The elected president, Gustavo Petro, who is two days away from taking office as the new president of Colombia for the period 2022-2026, gave what would be the first stitches of some profound modifications that he would be proposing for the carrying of firearms in the country, with the clear objective of taking them away from all civilians to improve security rates.
Petro harshly criticized the current system of special permitswarning that “there is practically no ban on carrying weapons, but there is good business.”
“These different responsibilities imply in various institutions, some of them in the Prosecutor’s Office, others in the Police, integrations such as unified command posts, some of them have to do with reforms to the Police, some with public policies,” Petro said. .
And he added in his statement: “For example, weapons in the hands of civilians, and at the time when I was mayor, eliminating the carrying of weapons in the city was discussed as a measure with positive benefits in indicators such as the decrease in homicides”.
“This is an issue worth assessing at the national level. Apparently, this measure is exaggerated by the Santos government, which was taken up by the District, but today misleading because from the special permits, there is practically no prohibition on the carrying of weapons, but there is a good business“, I note.
He also made it clear that this “means that there should be no special permits, which means that the seized weapons must be destroyed immediately and not resold, among the measures that are being proposed, such as those set forth here (in the report of social organizations on an emergency plan for the protection of the lives of social leaders)”.
What about the rest of Petro’s cabinet?
In the midst of the expectation in Colombia to find out who will make up the remaining ministries in the government of President-elect Gustavo Petro, the president of the Historical Pact announced that he already has the entire cabinet ready.
Petro affirmed that even the names of the members of the ministries that have yet to be revealed could be announced next Sunday, August 7, day in which the inauguration ceremony as the new president of Colombia will take place.
“There are no problems, the cabinet is ready”, said directly the president-elect to various questions on that particular topic.
Petro, although he had started the announcements with a good speed, which made one think that everything was ready, as the days passed the rhythm of the ads decreased and generated doubts in various sectors of the country, who began to wonder what was happening.
For now, these have been the appointments designated by the president of the Historical Pact: Álvaro Leyva Durán, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; José Antonio Ocampo, Ministry of Finance; Cecilia López, Ministry of Agriculture; Patricia Ariza, Ministry of Culture; Carolina Corcho, Ministry of Health; Susana Muhamad, Ministry of the Environment; Alejandro Gaviria, Ministry of Education, and, recently, announced the person in charge of the National Defense portfolio, assigning the former auxiliary magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, Iván Velázquez.
On the other hand, the possession of Gustavo Petro promises to be a national party. On Sunday, more than 100,000 people are expected to attend the celebrations in the center of the capital alone. Most of the leaders of the region will be there in the first row. The obligatory guests, the former presidents; however, they have not confirmed all.
It should be noted that the country’s turn to the left has a very happy sector of politics and another very dissatisfied. This reality is seen more strongly in the list of confirmations for the event of the former presidents of the Republic.