Attending the meeting of high court judges in Bucaramanga, President Gustavo Petro delivered a speech with various debates. One of the points questioned was the point that directly referred to Legislative power: “The more punished drug use is, the more senators will embrace drug traffickers.”
(See: ‘Hope we can rebuild trust’: Name responds to government call)
Five days after that comment, Senate president Iván Name took advantage of the Senate plenary meeting to demonstrate. “I must ask the president to respect us”, said the President of Congress, and immediately said: “We appreciate the institutionalism and dignity we have shown. I made a textual reference to his explanations, not a symbolic one. I want to leave our protest and claim here.”.
In this sense, Name said: “We especially reject the president being pointed this way”. But the Colombian president tried to undermine the statements: “We will attach no more importance to this than the interpretation of an unfortunate moment. “We will continue to seek a national agreement,” he said.
Finally, the Senate president claimed that the company he was running had “inviolable dignity” and invited President Petro to see if there was any evidence of erratic dealings. “If he’s talking about some senators that drug trafficking has embraced, let him say it. Don’t spoil the situation we have and represent today.”he finished.
(Also: Iván Name: ‘I call for institutionalism to prevail in the country’)
After the President’s call, the Senate General Assembly was held. Senator Iván Name gave a message of cooperation with the Executive to carry out the reforms, but at the same time kept his distance and informed the Government that there would be no “notary public”.
Even Name’s arrival as president of the Senate was perceived as a message of independence from the executive, as Angélica Lozano was the candidate who received the Government’s support. Despite this, Iván Name got enough votes in the Senate to win the war.
In addition to Name’s statement, other segments also used the General Assembly to express their objections to the Management.
“For the President to apologize to Congress, or to address appropriate complaints in his own name and about people embracing drug traffickers,” said David Luna of Cambio Radical.
Miguel Uribe of the Democratic Center described Gustavo Petro’s government as “dangerous”. He spoke out against the government because of the Ministry of Agriculture’s draft decree on peasant mobilization and messages against companies like Argo.
JOHN LOMBO
Source: Exame
