The waters within the Historical Pact are agitated. Despite the fact that they have managed to become the most influential political force in the country, with the President of the Republic on board, within the community a tough battle for power is being waged between the hardline Petrismo, that has always accompanied Gustavo Petro, and what some have called ‘neopetrism’, represented in those political leaders of traditional parties who are now enrolled with the new head of state.
In the hard petrismo there is discomfort for the photos that Petro has taken with the political establishment and the concessions that he has begun to makeand what it would have to continue doing to the traditional parties.
In a low voice, they criticize him for having paid more attention to his opponents – he has met with former President Álvaro Uribe, former Vice President Germán Vargas Lleras, former President César Gaviria – than to those who were with him throughout the campaign and brought him to power. Even, influencers Petristas assure that they no longer answer the phone.
“Change yes, but not at any price. Change yes, but not with anyone. Reconciliation yes, but sincere, not for interests. This cause cannot be handed over to those who murdered thousands of Colombians, to those who dispossessed millions of peasants, or to those who plunder the State,” Senator Gustavo Bolívar, who largely represents the discomfort of the radical wing of the Pact, wrote recently. Historical.
Deep down, the annoyance is not only because of the opening of the new government towards traditional politicians, but because they feel that one by one they have been losing the battles for power, with the so-called ‘neopetrismo’, represented by Roy Barreras, Alfonso Prada and the leaders from the government of Juan Manuel Santos, who have taken the best part of the cake.
The first battle that the thoroughbred Petrismo lost was the presidency of Congress. The wink that Gustavo Petro gave to Roy Barreras to occupy this dignity fell like a bucket of cold water in the Historical Pact.
“Roy is important in that role and has the ‘experience,’ but no, he does not represent the change that many of us are fighting for in this project,” was Senator Gustavo Bolívar’s comment.
Senator Alexander López spoke in the same vein, saying that this election “was not democratic.”
The other battle that the thoroughbred petrismo has practically lost is the election of comptroller. Bolívar accused Senator Barreras of being “campaigning for a candidate of the current comptroller to guarantee the ‘cover, cover’ four more years.”
This magazine confirmed that the candidate referred to by Bolívar is the lawyer María Fernanda Rangel, director of the Directorate of Information, Analysis and Immediate Reaction (Diari), in the Comptroller’s Office.
Rangel is the candidate of the ruling wing of the Liberal Party, she is close to Roy Barreras and they see her with good eyes in a sector of the Green Alliance, besides being one of the chips of the current comptroller Felipe Córdoba. She worked with Juan Fernando Cristo, a member of the Hope Center Coalition, when he was president of the Senate and then Minister of the Interior. She is one of the most chosen.
This candidate, however, does not sit well with the radical Petrismo, whose main candidate was former Vice Comptroller Julio César Cárdenas Uribe, who was not among the 10 finalists selected by the previous Congress.
In addition, they do not want control to remain in the hands of someone close to the current comptroller or to the wing of the Historical Pact led by Roy Barreras.
cabinet
Another pulse in which he feels that they have not come out very favored is in the conformation of the cabinet. Although all those appointed to date have been well received by the Historical Pact, they barely recognize two as representatives of pure Petrism: the Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, a councilor from Colombia Humana and who was with Petro in the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá, and the Minister of Culture, Patricia Ariza, a survivor of the genocide of the Patriotic Union and who took to the streets during the national strike.
Álvaro Leyva, who will be appointed foreign minister, was received with good eyes, but he does not represent this entire political sector. They see Carolina Corcho as an appointment more from Petro than from Petrismo, like Iván Velásquez, while Cecilia López, José Antonio Ocampo and Alejandro Gaviria are alien to them.
The next Colombian ambassador to the United States, Luis Gilberto Murillo, comes from the campaign of Sergio Fajardo and the government of Juan Manuel Santos, in which he was Minister of the Environment.
And, to complete, among the names that have been on the rattle to occupy key positions in the government, the majority are leaders who come from the Santos government or from the traditional parties: Alfonso Prada, Luis Fernando Velasco, Juan Fernando Cristo and José Luis Correa, the latter, who on July 20 ended his term as a representative of the Liberal Party Chamber.
The appointments that did go down very well were those of the Arhuaca social leader Leonor Zalabata Torres, who will be ambassador to the UN in New York; Patricia Tobón, Emberá lawyer and Truth Commissioner, who will head the Victims Unit, and Giovani Yule, Nasa sociologist, who will head the Land Restitution Unit.
For now, the only battle from the political point of view that the thoroughbred Petrismo has won has been the election of David Racero as president of the Chamber.
Petro has not commented on the discomfort that exists in a sector of Petrismo and has not claimed or disavowed Gustavo Bolívar. The new head of state has to play tightrope, because he does not govern for a single party.
