“No one is untouchable,” slips a source from the Casa de Nariño, the presidential residence of Colombia. Gustavo Petro wants results in the short term that will bring his Government out of lethargy and to do so he will not hesitate to dispense with whoever is necessary, as has been the case of Danilo Rueda, the Peace Commissioner whom he has dismissed overnight. and without further consideration. Cabinet members know that, at this point, none of them are indispensable. The president, these same sources insist, considers that everything is moving very slowly and that he has already given too much time to some projects that have not yet started. The minister who does not comply with these deadlines will have his days numbered.
Petro has a reputation for ruthlessly cutting off heads since his time as mayor of Bogotá, between 2012 and 2015. It was common for him to cause crises in his Administration that ended in changing names in the most relevant positions. Those who know him point out that he can be patient, but that suddenly, from one moment to the next, he can run out and act bluntly. Rueda’s case serves as an example to other officials. In recent weeks there have been rumors of changes in ministers and very close advisors, but for now they are nothing more than that, whispered conversations in the Palace. However, everyone is alert. “The president is upset not to get results soon,” they add.
There are several signs that the dismissal of Danilo Rueda surprised those involved, despite the fact that the high commissioner had suffered obvious wear and tear and there were even congressmen who were insistently asking for his resignation. The decision had not been discussed in his close circles. The Office of the High Commissioner for Peace had even called a press conference for this Thursday that had to be canceled after the president’s message. Beyond the brief presidential trill, at Casa de Nariño they keep as a secret what triggered it, the ultimate reason, Rueda’s dismissal.
In the Government of total peace, which involves dialogue simultaneously with all armed groups, the position of the commissioner takes on enormous relevance. It is the president’s flagship policy, for better or worse. Danilo Rueda imbued the position with his personality. Critics of him point out that he used to fall into improvisation in a position that requires strategy.
Along the way, he had friction at various times with the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez. Especially around the negotiations with the dissidents of the so-called Central General Staff. They even had a tug-of-war over the presence of the military in the town of El Plateado, a town in the Micay River canyon, in Cauca, where the dissidents operate. He also appeared disjointed with the Minister of Justice, Néstor Osuna, regarding the need for a legal framework for the subjugation of groups that do not have a political status (and of which total peace still lacks). All those skirmishes could have shaken him.
Beyond the disagreements in the senior government, Rueda’s departure, which at times seemed omnipresent, implies a considerable shake-up and has put all ministers on alert. They feel their positions are threatened. Petro has been characterized since his time as mayor by being inscrutable every time he decided to shake up his team. In the Presidency he has been no different.
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In the year and a half in power, the president has already had two major cabinet crises, and other replacements in dribs and drabs. He already has 30 ministers, some portfolios have already had up to three in charge, and only seven of the original 18 ministers remain (Foreign Affairs, Defense, Justice, Labor, Environment, Housing and Commerce). Since he completed one year in power last August, he had not made new adjustments until now.
Several ministries are showing wear and tear in public opinion, including some of the most coveted. As for the Interior, the most political portfolio, in which Luis Fernando Velasco has not been able to significantly improve the relationship with Congress that Alfonso Prada had. Defense, a sector always neuralgic for a country that cannot turn the page on the armed conflict, with Minister Velásquez in the target of the opposition. Or the Foreign Ministry, with Álvaro Leyva overshadowed by the trilled presidential diplomacy that Petro usually resorts to. Along with Interior, Defense and Foreign Affairs, the backbone of the Government is completed by the Ministry of Finance, which remains in the hands of Ricardo Bonilla, who had already been very close to Petro during the time of the Mayor. For now, the most decisive portfolios remain in the hands of the most related sectors. But no one is safe.
Speculation about the adjustments of the team of ministers – which in Colombia are known colloquially as cabinetology– They have been coming for months. Rueda could be the prelude to a moment of expectation about an opening that includes other political sectors, the national agreement that Petro usually invokes. The Executive has entered into talks to assemble (or rearm, actually) a broader coalition that will allow it to process a legislative agenda that includes reforms that face a lot of resistance, especially those that affect health. This week, Petro held two key meetings that showed a more conciliatory mood, one with big businessmen and another with former president Álvaro Uribe.
“No more wrong rattles,” Petro himself trilled this Thursday when replying to information that maintained that Iván Velásquez would leave his position. For more than one observer, the time has come for the president to relaunch his government. With its reforms stuck in Congress, the setback in the regional elections in recent October and its declining popularity, the Executive is in search of lost governability. The expected remodeling of the Cabinet to face the crisis endorsed in the elections, although the president denies the poll numbers, has not yet occurred. Rueda’s departure may be a signal.
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