In Istmina, Chocó, President Gustavo Petro, in the company of Vice President Francia Márquez, sanctioned the law that creates the Ministry of Equality and Equity on this Wednesday night.
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Although the formal ceremony was scheduled to begin after 2 in the afternoon, it was postponed, pending the arrival of the head of state, who was in Pereira.
As soon as he arrived at the place, around 7 pm, Gustavo Petro addressed the Colombians. “Fsigning this law that creates the Ministry of Equality here in Istmina obviously has a load of symbolism and reality“He said to start his words.
The president stressed that poverty in Chocó is rooted in “issues that are fundamental to human dignity,” such as “the scarcity of education, the scarcity of transfers, the scarcity of public services in general, such as health.”
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“In Colombia, the mentality of the slaveholders is still maintained. (…) The territory of Chocó is excluded because its population is excluded,” he added.
The President said that Colombia It is “one of the most unequal countries on the planet”and, with very few exceptions, policies have not been created to reduce inequality, a problem “more complex than overcoming poverty.”
“Reducing inequality implies that the poorest populations in Colombia see their income and wealth grow faster in percentage terms than the income and wealth of the country’s richest strata grow.“, he assured.
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On the other hand, Petro also highlighted gender inequality, and said that “to achieve equality between men and women, it is not just necessary a Ministry of Equality, practically the entire State must work based on all that equality that scares there, because there are people, men, who don’t believe that women are the same as them”.
Petro, in his speech, assured that “social inequality is what causes violence”, it is not poverty.
“Society is born in inequality, and society dies in inequality, and many generations can pass like this, hopes are fading in many sectors of the population. And what emerges then are the easy paths, they are violence, hatred” said the President.
TIME
