According to a letter filed in Casa de Nariño, Until August 31, the lawyer and former president of USO Edwin Palma will hold the position of Vice Minister of Labor Relations and Inspection.
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EL TIEMPO learned first-hand of his resignation before President Gustavo Petro in which Palma – a member of the board of directors of Ecopetrol – thanks the president for the opportunity to “having served in his government“.
And he assures him: “I am retiring with the conviction that I did everything in my power to fulfill the popular mandate that brought us to power in 2022 and, as I recently expressed, from whatever position, including again that of the social and union movement, I will continue to defend your political project.“.
The insubsistence and ‘political hatred’
Palma’s resignation comes a month after EL TIEMPO revealed that the head of that portfolio, Gloria Inés Ramírez, declared Ángela María Caro Botero inoperativeone of his advisors when the vice president was on vacation.
The official’s departure revealed an internal struggle within the ministry, which has been the scene of clashes with its striking unions.
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“I regret your decision to put me in the middle of the attacks that have been launched against Vice Minister Edwin Palma, whom I have supported in the same way that I supported the more than 15 vice ministers that I have advised throughout all these years and with whom I have not had any kind of contradiction, and whom I still keep as friends.“, says the strongly worded resignation letter filed by the advisor.
Gloria Ines Ramirez, Minister of Labor
Ministry of Labor
And adds: “I regret, Minister, that you have made this decision without asking the consent of Vice Minister Palma and I regret that your political hatred against him has made you make this decision precisely against a woman like me, who is the head of a household, because my son depends entirely on me and who also suffers from the effects of gender-based violence, finding myself at this moment with an assessment of extreme risk, which as you know, makes me a potential victim of femicide. I regret your decisions made with the effects of rage, revenge and the bad advice that has surrounded you.“.
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The decrees of the pension reform
And although Palma’s resignation letter is one of gratitude to the president, high government sources told EL TIEMPO that the Tension between Ramírez and Palma increased after President Petro asked him, and not her, to draft the decrees to adjust the pension reform regulations.
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“It was truly a luxury to work with the entire labor inspection body throughout the country. They are the reason for the existence of the Ministry of Labor and as I have invited them many times, I hope they continue to be the helping hand of millions of people who work and are unprotected. To the workers of the Ministry, especially to the team of my Labor office, my eternal recognition and gratitude.“, Palma’s resignation states, which he sent a brief notification to Minister Ramírez.
EL TIEMPO INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
