Petro declares war on Congress after the shipwreck of his star reform

Gustavo Petro was excited by Pedro Castillo's rise to power in Peru. His story could well be a story by Julio Ramón Ribeyro: a primary school teacher, son of some enslaved farmers that General Juan Velasco Alvarado freed and who grew up in a town in the Andes at more than 4,000 meters above sea level, begins to give rallies in squares in remote places and little by little he generates a stir around him that catapults him to the Casa de Pizarro, the Peruvian presidential residence. He sits in an office with a mahogany desk and busts of national heroes around him, although he feels uncomfortable and strange. He misses milking the cows and feeding corn to the chickens. He tries to govern, but all of his proposals collide with Congress. They don't even approve of traveling abroad. Little by little he becomes poisoned by the idea that the powers that be are putting a stop to a humble man like him. The day comes when it erupts. In a television address he declares a state of emergency and orders the chamber to be dissolved. It is political suicide because the military, businessmen, and people do not support him. He is alone. In the following hours they arrest him and imprison him, and there he is now locked up, in a prison where his brother brings him bags of food to cook on a small stove.

The president of Colombia expressed his solidarity with him and even exonerated him, even though it was clear that he had staged a self-coup. Castillo was replaced by his vice president, whom Petro considers a usurper of power. At the Nariño Palace she received Castillo's Argentine lawyer and told him that she supported him. Petro's argument is that the professor was elected by the people and that he had that mandate that has now been stolen from him. He does not give much importance to the fact that he was an erratic, absolutely incapable Peruvian president. They had voted for him and he had the right to rule. That clash with Congress drove him crazy and led him to take desperate measures. Castillo did not even have notions of institutions or democratic functioning, according to the testimony of people who were in his cabinet. Petro has a different political stature, that is undoubtedly. He has always respected the functioning of institutions. But there is something that ties him with Castillo: a frontal opposition with Congress. At the beginning, the president had majorities that he reached thanks to negotiations. However, they were diluted and today the war with the legislature is total. Petro, who does not dislike biblical references, made accusations against the congressmen on Thursday like those Jesus made with the Pharisees.

The health reform, which collapsed on Wednesday, has uncovered all the demons. Petro, hurt by the fall of his Government's most important initiative, denounced that the senators who voted against the project had received money from Keralty, a multinational owner of the EPS Sanitas, recently intervened by the Health Superintendency. “We were defeated not by a few parliamentarians financed by foreigners. We were defeated by a flagrant violation of the constitution and the law. No matter where you look at it, public health resources financed campaigns or foreign resources financed campaigns and parties,” the president wrote in X. And he added: ”That is prohibited by the Constitution and the law. “It is an immense danger for Colombian democracy because it indicates not only the corrupt privatization of politics, but also the loss of national sovereignty.”

Petro's harsh words generated an immediate reaction from the president of Congress, Iván Name. In a public statement, he defended the senators and asked the president for respect. “President Petro's statement is inadmissible, according to which the Seventh Commission of the Senate of the Republic decided to file the health reform bill under illegal and corrupt influence.” Name also said that Petro's statements were “injurious and slanderous” and violated the dignity of the parliamentarians. He reminded Petro that the same congressmen from the Seventh Commission who sank the health reform had approved the pension reform a few months ago. The senator gave a final warning: “Continuing to raise the tone against our congressmen and the institution of the Congress of the Republic only contributes to the deterioration of the harmonious relations between the branches of public power.”

A lawyer and professor at the University of the Andes like Ramiro Bejarano has gone so far as to say that, for the good of democracy, the Senate cannot accept Petro's “very serious” accusation. “A decent Senate should refuse to release and legislate as long as Petro does not recant.” That would be taking things to the next level of conflict. The president has not sat idly by and while his reform was foundering, the two largest EPSs in the country intervened, the health promoters – intermediaries between the State and hospitals – which he wants to put an end to at all costs. He considers that they are a business, that part of the money that should be invested in health ends up in the hands of businessmen. These companies, Petro has already grasped this, do not have sufficient funds to act as insurers. Name was also very harsh with Petro's policy of carrying out his reform through actions. “I deeply regret the intervention of the EPS Sanitas and Nueva EPS, they have wide prestige among Colombians and coverage of more than 15 million users. We will thoroughly review the causes that led to the making of these determinations,” said the president of the Senate in a brief speech.

The fight between Petro and Name has had several previous chapters and dates back to the day of Name's election as president of the senate. Of the four candidates of the Green Alliance party for the most important position in the legislative branch, Name was the most ideologically distant from the Government, the one that represents the most traditional and clientelistic politics and the one that has most vehemently opposed the Executive's reforms. In fact, that night Name was elected with the votes of all the opposition parties, including the Democratic Center and Cambio Radical, over Angélica Lozano, who had the support of Petro.

From that moment until today, Name has insisted that the president's reforms will not come out of Congress as they came in. A few weeks ago, after Petro's proposal to hold a Constituent Assembly became known, Name said during the Senate plenary session that it was a “threat to democracy and Congress.” That time he challenged President Petro to use the institutions to process the Constituent Assembly, and not the town councils and popular committees. “President, bring here the law that would convene a National Constituent Assembly, as is the constitutional mandate, do not invent paths that we do not accept. “Do not debase democracy,” he said in a threatening tone. And he concluded his intervention with a warning: “The weapons of our forces belong to the Nation, not to a Government; just in case they are thinking about the saber rattling.”

Hours after the intervention, the president responded in a spe
ech from Montería: “The president of Congress does not have to fear the nation's weapons, because now I am the commander and chief. The nation's weapons will never be aimed at the people, nor at Congress.” That was a more conciliatory Petro, but yes, making it clear that he is the one in charge, that he is the commander in chief and that is why these days he is wearing that military cap of the Presidency that has raised so much speculation. His confrontation with Congress has only just begun. The clash is expected to be tremendous.

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