President Gustavo Petro called for the resignation of vice ministers from the Liberal, Conservative and ‘the U’, according to a source close to the conservatives told Portafolio.
(See: “Shortage of medicines has no relation to the health reform”).
These officials belong to the ministries of Housing, Transport and Information Technology and Communications (ICT).
According to the source, this decision is due to the criticism of these communities to the health reform project proposed by the Executive and that despite “being 99% agreed” less than two weeks ago, it continues to falter and it takes with it a very mixed government coalition.
Those actions can be read as a reflection that Petro “he insists on his campaign proposals and is governing for the minority that voted for him”, as mentioned by Jorge Restrepo, professor of Economics at the Javeriana University.
On the other hand, Luis Fernando Trejos, a political analyst at the Universidad del Norte, says that the resignation request can also be understood as a way of exercising “pressure so that the parties support the reform”. And Petro decides to do it “threatening to take away the bureaucracy that has been handed over to them in the central government”.
(See: ‘Novel’ of the health reform: what separates parties and the government).
With this, it is possible to see “the prelude to the breakup of the government coalition, especially of the traditional parties that joined the ruling party”.
If with the reform of health leads to a breakdown of the coalition, it can occur that “independent parties become opposition and government parties become independent, at best”, affirms Jorge Restrepo.
Additionally, if the parties react in a way that is not favorable to the Government, the other structural reforms that are being processed together with the health (labor and pension) He would also be at risk and the government would not achieve the program for which he was elected and which he defends.
(See: Health reform enters “intensive care” again).
CLAUDIA M. QUINTERO RUEDA
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