Ivan Duque ran for Colombia’s presidency in 2018 as a younger, little-known technocrat driving a rising right-wing motion. He tapped into public anger towards a peace deal, saying he had been too lenient with the nation’s lethal rebels. And he warned that his leftist rival’s proposals might stifle regular progress.
Three years and a worldwide pandemic later, it’s the Duke who’s presiding over excessive unemployment and an offended citizens – and who’s on the defensive about steps taken by extremists to quell the relentless violence.
Duke argues that his insurance policies have opened up alternatives for middle- and low-income teams, inspired entrepreneurship and paved the best way for Colombia to return to pre-pandemic progress. He additionally cited social insurance policies that might tackle problems with police conduct and social inequality, which have led to violent clashes this yr through which dozens of individuals died.
“The three pillars of our overall plan of government, which were legitimacy, entrepreneurship and equality, are yielding results,” Duke stated in an interview with The New York Times final week in South Korea. “Obviously, they had been affected by the pandemic. But I feel we now have demonstrated our versatile spirit.”
Former Colombian President lvaro Uribe at his residence in Medellin, Colombia, November 10, 2020. (picture/New York Times)
The legacy of the duke – and that of his patron, firebrand former president lvaro Uribe, who nonetheless dominates Colombian politics – is on the road. Colombian voters go to the polls in May, when Gustavo Petro, a former presidential candidate, former mayor of Bogota and one-time guerrilla member, might change into the nation’s most far-left chief in its historical past, when the left is once more at full throttle. America is claiming victory within the South.
Duke can’t run once more as a result of time period limits, and his celebration’s candidate has not been decided. Still, his authorities faces the bottom approval ranking of his presidency. Colombia’s financial system, commerce and funding from overseas have been hit exhausting by the coronavirus, which exacerbated long-running social tensions over wealth inequality and police conduct.
He has come beneath stress to subdue Colombia’s armed rebels and to finish the federal government’s peace take care of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, identified by the Spanish acronym FARC, on the phrases of the deal on the 2018 marketing campaign path. Despite criticism. .
In South Korea, Duke was in search of enterprise and funding alternatives, reminiscent of enlargement by Korean producers and elevated gross sales of Colombian espresso, avocados and bananas. He additionally cited the filming of a South Korean movie – Duke has lengthy made artistic investments in areas reminiscent of the humanities and analysis – in Bogota.
The “president” is attempting to get South Korean traders concerned with taking part in the large ball, stated Sergio Guzman of Bogota-based consulting agency Columbia Risk Analysis.
A brief hospital mattress was established in Bogota, Colombia on April 27, 2021 because of the excessive variety of COVID-19 sufferers. (NYT/FILE)
Guzmán stated the problem for the duke is {that a} victory by Petro might undo what he and his predecessors had achieved.
“He’s a weak president,” Guzman stated. “He is a lame-duck president. He is a president whose most important legacy will be for his successor to undo his policies.”
Duke disputed this, saying his efforts – together with wage subsidies and a proposal to broaden college entry – might assist get the financial system again on monitor.
Although a protégé of Uribe, the charismatic chief who practically twenty years earlier unleashed the federal government’s assault towards the FARC, the duke by no means fairly match the populist mould. Born right into a politically distinguished household, the 45-year-old president labored for years in growth banking. He speaks in clipped, think-tank English: “I’ll give you a very brief number,” he stated at one level earlier than doing precisely that.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rebels within the mountains of Colombia, Aug. 31, 2018. Colombia’s President Duque is beneath elevated stress to manage Colombia’s armed rebels. (Image/The New York Times)
He was chosen after a marketing campaign to extend financial progress and alter the phrases of the peace take care of the FARC, however he shortly bumped into challenges. In 2019, the shortage of alternatives and frustration over doable pension modifications led to mass protests. So was a tax proposal this yr meant to shut the fiscal gap created by the pandemic.
Duke’s tax proposal had benefit, stated Luis Fernando Mejia, director of the Colombian analysis institute Fedesarolo, however he appeared unable to promote it to the general public.
“It was a very, very good reform,” he stated, “however he was not capable of mobilize the political capital to create an enough technique to maneuver ahead by means of a reform that I feel would have been crucial. “
Duke is attempting to string the needle of coverage in a polarized time, making it tough to please his celebration’s base and sad voters.
The tax protest grew to become a part of widespread unrest over inequality and police violence. Some officers used brutal and deadly pressure on the protesters.
In the interview, Duke cited his efforts to extend the scrutiny on police and equip them with physique cameras. But he stated some protesters had been motivated by “people creating fake news” and different instigators to advertise violence.
His most intriguing balancing act could also be to strike a peace take care of the FARC. In 2019, his try to alter the phrases, together with harsher punishment for struggle crimes, failed on authorized grounds. Internationally, he’s beneath heavy stress to execute the settlement, however domestically, his celebration and different conservatives proceed to criticize it.
In the weeks earlier than the deal’s five-year anniversary, greater than half of its measures haven’t been applied or have barely begun, in response to the Kroc Institute on the University of Notre Dame, an impartial entity charged with overseeing the deal. . Opposition teams and a few voters say Duke missed an important window to pursue it.
The Duke and his supporters level to a deadline for the settlement, which requires its ideas to be applied in 15 years. In interviews, he stated he had completed greater than his predecessor Juan Manuel Santos to alter the peace accord’s land-ownership and implement growth plans that would supply jobs and alternatives to poor farmers and former rebels.
“Not only are we implementing, but the issues we are implementing are going to be decisive for the development of the agreements,” he stated, including that “we have made good progress.”
Duke should stability competing pursuits abroad as nicely. Tensions have risen between the United States – Colombia’s longtime ally – and China, a rising supply of commerce for the nation. China, Colombia’s second largest buying and selling accomplice after the United States, has invested in mines within the nation and efficiently bid on engineering contracts.
Duke stated that Chinese corporations had received the job in open bidding and relations with the United States remained cordial. “We attempt to construct {our relationships} with our companions on the idea of funding and commerce and customary alternatives. But usually I want to spotlight that within the case of the United States, our alliance has existed for nearly 200 years, And we’ll proceed to see the United States as No.
With the United States, relations hit a clumsy second final yr when members of Duke’s celebration backed Donald Trump and Republicans within the election, prompting a uncommon rebuke from the US ambassador.
“I think it was unwise,” stated the Duke. “I think it shouldn’t have been done.”
These examples of polarization are complicated makes an attempt to repair deeply rooted issues, he stated. The world is polarized, he stated, as a result of individuals “combine populism and populism with violent emotions and algorithms and people create fake news and manipulate the truth.”
“That’s why we have focused in our administration not to promote polarization, but to take the country in the right direction,” he stated.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
