“Democracy and institutionality are defended or everything we have managed to build may fall”: Iván Duque

On Friday, April 1, the President of Colombia, Iván Duque, again attacked the opposition leader and presidential candidate of the Historical Pact, Gustavo Petro, about whom he did not refer promptly, however, he criticized some of his proposals and warned of the alleged democratic risk that his coming to power would represent.

The president again directed his darts against the left-wing senator, who is currently leading the opinion polls ahead of the country's presidential elections, in the midst of the 'Governors Summit' organized by the National Federation of Departments where he reiterated his call to defend democracy against “phenomena” which he described as destructive.

“I am concerned about the defense of democracy. It is important that we understand that either democracy and institutionality are defended, or everything we have managed to build can easily fall into phenomena that are destructive: the first is Adanism, which believes that when we come to power there is creation again,” said the head of state at the event that took place at the coastal municipality of Coveñas, Sucre.

He also indicated that another of these so-called “destructive phenomena” was the idea that with the coming to power a Corsican patent was granted to supposedly change institutional patterns “only to play the applause of the tribune and try to fall into the worst trap of populism, which is to offer bread for today, when what they incubate is hunger for tomorrow”, referring to one of his repeated criticisms of the opposition leader.

Likewise, he criticized some of the proposals of the left-wing alliance candidate that he mentioned during his election campaign, such as the suspension of oil exploration, asking the governors what would happen if the “drills, production, royalties and jobs” of the departments left “breaking those axes is affect democracy”.

“Or when you say: 'completely finish funding for higher education at the postgraduate level and forgive debts', yes, nine billion pesos and where are they going to get them from, who are they going to charge them from. And what happens to those who are already in the credit system and those who come later, because under that logic then the banks end up too and forgive all the debts there tomorrow as resources begin to flow in a society,” said the president, in relation to one of the proposals announced recently by Gustavo Petro.

In turn, he pointed out that the achievements that have been achieved have taken place within the framework of institutionality and under the rules of a market economy, indicating that valuing those achievements represented their preservation: “Power is not used to persecute, nor intimidate, nor subdue anyone, nor to say behind the scenes and in cocktail meetings that when I I'm going to put one or the other in jail.”

“I make these reflections, because the tragedies have already been seen in other Latin American countries and when the naivety begins that these ideas are harmless and that institutions are very strong eye. In the world of post-truth, it is enough that a lie is repeated exponentially under algorithms to turn it into a doubt or a truth”, concluded the president.

KEEP READING