Beset by protests, and its low acceptance in the survey, the president of Colombia, Iván Duque, facing starting this Wednesday with a new political scenario. The map emerged from the local and regional elections of last October, in which the Government party suffered a crushing defeat, just materializes from this first of January, when more than a thousand mayors and over thirty governors assume their positions for a period of four years. In the majority of cases, such as Claudia López in Bogotá or Daniel Quintero in Medellin, the local agents embody new priorities that do not coincide with the project curator for the president.
Almost all the light bulbs in this start of the 2020 are posts about Claudia López, the first mayor of the capital chosen in the polls. Since his win had been dedicated to assembling a team of work that has attracted praise, and took a breather to get married in a discreet ceremony with senator Angélica Lozano, his partner for seven years. The heads of state in the capital have traditionally taken possession in the Plaza de Bolivar, the political heartland of the country. But the combative former senator of the progressive party Alliance Green chose to do so with a picnic in the parque metropolitano Simon Bolivar, one of the lungs of this city of more than seven million inhabitants, in a day full of symbolism. Entry to the park arrived by bicycle with the purpose of sending a message to promote alternative methods of mobility, as he had done throughout a hard-fought campaign.
MORE INFORMATION
The protests deepen the gap between Duke and the young, The riot police of Colombia, in the spotlight for eye injuries to protesters
the chairman, Duke or the vice-president Marta Lucia Ramirez attended the colourful ceremony, under a radiant sun, in the that broke out rechiflas when he read a letter from the governor in which, among others, he reiterated the commitment of the Executive with the construction of the first metro line of Bogotá. The whistling ended in speeches in favor of the national strike that broke out since November, a series of mass demonstrations against the Government Duke that, at the moment, amainaron with the year-end holidays. The president is going through a profound crisis of popularity, and the way in which it relates with the new mayors and governors will set the policy agenda in the two and a half years remaining in office. And in particular with the first “woman of the diverse” –as defined Lopez– arriving to the second position of popular election more important to the country. The tension between the central Government and the territorial powers will determine the long race toward the presidential elections of 2022.
“The Government that today we start is, above all things, a coalition Government of citizens”, stated the brand new mayor of Bogota, to mark the distance with Duke. In his speech of nearly an hour showed decidedly favorable to the multifarious claims of the protests, which have had an accent as a youth. “Today not only do eco, but that we are part of the majority of citizens who have taken to the streets with the demands and aspirations just basic and fully legitimate of young people, of women, of the civic movements, of ethnic groups, of those who claimed to be the sexual diversity and equality not only before the Law but before the life, of the environmental movements and animal; of the hundreds of thousands of people that have come out spontaneously to the streets to express themselves to the rhythm of the pans, beyond the parties and leaders political. Today it is up to the Government that citizenship,” he said.
“we’re Not going to allow, in any way, the abuse of power by any authority against the legitimate expression of citizens,” warned Lopez, a daughter of a school teacher made to pulse. In the midst of the wave of protests, largely peaceful, there have been riots, isolated and various allegations of excesses by the police, especially in Bogota. Among others, the death of Dilan Cruz, a young protester, after being shot by a squad of riot. “I am fully aware that I won in a city, and today, just a few months later, I posesiono in another”, explained the mayor to recognize the profound social malaise expressed in the mobilizations still not evident at the time of your choice. “The young people in the streets ask us all, with all reason, a change of era, a new social contract between generations, which is in turn a ultimate covenant for equality, transparency, sustainable development and the reconciliation of Colombia”.
Lopez will not be the only partner potentially uncomfortable for the Executive. The Democratic Center, the party of Government, founded by former president Alvaro Uribe, a political mentor of Duke, suffered a setback unprecedented in several major cities, where there was a significant advance forces alternatives that defeated machinery traditional. Even in Medellin, birthplace and stronghold of political uribismo, where he triumphed against the forecasts of the independent Daniel Quintero, who took office at the end of the day. Cali, the third city of Colombia, to be governed again by the doctor Jorge Iván Ospina, also of the Alliance Green. This map highlights the exception of Barranquilla, the most populated in the colombian Caribbean. There the new mayor is Jaime Pumarejo, heir of Alex Char, who is leaving office after his second term with approval ratings above 90 percent, which will give a significant national projection.
