On August 7, Gustavo Petro Urrego will officially take over the reins of the country. And when he assumes as President of the Republic, the questions of who really surround the new president begin. Because one thing is the advisers and strategists who helped him in the last stretch of the campaign (such as Armando Bennedetti, Roy Barreras, Alfonso Prada or Luis Fernando Velasco) and another thing is those who have been by his side, and have spoken in his ear , over decades of political work.
This question is of special interest in the case of Gustavo Petro because he has been or was for a long time a true lone ranger: a man who trusted few people. When he arrived at the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá. For example, he preferred to appoint people he trusted to critical positions (such as the Urban Development Institute), even if they had no knowledge of the position or had experience in managing billion-dollar budgets.
Now the opposite seems to be happening. The president-elect has shown a totally different facet: he has assembled large teams (the one for the junction is 2,500 people, according to Mauricio Lizcano) and his first two appointments as ministers have gone to people, such as José Antonio Ocampo and Álvaro Leyva, who are not necessarily close to him but they do have a great track record in their respective sectors.
The change is so strong that now Petro seems like the ‘new best friend’ of all those who were previously his opponents.
Petro’s ‘ambassadors’
Among those closest to Gustavo Petro, who might be called thoroughbred petristas, are Augusto Rodríguez, Eduardo Noriega, Daniel Rojas and of course his wife Verónica Alcocer (see boxes). They have been with him for more than 20 years and today they continue to whisper in his ear with a low profile.
They will perhaps be his grounding pole in the midst of the ambitious political alliance that he has undertaken in the last two weeks and which he called the “great national agreement.”
Without even having taken office, the leader of the Historical Pact managed to summon the various political forces that even described him as a “threat” to democracy, but he did not do it alone, since the team of advisers within him were essential to carry out these rapprochements with those who seek the approval of the ambitious reforms in fiscal, pension, agrarian, labor, and health and education matters, among others, which will have to be processed in the Congress of the Republic.
In just 14 days, the new president has sat down with the politicians who might lead the opposition to his government in the next four years: Germán Vargas Lleras, former vice president and leader of Cambio Radical; Rodolfo Hernández, second in the presidential elections with 10.5 million votes; and Álvaro Uribe, former president and leader of the Democratic Center.
The new president has had a true mutation in his relationship with other political sectors to which he has made fierce opposition in the last 20 years, starting with Uribismo. After the elections, Petro moderated his speech and perhaps from the team he formed in the race he learned not to make decisions stubbornly.
In addition, Petro has already received public support from the Partido de la U, led by Dilian Francisca Toro, and from the Conservative Party, whose new director is Senator Carlos Andrés Trujillo from Antioquia.
The circle that influences Petro’s decisions
Carlos Ramón González, the green who left with Petro
The ‘life’ president of the Green Party, is perhaps the closest of that community to Gustavo Petro (Of course, in addition to Antonio Navarro Wolff who, they say, is a kind of paternal adviser to Petro. Navarro, by the way, will not be able to being in the junction due to delicate health problems). Years ago, González was a teammate of Gustavo Petro in the M-19, and now, when almost all the green supported Sergio Fajardo, González played it from the beginning for Petro.
They are so close that Gustavo Petro himself asked him to accompany him to Madrid to meet with the President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez. Summit that will take place this week. After Petro’s victory, González said that he celebrated the occasion as if it were his own victory. González is an old political fox and understands what has to be done to keep the so-called National Agreement oiled.
Augusto Rodríguez, the friend he made in the M-19
Augusto Rodríguez is a complete stranger to most Colombians, but for many years, when Petro was a congressman and mayor of Bogotá, he has been the trusted man of today’s president-elect. As Petro often changes his cell phone number, those who want to communicate with him must always do so with Rodríguez first. As Ángela María Robledo, Petro’s vice-presidential formula in 2018, once said, “The filter to reach Gustavo has been Augusto (Rodríguez). Petro almost never names him, but he is always there.”
Rodríguez was his partner in the M19 and for the last 25 years his right hand, he was his main bastion when Petro shone the most in Congress: in the Parapolitics debates. In the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá, he was in charge of verifying that everything was going well in the most important offices. Rodríguez watches his back, investigates what doesn’t look good and whispers in his ear.
Eduardo Noriega de la Hoz, the long-standing squire
He was appointed coordinator of the Petro campaign in the Caribbean region. He is one of the people that the president-elect will continue to listen to as he has done in the last 20 years, in which they have worked together in politics. He has been a friend of Petro for 40 years and was his general secretary in the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá. This samarian lawyer was also secretary general of Icetex and the Ministry of Education, and deputy director of Icfes.
In 2010, while Petro was running for the Presidency, Noriega ran for the Senate and burned with 7,000 votes. He is the husband of Catalina Velasco, head of the housing sector joint and why not, possible minister. He is one of the trusted squires of the elected president and has wide influence over his decisions. From Petro’s team it is said that he will lead a political strategy committee in the new government, due to his ability to reconcile with groups different from those of the government caucus.
Daniel Rojas, the programmatic leader of Petro
He is one of Petro’s trustworthy tokens, and during the campaign he served as program coordinator, so he knows the government program from head to toe. Despite his low profile, this economist was appointed as the coordinator and spokesperson for the president-elect’s splicing team. Rojas made a significant leap in Petro’s campaign, since he went from being in the Legislative Work Unit (UTL) of Senator Gustavo Bolívar, to being the structuring agent of Petro’s government program.
Within the Petro team, it is highlighted that Rojas has extensive knowledge of the country’s economic policies, which is why he was key in landing the proposals in this area, emphasizing that Petro’s initiatives distance themselves from the Venezuelan economic model. Rojas will be one of the president-elect’s advisors on fiscal matters and would be decisive in the tax reform.
