Within the framework of the Summit for a New Financial Pact held in Paris, President Gustavo Petro announced that he is considering decreeing an economic and social emergency to address the humanitarian crisis in La Guajira.
The president considered that the region could face more difficulties due to the El Niño phenomenon that the State must attend to.
“We are studying it given the causes that occur mainly in the territory of La Guajira around the El Niño phenomenon, the worsening of the climate crisis that raises the average temperature of 1.5, and brings an event that can make El Niño last in time, that generates an obvious emergency, which is water, thirst, and we are going to try to deal with it with specific measures,” Petro said.
If the declaration of economic and social emergency materializes in the next few days, the president would have special powers to issue decrees aimed at addressing the problems in that department.
The priorities will be attention to the child population, health, drinking water management and the economic base of the indigenous communities, according to the president.
In the same way, the Government on June 26 will be in La Guajira with the entire cabinet. The officials will also work for a week in compliance with the ruling of the Constitutional Court T-302 of 2017 through which special protection was decreed for the rights to water, food and health of the Wayúu population settled in the municipalities of Riohacha, Uribia , Maicao and Manaure.