Senators request debate on motion of no confidence against Irene Vélez

This Wednesday, February 22, 24 senators came together to file a request to debate a motion of censure against the Minister of Mines, Irene Vélez. The congressmen made the request as the focus of public policy in their sector “puts the fiscal sustainability and energy sovereignty of the country at risk“.

(Read: President Petro’s message of support to the Minister of Health).

They also called on the President of Congress, Roy Barreras, to convene a plenarys and thus can carry out the motion debate. It should be noted that this would be the second time that the official has faced a debate of this type.

The first time was in December of last year but the motion did not prosper. At that time, they were asking him to leave office because he was generating economic panic with his statements. FThere were 24 yes votes and 132 no.

The senators, who formed the bench ‘for the defense of social investment’, assured that the motion was requested due to Vélez’s recent statements “facing the future of the country’s mining-energy policy”.

(In addition: Fedegán responds to Petro for agrarian reform: this says the Government).

For his part, Miguel Uribe, Senator of the Democratic Center, He said that “the policy of this government in mining-energy matters is going to condemn Colombia to not having the resources to finance social investment, and it is very serious that the minister justifies this policy with misleading reports and false figures.”

Along with this, Senator David Luna, from Cambio Radical, said that the minister had presented before the House of Representatives an “iLiar report, mixing stolen reserves with possible reserves. This means that Colombia may enter into a serious risk of gas reserves in the coming years.”.

He also assured that heEcopetrol shares have fallen by 20%being the company that contributes to the country’s budget 50 billion pesos annually and that this would have an impact on social programs.

“Colombians who do not have sufficient economic capacity depend to a large extent on these resources,” said Luna, who was one of the senators who signed the request. He concluded by saying that the minister’s statements on the exploitation of oil generate a “scaring away of investment.”

(See: This has been the socialization of government projects in Congress).

The congressmen also assured that there is a great risk regarding the Government’s proposal on retake control of the regulation of public servicesas announced by President Gustavo Petro.

“You cannot pretend to have a blank check to intervene directly in the costs of electricity, water or gas rates“, they maintained.

The congressmen who signed the request are Miguel Uribe, David Luna, Jota P
Hernández, Paloma Valencia, María Fernanda Cabal, Paola Holguín, Andrés Felipe
Guerra, Esteban Quintero, Enrique Cabrales, Carlos Meisel, Ciro Ramírez, Carlos
Fernando Motoa, Lorena Ríos, Mauricio Giraldo, Carlos Meisel, Didier Lobo,
Abraham Jiménez, Honorio Enríquez, Edgar Díaz, Jorge Luis Pérez, Carlos Mario
Farelo, Jorge Enrique Benedetti, Esteban Quintero and Enrique Cabrales.

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With information from EL TIEMPO*