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As “optimistic” about the development and application of the vaccine against covid, President Iván Duque was shown this Thursday, who warned that, in any case, the responsibility is to wait for all the details about this immunization to be known.
Duque spoke with the director of EL TIEMPO, Roberto Pombo, in the middle of the Debate on the state of the Nation forum. What is coming for Colombia in 2021 ?, organized by this publishing house, the Universidad del Rosario and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
In the midst of this dialogue, the president was “optimistic” about the advances in the vaccine for this virus and said that “it is a process that should begin in the first quarter of next year and will be consolidated in the second quarter.”
He added that “we are still in the challenge of knowing if the vaccines are one hundred percent effective, if one, two or how many doses are required, how it will be universalized” and “if there is any treatment” against this disease.
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“As long as that is not resolved, to say that this is over is irresponsible,” said the President, and assured that “here no one is going to be left without a timely vaccine.”
Precisely in relation to the economic impact on account of the pandemic, the head of state affirmed that there are two specific challenges: first, “to continue promoting economic growth” and, second, “we have to leave a roadmap to fix the coffers of the Nation ”for the next government.
Today there is no country that has ventured with tax reform in the midst of the pandemic, especially because what we have to wait is the economic reactivation
Regarding an eventual tax reform, Duque stated that a group of experts on the issue of exemptions is already under way and that this committee “must deliver us, at the beginning of next year”, a report to “purify” this aspect of taxation “and say which exemptions work, are needed” and which do not “and if this contributes to improving income.”
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“Today there is no country that has ventured with tax reform in the midst of the pandemic, especially since what we have to wait is the economic reactivation. What is clear is that all countries, not just Colombia, will have to make decisions to align our public finances in the short, medium and long term, “he said.
Comprehensive fight against drug trafficking
The other major issue that President Duque addressed this Thursday was the fight against drug trafficking, in which he affirmed that Colombia’s policy must be “comprehensive.”
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In this sense, he affirmed that “all the tools” available should be used to overcome this scourge, including alternative development, replacement, manual eradication “and also, where appropriate, spraying with precision.”
Regarding this last instrument, Duque affirmed that his administration is in the “process” to “comply” with the protocols that the Constitutional Court established and that stopped aerial spraying a few years ago.
“Having put an end to the spraying has given us a collection account,” said Duque, who added that “the greatest enemy that peace has in Colombia is drug trafficking” and that “the more coca, the less peace.”
Future peace policy
Regarding the implementation of the peace agreement with the FARC, the President defended what his administration has done in the reincorporation of the ex-combatants and said that his greatest “motivation” in this field is that “this process ends successfully.”
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However, he spoke of various challenges that are still pending, such as, for example, that the FARC leaders “tell the truth” about the events that took place in the conflict, especially on issues such as drug trafficking, the recruitment of minors and the violations of human rights.
In this sense, he spoke of the peace policy that the country should have in the future and said that it should be tried that there is no “impunity” in these types of agreements, since these pacts are the ones that have “engendered new violence.”
2022 campaign
Duque also spoke of the electoral campaign that is warming up and said that “whoever wants to be president in 2022, it would seem strange to me that it has not started.”
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He affirmed that he himself began his campaign two years before reaching the presidency and that, therefore, he is not concerned or uncomfortable with the political movements that are currently taking place.
He added that in his opinion “that is democracy” and more so when Colombia eliminated the presidential re-election.
“This discussion, this conversation about where the country is going has to put us all, facing 2021, in an idea and it is to think about the future, in the country and understand that in the race to build the future, the future is in the center, ”he said.
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