“I have requested the protocolary resignation of ministers and directors of administrative departments. There will be some changes in the cabinet to ensure greater compliance with the program mandated by the people,” wrote the president.

This request follows the tensions caused by a televised cabinet meeting on February 4, which exposed internal disagreements among government officials and particular discomfort with the involvement in the government of Laura Sarabia, a key figure in Petro’s team and recently appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as the newly appointed Chief of Staff, Armando Benedetti.

Following this event, several ministers and officials submitted their resignation letter before Petro made his official request on February 9, including Gloria Inés Ramírez, Minister of Labor; Juan David Correa, Minister of Culture; and Juan Fernando Cristo, Minister of the Interior. In his resignation letter, Cristo thanked Petro for the opportunity to be part of the government and emphasized the need to prioritize key commitments in the remaining 18 months of the administration.

Jorge Rojas, Director of the Presidential Administrative Department (DAPRE), and Susana Muhamad, Minister of Environment, also resigned. In an interview with El Tiempo, Muhamad stated that her resignation was motivated by Armando Benedetti’s appointment as Chief of Staff. She expressed concerns about his political representation and the trust needed for governance, saying, “He does not inspire confidence in me, personally, both in terms of political representation and in the trust necessary to govern within the Council of Ministers.”

After Petro’s February 9 announcement, additional officials submitted their protocolary resignations. Carlos Carrillo, Director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) announced his resignation via X/Twitter, motivating their colleagues to also proceed: “I believe that the entire cabinet and high-ranking government officials should submit their resignations without delay.”

In a post via Twitter/X Laura Sarabia confirmed her resignation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, position she held for just a few days: “With the purpose of allowing the president to make the decisions he deems most appropriate, I submit my protocolary resignation, ” she pointed.

Among the officials that have also resigned are: Andrés Camacho, Minister of Mine; Ángela María Buitrago, Minister of Justice; Martha Carvajalino, Minister of Agriculture; and Daniel Rojas Medellín, Minister of Education.

Headline photo: Image from the televised cabinet meeting on February 4 (Photo: Presidencia de la República)

The government agenda was full of reforms the last year: Pension, Health and Political bills were the most important for Petro. As the Colombian Senate recess period began on December 16; this was the deadline for this bill to be approved by the chamber that had already denied some government bills in the past months. For the government and Petro’s party, Pacto Histórico, the political reform was necessary and key for the political future of the country. However, many analysts and organizations didn’t agree with the president and his bill.

One of those organizations was the MOE (Electoral Observatory Mission), they warned about the content of the political reform. MOE subdirector, Frey Alejandro Muñoz, pointed out a major setback in the possibility of changing parties one time every four years and as late as four months before the election: “This proposal weakens the political parties, because the seat goes from representing the position of the political organization to belonging to the person who was elected. On the other hand, this could generate distrust in the citizenry by finding a lack of consistency in the political system when they see their representatives move from one organization to another.”

The financial aid for political movements was also at risk if the bill was approved. “The bill provides access to operating financing only for political organizations that reach 3% of the vote in Congress, which excludes parties with legal status that emerge from the special Afro and indigenous constituencies.” Another problem related to this issue is the control over the finances of every campaign, as the project did not adopt a clear measure to keep track of the money and its source.

After a long discussion on the last day of ordinary sessions, more than seven hours, the bill didn’t pass.

Juan Fernando Cristo, Minister of the Interior, criticized the decision of the Senate to drown this bill, “They killed political reform by suffocation. The country demanded that Congress debate it. We are not resigned to a nonviable political system, without legitimacy or credibility. We will insist and persist that it is urgent to change the political system to prevent the usual corruption scandals from continuing to be repeated.”

The President of the Senate, Efrain Cepeda, blames the Pe party, Pacto Histórico, for the disaster of the political reform. “On Thursday (December 12) that political reform was scheduled on the agenda, and there were some discussions that, among other things, the same bench of the Pacto Histórico was dedicated to endless interventions to add proposals, and little by little the plenary of the Senate was running out of quorum.”

Cepeda also responds to the critics who try to blame him for the drowning of this initiative. “I cannot answer for the quorum of the plenary, the same governing party delayed the discussion of previous projects.”

In the near future, there’s no schedule for the political reform in 2025, Petro’s party will focus their efforts on Health and Labor reform bills that have already been discussed in the chambers and have more possibilities of being approved in the midterm.

Headline photo: Senate President Efrain Cepeda, centre chair, discuss a bill with congressmen in the chamber. (Source, Congres official website)

More than half of the total, or about $2.3 million USD, will fund the construction of a new administrative center for Mocoa. Rivera said the plan will give the capital a modern building that will help citizens spend less time waiting for officials to complete various procedures and document processing.

Rivera added that this site will also be used to further coordinate and administer the ongoing reconstruction efforts in Mocoa to rebuild from the disaster.

Another $1 million USD will go toward video surveillance as part of Colombia’s wider “Live Safe, Live in Peace” program. The monitoring is an attempt to improve public safety and alleviate the fears that some residents have in the capital, said Rivera in a statement.

Additionally, around $300,000 USD will be used to create a “Citizen Integration Center” (CIC) in neighborhood of José Homero that will be the staging ground for the implementation of various peace process protocols and reintegration efforts.

The disaster recovery and rebuilding plans in Mocoa are close to home for Rivera, a Putumayo native who was appointed to the head of the ministry last month following the resignation of Juan Fernando Cristo. The investments announced today, said Rivera, will help the community act “with integrity and opportunity in the reconstruction of Mocoa.”

Photo: Minister of the Interior Guillermo Rivera Flórez announces new investments for Mocoa. (Credit: MinInterior)

To do so, the president has tasked Rivera Flórez, who has served as the Ministry of the Interior‘s deputy minister and as a national Congress member from the Liberal Party, with solidifying the structures underlying the peace process finalized late last year with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group.

“You have to do the work, Dr. Guillermo Rivera, to make peace irreversible — more irreversible — as soon as possible, with facts,” said Santos during today’s welcoming of the 47-year-old minister at the Casa de Nariño in Bogotá.

Photo: From left to to right, the outgoing Juan Fernando Cristo, President Juan Manuel Santos, and new Minister of the Interior Guillermo Rivera Flórez. (Credit: Presidencia de la República)

Santos believes that the Externado University-trained layer, who hails from the department of Putumayo where the capital of Mocoa was recently devastated by flash flooding, will be capable of leading strong outreach and advancing “social dialogue” with “different sectors of society.”

Juan Fernando Cristo stepped down last week so he would not be precluded from running as a candidate in the nation’s 2018 elections, said the outgoing minister. While the politician, who served as president of the Senate before joining the Ministry of the Interior, has not announced definitive plans to run for office, he reportedly wanted to leave the administration now in case he decides to put his name on the ballot.

In stepping down, Juan Fernando Cristo has followed the lead of others in recent months. Former Vice President Germán Vargas Lleras stepped down in March, former National Planning Department Director Simón Gaviria Muñoz left the administration earlier this month, and former Colombian Ambassador to the United States Juan Carlos Pinzón resigned from his post in Washington last week.

“I am very sorry that Minister Cristo has left because he has been a great minister, a great teammate, and he has done extraordinary work in government,” said Santos last week.