After participating this week in the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland.
The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, reported this Friday night that he is returning “immediately” to Colombia, after participating this week in the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland, to “address the situation” in the southwest of the country after the landslide that keeps the department of Nariño without supplies.
«I convened an extraordinary Council of Ministers in Ipiales, Nariño, to address the situation in the southwest of the country. I return to Colombia immediately,” the president published on his Twitter account.
Petro traveled to Switzerland on Monday to participate in the meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he presented his country’s proposal to face the climate crisis and promote the energy transition, one of the axes of his Government. After his visit to Davos, he traveled to France to hold bilateral meetings with regional authorities this Friday.
On Saturday he also had an official agenda in the French city of Toulouse, according to local media reports, which he canceled in order to return to Colombia.
The southwest of Colombia has been the scene in recent weeks of several landslides caused by heavy rains and which have led to the total closure of the Pan-American highway for eleven days after the avalanche registered in the municipality of Rosas, in the department of Cauca (southwest).
Shortages and crisis
The landslide, which occurred on January 9, left no victims but more than 900 victims and wiped out a section of the Pan-American Highway, the main highway in the southwest of the country, which connects with the south of the continent and is the only one in that area in conditions to transport passengers and cargo.
The closure of the main road has caused shortages in the area, leading the authorities to evaluate declaring an economic, ecological and environmental emergency in the departments of Nariño and Cauca.
To get around the destroyed section, drivers have to take alternative routes, such as the so-called “Trampoline of Death” in the department of Putumayo, a road that, in addition to being dangerous due to the abysses and its poor condition, is not suitable for vehicles. heavy, which increases the travel time by at least 10 hours.
As a result of this situation, in Cali, the capital of Valle del Cauca, the prices of food from the south of the country, such as potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, milk, cheese and lettuce, among others, have risen by more than 50%.
In Nariño the crisis is worse. Thousands of people line up at gas stations to fill up their vehicles, as the tanker trucks that carry gasoline and diesel have to make a long trip through Ecuador to re-enter Colombia.
Petro has already visited Rosas, after canceling the last leg of his official trip to Chile, and assured that a piece of land located on a farm will be purchased so that the affected families can have a safe place to live, since the area devastated by the avalanche was left uninhabitable.
EFE