you feel about the arrival of the new government?
A.
Uribism has not governed for the last 20 years.
Álvaro Uribe governed from 2002 to 2010. Then there was Juan Manuel Santos, who was not a Uribe supporter, and Iván Duque, who had his own agenda.
Now, whether there will be a change with the Petro government remains to be seen because today they are with the same ones who governed with Santos and [Ernesto] Samper.
P.
The Congress is one of the scenarios where a change has been seen, there are many new people.
R.
I feel a great responsibility to know that the work that we are going to do in Congress is essential to defend this country and particularly its democracy.
We have the possibility of being firm, coherent, of defending democracy without complexes and promoting security without lukewarmness, but also building consensus, talking with those who think differently, seeking that political discussions are not personal, that they be about ideas.
We will seek that reconciliation begins with the political leaders.
I had to forgive and reconcile.
Pablo Escobar killed my mother when I was five years old, I know what forgiveness and reconciliation are.
I would like that for Colombia, but that is achieved without impunity.
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