Pensions, security, land distribution and racism: key issues in the first vice-presidential debate

For the first time during the electoral campaign, candidates for the vice presidency of the Republic participated in an opinion debate, organized this Wednesday, March 30, by El Tiempo y Semana, where issues such as violence, armed groups, racism, pensions, among others, were addressed.

Who were present? Rodrigo Lara Sánchez, vice-presidential formula of Fico Gutiérrez; Francia Márquez, vice-presidential formula of Gustavo Petro; Luis Gilberto Murillo, vice-presidential formula of Sergio Fajardo; José Luis Esparza, vice-presidential formula of Ingrid Betancourt; Marelen Castillo, Rodolfo's vice-presidential formula Hernández and Carlos Alberto Cuartas, vice-presidential formula of Enrique Gómez.

In the last days of this electoral campaign, one of the issues that has moved the most on the agenda is the pension system in the country. On this point, Francia Márquez assured that the resources of the pension system belong to those Colombians who have paid contributions. However, “the State has an obligation to protect those who fail to retire,” he said.

While Rodrigo Lara Sánchez, Federico Gutiérrez's formula, assured that pension savings belong exclusively to Colombians. On the subject, Luis Gilberto Murillo considered that the State serves as the guardian of Colombians' savings in pension funds. For this reason, they propose a basic income for those over 65 years of age. In turn, “incentives that concentrate inequality in pensions must be eliminated,” said Sergio Fajardo's formula.

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Regarding the distribution of productive land for the country's peasants, the vice-presidential candidates had very divided opinions. José Luis Esparza, Ingrid Betancourt's formula, believes that there should be taxes on unproductive land. “There must also be a certification process and stop expanding the agricultural frontier for drug trafficking purposes,” he said in the debate.

According to Marelen Castillo, second by Rodolfo Hernández, land that is untitled must be legalized. At the same time, to make illicit crops productive. For his part, Enrique Gómez's campaign partner, Carlos Cuartas, believes that in order to recover the countryside in Colombia it is important that farmers return to the countryside after being displaced to large cities.

At this point, Francia Márquez believes that it is vital to give guarantees to the countryside in Colombia. For her, the distribution of hectares of land agreed in the Peace Agreement is important. “We need tertiary roads, because there is no point in having a piece of land if you can't get the products out.”

Another topic discussed in the debate was the functioning of ESMAD and its future in the country, in which the clear positions of the candidates were evidenced, since only Francia Márquez and Luis Gilberto Murillo were in favor of its dismantling, while the rest were against it.

And of course, the debate did not leave out the issue of racism, which has generated a lot of controversy in recent days, due to the comments that Francia Márquez has received. In response to the issue that has been growing in the campaign, Gustavo Petro's vice-presidential formula assured that racism has unfortunately always been maintained in everyday Colombian life.

On the subject, candidate José Luis Esparza said: “I recognize cultural diversity, but to put it from a political perspective I'm not really sure about it.” The comment was rejected by Márquez, assuring that a person who has never been discriminated against because of his skin color claims that racism does not exist in Colombia.

For his part, candidate Rodrigo Lara acknowledged that racism has always existed in Colombia and unfortunately has increased. “It does exist and it has always existed. It must be recognized that racism exists. Afro populations have the highest levels of poverty. Part of the solution is to recognize the problem,” said Lara.

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