The defense of the ministerial cabinet in the first year of the Petro Government

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Advances of the national government in its first year:

In spite of having carried out during the last months an iron struggle of forces within the Congress of the Republic, in this first year there is no doubt that one of the great victories of the National Government has been the approval of the tax reform that now, at a year, it has already begun to bear fruit to consolidate the change projects.

This is an initiative led by the then Minister of Finance José Antonio Ocampo, who, just 5 months after taking office, managed to process and give the green light to the reform to collect nearly $20 billion pesos in its first year.

These resources have allowed the Petro government, for example, to gain strength and process its Citizen Income proposal within the National Development Plan to provide bonuses of $500,000 to households in extreme poverty, moderate poverty and vulnerable conditions. According to government projections, more than 3.3 million households would benefit.

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On the other hand, hand in hand with the Total Peace project, there is no doubt that there has been progress in terms of land purchases within the framework of agrarian reform and compliance with point one of the peace agreements with the FARC guerrillas. In fact, faced with this, the Government, from the National Land Agency, would have acquired close to 28,000 hectares for the peasant population, victims of the conflict and peace signatories.

In the line of total peace, it is also indisputable that the ceasefire with the National Liberation Army (ELN) is another victory, at least partial, for the Petro administration. However, the challenges faced by other residual groups, the FARC Central General Staff and the public order situation in other regions of the country seem to be increasing with the passing of the weeks.

Another of the successes in the first 12 months of the National Government was the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Venezuela. An early achievement that augured the international projection that, throughout the year, Colombia has achieved in the fight against Climate Change and Gustavo Petro as an important voice in environmental protection with his proposal to exchange foreign debt for climate action.