Bogotá (EFE).- The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announces the surprise departure of the Ministers of Education, Alejandro Gaviria; Culture, Patricia Ariza, and Sports, María Isabel Urrutia, in what is the first crisis in his cabinet after six months of government.
“I appreciate the services provided by the ministers Alejandro Gaviria, María Isabel Urrutia and Patricia Ariza. With their contributions they have contributed to enriching the debate and initiating the changes for which the country voted,” Petro said in a speech in which he referred to the reforms promoted by his government but did not explain the reasons for the changes.
The president reported that Aurora Vergara, a sociologist who was Vice Minister of Higher Education, will be the new head of that portfolio and appointed Astrid Rodríguez as the new Minister of Sports “so that with new energy they can complete the reform process that has begun.”
Petro, meanwhile, did not say who will replace Ariza as Minister of Culture, although the Presidency indicated that the musician Ignacio Zorro will be in charge for the moment.
The health reform, the trigger
Apparently, the trigger for this crisis was the health reform that was filed in mid-February by the Government before Congress and of which Alejandro Gaviria, who was Minister of Health for seven years with President Juan Manuel Santos (2010 -2018), has been a severe critic.
The Colombian government wants to transform the health system to strengthen primary care and also bring care to “abandoned territories”, those remote communities where the nearest care center is currently several hours away by boat or mule over steep roads.
The controversial initiative had caused deep discussions in the cabinet and one of the most critical voices was that of Gaviria, who also has differences with the Minister of Health, Carolina Corcho, even before both were appointed by Petro as ministers.
Even last Saturday, Gaviria made “an invitation to assume the complexity of social reforms.”
“Slogans, oversimplification, radical ideologies and empty phrases do little to help find solutions,” added the now former Minister of Education on Twitter, where he published a graduation speech he gave to the doctors at the Universidad de los Andes. in 2017 when he was rector of that institution.
Along these lines, Gustavo Petro assured this Monday that “this government of change is not going to give up reform to improve health, pensions and fair working conditions for all Colombians.”
“The objective is simple, the hows and the means are complex: we simply seek that any patient is cared for and that the disease is prevented, that any elderly person has a pension bonus, that any worker has job security,” added the president.
This Sunday, Cambio magazine also published a letter in which Gaviria and the ministers of Finance, José Antonio Ocampo, and Agriculture, Cecilia López, as well as the director of the National Planning Department (DNP), Jorge Iván González, question the fiscal capacity of the State to assume the costs of the ambitious health reform.
Petro’s surprise dismissals
The dismissals of the three ministers also occur after Petro met this afternoon with heads of different political parties to get support in Congress for health, labor and pension reforms.
The reason for the change of the Ministers of Culture, Patricia Ariza, and Sports; María Isabel Urrutia, is a mystery since both said that they were not notified of her dismissal and that they found out from the presidential address.
Finally, Petro said that he will continue “seeking consensus and agreements to consolidate and deepen our reforms.”
“My cabinet and I as President of the Republic remain committed to bringing out not only the reforms, but reforms that substantially improve the lives of all Colombians,” he added.
