Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro
Colombia’s President Petro has carried out a comprehensive cabinet reshuffle after several reforms failed. The left-leaning head of state exchanged seven ministers.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has carried out a comprehensive government reshuffle after several reform plans failed. The left-wing head of state announced the replacement of seven ministers on Wednesday. The new cabinet will help “consolidate the government program,” Petro wrote on Twitter. Finance Minister José Antonio Ocampo and Health Minister Carolina Corcho, among others, had to vacate their posts. Earlier, three ministers said Petro had asked his entire cabinet to resign.
The cabinet reshuffle marks the biggest political crisis in the nine-month term of office of Colombia’s first left-wing president, who governs with a majority coalition of center and moderate right-wing parties. Petro, who was elected on his promise of “change”, has so far failed to push through his announced reforms in the areas of labor law, health care, pensions and the judiciary.
The situation came to a head on Tuesday when the liberal and conservative parties as well as the Social Party of National Unity opposed the government and rejected parts of the agricultural and health reforms. Petro spoke out in favor of an “emergency government” for Colombia because the parliament had not been able to pass even a few simple articles of law on the equitable distribution of land. He added: “Urgency means that government teams work day and night. (…) If you can’t do that, you have no place in our government.”
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