Colombian Citizens: A Key Role in Petro’s Government

Colombia's President-elect Gustavo Petro, in the context of the First Caribbean Regional Dialogue towards the National Development Plan 2022-2026, organized by Pacto Histórico, the alliance that led him to the presidency, said Thursday he would propose a social dialogue to improve such development plan.

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The meeting of legislators of the progressive bench hosted working tables with topics such as health, social leaders, culture, LGBTIQ+ community, and peasantry, among others.

In his speech before the legislators, Petro laid out his ambitions for his first 100 days as president. He said that citizens would play an essential role at the beginning of his government, having "decision-making capacity, which is really the central concept of a democracy," Petro said. 

The idea is that "society can decide, because it is the owner of the State and the owner of the territory, basically shared with the most ancestral forces of nature, and it is the owner of history: whether it advances, regresses or stagnates," Petro added.

"The president-elect, Gustavo Petro, has invited society to coordinate a social dialogue in the territory that allows us to prioritize what the State's action should be": Alfonso Prada, about the meeting with the president-elect Gustavo Petro and governors of the country. 

He also called for citizens to be involved in elaborating the development plan. "We don't want it to be discussed exclusively in congressional committees, but also by society," Petro said, and referred to his interest that society can influence "the articles of the law and the distribution of public money in the next four years."

Petro said that dialogue is necessary with the participation of all sectors, both "the majority of society, which suffers countless problems of deficiencies in the guarantee of their rights," and "those who have been privileged up to this moment in what Colombia has been."

On June 19, Gustavo Petro was elected in the runoff presidential election. On August 7, he will be sworn in as president of Colombia, along with social leader Francia Márquez, who will serve as vice-president.