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On the eve of Christmas, the president has appointed new ministers of the Interior and Culture, as well as a new director of the Police. In 2021 movements in the cabinet are expected, because officials who wish to aspire in the next elections must resign so as not to be disqualified.
In less than a week and on the eve of Christmas, President Iván Duque has announced three changes, two of his cabinet and one at the top of the Public Force. Appointments that, although they were seen coming, were taken by surprise at the time they were made.
The first one he communicated was the departure of Alicia Arango from the Ministry of the Interior, who will go to represent the country at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, and in her replacement appointed the vice minister of political affairs, Daniel Palacios.
Read: The challenges of Daniel Palacios as Minister of Duque’s politics.
An appointment that, in the eyes of Congress, was received in a good way, since Palacios is the one who, in recent months, has piloted the relationship with the Legislature and has been an official ready to speak with all the political aspects that inhabit The capitol.
Hours after Arango y Palacios, the president came out to communicate a new change, but in the Police Directorate. General Óscar Atehortúa, who was in command of the institution for two years, left office amid a controversy over the construction of government houses in Tolima.
To fill the vacancy, Duque and Defense Minister Carlos Holmes welcomed General Jorge Luis Vargas as their new director. Vargas had been serving as director of Citizen Security for the Police.
Read: Remezón in the Police: General Jorge Luis Vargas is the new general director.
Along with this appointment there was a shakeup within the institution. Major General Carlos Rodríguez will be the new Director of Citizen Security; Major General Jorge Luis Ramírez will occupy the position of Inspector General; Major General Herman Bustamante will arrive at the Directorate of Anti-Narcotics; and Major General Fernando Murillo Orrego will be at the head of the Dijín.
Two days after these two changes, this Thursday the president woke up early with the news that Carmen Vásquez is leaving the Ministry of Culture to the Colombian Embassy in Uruguay and, after his departure, Felipe Buitrago, vice minister of Creativity and Orange Economy and friend the agent’s staff.
Also: Carmen Vásquez will leave the Ministry of Culture and Felipe Buitrago arrives to replace her.
The two appointments in the ministries delve into the failure of the president to form a joint cabinet that, at the beginning of his term, he fulfilled, but now due to the changes in different portfolios, there are 13 men directing portfolios versus five women.
You may be interested: The Government’s parity imbalance.
With these appointments, it is expected that there will be more, especially in the first half of next year, the maximum deadline for officials to resign if they have electoral aspirations for 2022.
