With the environment as a transversal line to its proposals, activist Francia Márquez decided to bet on the Presidency of the Republic. The leader, a candidate for the Historical Pact coalition, proposes to replace traditional extractive industries with others such as tourism or fishing, focusing on the jobs of youth and women.
(Read: The positions of candidates of Team for Colombia on inflation).
How do you see the economic situation of the country and what are the biggest challenges?
For me the crisis does not start with the pandemic, for me the crisis is in an economic system that is depleting life on the planet. The impact of the pandemic It’s just a symptom of a problem that was already there. Somehow, the over-exploitation that we have done has led to a crisis that has had an impact not only on the country’s economy, but globally, especially on people’s living conditions.
President Duque is going to speak nicely in other countries about how the economy grew, but parallel to this, inequities and inequalities deepened, it is useless to have a lot of money if it does not satisfy the basic needs of the majority, hunger or impoverishment and the lack of basic guarantees to live with dignity.
How could employment be promoted in the country and reduce poverty figures?
Our economy is based on extractivism, and in the first lines we have oil and coal. It is necessary to make a transition of that economy towards a new agroecological production systemThat means recovering food sovereignty for the country. To promote employment, we must see the potential that we have, such as tourism.
We must promote community tourism, strengthen the territories, we have not been able to take advantage of that potential being the second most biodiverse country in the world.
In addition, our country has everything to be one of the sources of food for the world, we can strengthen food sovereignty, and also take advantage of it for important international trade. We can also strengthen fishing, from the knowledge of fishermen mixing it with technology and strengthen that industry.
We have two oceans, immense rivers, but we have not taken advantage of them as a primary source of equitable conditions. That goes through the distribution of productive landagrarian reform is important, but we propose an ecological and feminist agrarian reform, we need the land to be distributed among women.
Changing the use of the coca leaf and cannabis means science and technology to produce new industries
What would that policy look like?
There is already a step, and this government has not advanced in it, which is the Peace Agreement, which established the distribution of 2 million hectares of productive land. For me, the real transformation is in distributing that territory to women, I think it would close gaps and inequalities. We peasant women are the ones who suffer the most, this has to do with access to drinking water, health and dignity conditions. An agroecological and agricultural security system implies a look at the countryside, with infrastructure, and redirecting the subsidies that exist in agriculture for large industries, such as sugar cane, to small subsistence industries.
(What’s more: ‘It is irresponsible to end oil’).
If we strengthen local economies we can lower transportation costs and can be more profitable production. Therein lies our potential to sell ourselves as a powerhouse to the world.
What other sectors of the economy would you focus on?
We cannot strengthen the economy if we do not solve other problems first, such as the armed conflict. Solving this is taking resources away from war and diverting them to other economies, and focusing on youth and women. But this implies compliance with the agreements already agreed between the FARC and the State, establishing dialogue tables with other armed actors, and resolving the drug problem.
We raise the drug legalization, progress has been made in the regularization of cannabis, but there is a monopoly with licenses. I believe that changing the use of the coca leaf and cannabis means science, research and technology to produce new industries, textiles derived from these products, pharmaceutical and food industries. This also implies attention to the problematic consumption of psychoactive substances, a clear prohibition must be established for minors and the personal dose must be recognized.
France Marquez
TIME
How could development be promoted in the regions?
Taking into account the knowledge and diversities in each region, this implies making a diagnosis of the potentialities, difficulties and opportunities of each region, I believe that this would allow us to have a decentralized government. We have seen popular mandates: in the Caribbean there is interest in strengthening fishing, for example.
How do you see the possibility of another tax reform?
This country definitely needs a new tax reform, but not a reform like the ones that have meant that those who have the least are the ones who pay the most, we need a reform where those who have the most, contribute the most. We also need to review tax justice in the redirection of resources, because those of us who have the least end up paying, but that is not reflected in welfare, education or guarantees of access to health. It is not seen in the welfare to fulfill the essential purposes of the State.
(Keep reading: ‘We propose an impoconsumption with a single rate of 8%’: candidate Alex Char).
For me, a tax reform has to fulfill, on the one hand, focus on whoever gets more income contribute in solidarityand tax exemptions must be reduced, there are many sectors that have been favored by special treatment, and in the long run they end up earning less taxes.
LAURA LUCIA BECERRA ELEJALDE
