Petro points to the ‘Government of Change’ as successor to Jorge Eliécer Gaitán

On the National Day of Remembrance and Solidarity with the Victims, which is commemorated on April 9 – the day the liberal leader was assassinated – Gustavo Petro said that “A mobilized people is essential to transform the country.”

With these words, the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, paid tribute this Sunday to the memory of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán and said that “Undoubtedly, Gaitán is a figure that stimulates us, that allows us to think about the current government.”

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This was stated by the Head of State during an act on the occasion of the anniversary of the assassination of the politician, which occurred in 1948. However, some criticized Petro’s words and pointed out that he believed he was Gaitán or even compared his government with what the liberal candidate would have done.

“We are a rupture. Therefore, we are born, we originate, we feed ourselves, we revitalize ourselves is from the Gaitanista origin, of that Gaitanista convocation, of the people of Colombia. Hopefully the Government of Change is a legitimate heir to Gaitán, it is a continuation of what could not be, truncated by violence”, said the President.

indicated that “A mobilized people is essential to transform the country” and warned that “if the people do not mobilize, if the people stagnate again in the darkness of fear and violence, then the democratic reforms will not happen.”

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And he added that Jorge Eliécer Gaitán “Undoubtedly, it continues to be the spirit that drives the population onto the streets. I think he was absolutely right in the sense that reforms could not be built, social justice could not be built, a modern democracy could not be built without a people in the streets, without a mobilized people.”

In the act participated relatives of Gaitan, including his granddaughter María, Director of the National Center for Historical Memory. President Petro said that the official is “in charge of a difficult task, trying to revitalize the processes” and stressed that “Without memory there is nothing to be done.”

The work of the Gaitán Center remains unfinished

On the other hand, the President referred to the work of the cultural center next to the house where Gaitán lived until 1948designed by the late architect Rogelio Salmona, “that is unfinished and that this government must end, precisely so that memory exists, not so that memory disappears.”

He rated Salmona as “distinguished architect” and said that the cultural complex is “an instance that must be recovered. We are seeing how we did it. We have to revive Gaitán. The Government of Change is the Government where Gaitán lives. A leading Gaitán, a convening Gaitán, a people that will once again be the subject of history ”, he concluded.