This Sunday, Senator Paloma Valencia and representative Hernán Cadavid of the Democratic Center made use of the right to reply after the address by President Gustavo Petro this Friday, where they discussed the scandal of the ‘chuzadas’ and the reforms that the national government has been promoting in Congress.
The parliamentarian began her speech by talking about the illegal interceptions that occurred to the former employees of the presidential chief of staff, Laura Sarabia, who was removed from her position while the investigation progresses, where she stated that the country is now immersed in an issue that nothing contributes to citizenship.
“They have managed to put the country in a soap opera (in the style of narconovela librettists). What hurts is that the country has to concentrate on these issues -which do not contribute to the citizenry-, while the great difficulties remain without be addressed. The seriousness of our problems contrasts with the little technical capacity that is used to solve them. The activists continue in the campaign, and from leadership positions they deliver speeches based on commonplaces, but wrong,” Valencia said.
health reform
On the other hand, Valencia referred to the health reform, which is already being processed in the plenary session of the House of Representatives, where he stated that although the Government is inspired by the idea of change, they do not recognize what has already been built.
“The idea of change inspires them, but they do not recognize what we have built with effort as a nation. The reforms of change, in turn, express the arrogance of the government in its version of Adam syndrome. Its design is for a country where there is no there was nothing, where nothing had been done. They are a true reflection of the inability to assess the progress of Colombia and only succeed in destroying what has been built.”
Of the same, Valencia added, “the health system requires adjustments, some deep ones such as the provision of the service in the most remote Colombia, where despite the efforts, citizens do not have a good service. We need, of course, to improve preventive health Not sending brigades of political broadcasters -or Cubans-, but bringing drinking water, basic sanitation and vaccines to the entire national territory.Greater spending on health is required that allows us to improve the salaries of doctors, specialists and nurses so that we can overcome the deficit we have today”.
The parliamentarian assured that the government reform wants a health system similar to the one that existed before the 1991 Constitution. “It seems that they are nostalgic for what they criticized then. International studies do not lie, and this is corroborated by the opinion of Colombians We have a health system with good results. A reform project that destroys the insurance system, that takes away Colombians’ right to choose whether they want a public or private or mixed insurer, to force us all to depend on the State, is A setback”.
Labour reform
Senator Valencia indicated that the labor reform does not create employment -but rather destroys it-, likewise, she indicated that the bill does not improve the problem of informality -but rather aggravates it- it is unacceptable.
“Raising labor costs would end up making life more expensive for Colombians, since all these costs increase the price of products. Large companies would have no difficulty in meeting the new costs that would benefit these workers, but small and micro companies that today they are formal – and that they are the true generators of employment in Colombia”.
Hydrocarbons sector
During the reply, the senator also spoke about the suspension of oil exploration and production and maintained that with these decisions the Government has finished the hydrocarbons sector.
“With a false environmental discourse, they have been ending the hydrocarbons sector. Although we share the need to combat climate change, it is not true that to do so it is necessary to suspend the exploration and production of oil and gas. The energy transition supposes a route gradual that we have been building for more than 20 years. From the almost poetic emotionality of President Petro, we have gone on to decadent attempts to twist the technical information to support unjustified and wrong decisions. After so many “comes and goings” -that can only be endured when they are done in tennis-. The consequences are that companies close, Ecopetrol loses share value, and we Colombians are the ones who lose. Today uncertainty about our energy future predominates,” he said.
Finally, he indicated that “the government has more than three years left. It must make a stop along the way and straighten the rudder. We cannot continue wasting time in gruesome novels, nor in bombastic speeches
or in attempts to show that nothing that exists is useful; All of that is insufficient.”
For his part, representative Hernán Cadavid spoke about the recent exchanges of statements between President Petro and the Council of State and the Prosecutor’s Office, where he stated that “If we start from the idea of a democracy in which there is a division of powers, the words and actions of the President that undermine judicial independence and autonomy are worrisome, which has even led to pronouncements of rejection by the High Courts. The President of the Republic is not the head of the Prosecutor, it is not the head of Congress and it is not the head of the Judges”.
Likewise, Cadavid maintained that “heThe massacres increased by 10%; kidnapping increased by 162% and kidnapping for extortion by 166%; extortion increased by 43%; human trafficking grew by 79%; theft from residences and people increased by 10% and crimes against natural resources and the environment increased by 12%; all this compared to the period January – April 2022″.
Finally, the representative ended his speech by stating that “The feeling that defines Colombian society is uncertainty; it is up to us as the opposition, from the Democratic Center, to wage a tireless battle in the streets and in the Congress of the Republic, That is why we ask for your support in the collection of signatures that will promote the popular consultation to defend our health system, employment and the pension savings of Colombians”.