This Thursday, August 11, 2022, the president Gustavo Petro took an oath to six ministers of his cabinet to take official possession of their positions.
(See: Petro Government opens call for Colombians with a doctorate).
The ministers who took office were:
– Minister of Labor: Gloria Ines Ramirez.
– Minister of Mines and Energy: Irene Velez Torres.
– Minister of Commerce: German Umaña Mendoza.
– Minister of Housing: Martha Catalina Velasco.
– Minister of Transport: William Francis Reyes.
– Minister of Sport: Maria Isabel Urrutia.
(See: The main needs to be solved by the new DNP).
Mary Gutierrez, who faith designated as new Minister of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) did not take possession.
Apparently President Petro”would be evaluating and studying all the guidelines” of that appointment.
The reason? Since the beginning of this week it was known that Gutiérrez was the majority shareholder of the company Schedule Television, company that had contracts with state entities and for which it prevented the designated minister from assuming the position.
(See: Petro appoints Jorge Eduardo Londoño as new director of Sena).
As for those who did take office, some of the ministers have had a busy first week of work.
The Housing Minister, Catalina Velasco, for example, has already announced that will continue with housing subsidies that they had been working on and that others focused on rural areas will be promoted.
Irene Vélez Torres, Minister of Mines and Energy, supported the bill filed by 65 congressmen to ban ‘fracking’ in Colombia.
(See: The pros and cons that Fedesarrollo sees in the Petro tax).
For her part, Gloria Inés Ramírez, Minister of Labor, announced that she will support the proposal to return to overtime from 6 pm and that she will promote the end of outsourcing labor contracts.
Finally, the Minister of Sports, María Isabel Urrutia, affirmed that professional soccer players who work in the country must be paid their salary all year round.
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