Supporters of Gustavo Petro congregate in the Plaza Bolívar for his 100 days of Government.NATHALIA ANGARITA
The Government of Gustavo Petro, the first of a president elected as a left-wing candidate in the modern history of Colombia, celebrates 100 days.
One hundred days in which the president has landed his banner of change in speeches and concrete decisions on many fronts, from international relations to a notorious tax reform, going through an ambitious peace policy, but he has achieved legislative governability at the point of bureaucratic pacts .
A time in which his cabinet has had internal clashes between more activist ministers with less political experience and other more technical ones with more background;
One hundred days in which the opposition has not been able to organize itself, public opinion has lost enthusiasm for the government and does not support many of its proposals, and the economy is looking increasingly worse.
“We have a recession in sight”,
The president called a press conference this Tuesday to highlight what he presented as 50 milestones of this initial stage of his administration.
They are headed by a tax reform that advances their flag of equality by charging more to the wage earners who receive the most income, but which paradoxically forces the State to increase its fiscal dependence on the oil industry that its Minister of Mines, Irene Vélez, has called to stop through the proposal not to sign more contracts to explore and exploit hydrocarbons.
In this he has collided with his Treasury colleague, José Antonio Ocampo, in one of the frictions that leave questions about Petro's coordination capacity.
Attendees at the march in Bogotá.NATHALIA ANGARITA
With the changes, the advances, the noises and the usual criticisms when there is a replacement in power, they frame a day that the Government and its allies have sought to turn into a celebration.
To do this, they called for marches in all the cities of Colombia.
The most visible are those of the Bogotá that Petro already governed, which converged and around the central Plaza de Bolívar in the capital.
A particularly symbolic square for Petro, since as mayor he called for demonstrations there to reject his dismissal, a decision of the attorney general at the time, Alejandro Ordóñez, who after a few weeks suspended the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
The march in support of the 100 days of government was not as big as announced, but it was strong enough to reiterate where one of the greatest supports for Petro comes from: the unions.
María Esneida Laverde is part of one of them, ANTHOC, which brings together health workers.
She joined the day in the street because "finally there is a president who has thought about inclusion."
She says that, as a nurse, it's the first time she's felt that her guild isn't alone.
She is 56 years old and has been treating patients for 32 years, almost always with few resources.
“Health is central to the Petro government.
How can we not celebrate it, ”she says.
Not all, like Laverde, marched in a group.
Martha Liliana Rosero did it alone and she decided to get out of it despite the threat of rain because she feels that it is a way of thanking Petro for restoring her relationship with Venezuela.
“A neighboring country is like a relative, with whom it is better not to fight.
Petro achieved in 100 days what the previous government destroyed in years,” says the 66-year-old woman.
Around noon, various brands began to arrive at the Plaza de Bolívar.
A stage with a concert was installed while a few steps away, in the Casa de Nariño, the president made his balance of what is going on in his government.
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