Following the escalation of violence in the region of Catatumbogenerated by crossfire between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and FARC dissidentshe President Gustavo Petro declared a state of internal commotion and economic emergency, a figure that had not been invoked in the country since 2008, in Álvaro Uribe’s second term.
“The State of internal commotion and the state of economic emergency are declared. I expect your support from the judiciary. Military takeover will always develop with the economic transformation of regions under violence“said the head of state in X.
(You may be interested in: ‘The ELN has chosen the path of war and it will have war’: President Petro).
However, the statement was not well received by different figures in national politics, such as the case of Petro’s predecessor in the Casa de Nariño, Ivan Duque.
President Petro in the Tibú Security Council
Presidency
The former president described “eyesore” the measure, ensuring that the current president would seek to take advantage of the situation to favor his political agenda in the final stretch of his mandate.
“Using the tragedy of Catatumbo to revive an eyesore of tax reform is the politicization of the pain of the victims of terrorism, a legal nonsense and a dark act of political opportunism“Duque said on the same social network.
Another of the voices that criticized the determination of the head of state was that of the senator of the Democratic Center, María Fernanda Cabalwho, facing the presidential race, brought up some messages from Petro from 2021, in which he expressed his disagreement with this measure that Duque contemplated implementing at that time.
Using the Catatumbo tragedy to revive an eyesore of tax reform is the politicization of the pain of the victims of terrorism, a legal nonsense that does not withstand the slightest revision and a dark act of political opportunism.
— Iván Duque 🇨🇴 (@IvanDuque) January 20, 2025
“For Petro, the internal commotion that Iván Duque should have decreed was dictatorial, but his is necessary. Here the States of Emergency seem more like a whim to govern by decree than a way out of the situation that Petro himself has caused.“said the congresswoman and presidential candidate.
The position of the former mayor of Bogotá, Claudia Lópézonce a political ally of the current head of state, who said: “The chaos of Petro’s ‘total peace’ ended in internal commotion. For 23 years the country had not had to decree internal commotion for reasons of public order. Neither peace, nor security, nor Government. Just chaos“.
PORTFOLIO
