Promises of vaccines that never arrived and the trigger that resulted in an ironic response from the national president to a humble taxi driver who asked for medicine, triggered the request for impeachment against Abdo in the first quarter of the year.
A historic demonstration that lasted two consecutive weeks and had a maximum of around 10,000 participants, was not enough for a Colorado majority in the Lower House to decide to expel him.
The change of questionable ministers, the arrival of vaccines thanks to the solidarity of the United States and the financing of the State for the intensive care of the population that attended private sanatoriums, calmed the social tension during the second quarter of the year.
Regarding the last six months of the year, public opinion focused on the wave of insecurity that hit the entire country. On the one hand, that triggered by the economic crisis. And on the other, the attacks of criminal groups operating in the north.
CALLIZO
Pilar Callizo, a master’s in politics and management, pointed out that Abdo was already transmitting doubts even before taking power. That is, to have the capacity to produce the structural changes that the country needs.
“There was mistrust because it comes from a structure that never took into account things that make the proper functioning of the rule of law as well as democratic institutions,” he said.
He noted that we need to be realistic in what happened during the pandemic. In the sense that carrying forward a nation immersed in a health crisis is not an easy task.
“It is more complicated than it should have been if this pandemic had not affected us. But we must claim, in any case, that they have not shown the public that they are really against corruption,” he said.
THE GOOD
On the other hand, the analyst highlighted that Abdo had a more democratic attitude, compared to other Colorado leaders. This, in the sense of the Secretaries of State who are part of his cabinet despite belonging to other parties.
“The president has had a more open attitude to demonstrate that a democratic system from the Executive Branch can lead to a more horizontal decision-making.
CASTIÑEIRA
Selva Castiñeira, a political scientist, affirmed for her part that there is a lot of claim in the ruling party (ANR). Based on this, corruption was, once again, the highlight of the year.
“The purchase of vaccines was handled in a very doubtful way. In recent months, acts of corruption have surfaced, but they end up being ‘whitewashed,’” he said.
In economic terms, he said that there are positive results thanks, mainly, to the work of the private sector.
“In South America, our country is one of the best economically unemployed. But we cannot pretend to advance if there are no public policies aimed at progress”, he commented.
