Colombia: First month of the Petro government

Today, September 7, marks one month since the inauguration of Gustavo Petro as president and Francia Márquez as vice president. Much has been said about the appointments and priorities of the first leftist government in Colombia. What is the balance of the first 30 days of this government?

A diverse cabinet

As far as appointments are concerned, Gustavo Petro was cautious, because he was careful to not justify the fear that some of his contenders had about his government plan. So he appointed moderate ministers from all sides of the political spectrum. To reassure the country's unions and businessmen, he appointed José Antonio Ocampo as Minister of Finance, who will be in charge of carrying out the tax reform, the government's main priority.

In his cabinet, Petro also has other names that reassured some sectors of the country's traditional political class.

While many cabinet names are ideologically moderate, Petro has not been unaware that he was elected on the promise of change. Thus, he has also appointed ministers closest to his leftist ideological discourse. Among them are Susana Muhammad, Minister of the Environment; Patricia Ariza, Minister of Culture; Irene Vélez, Minister of Mines; and Carolina Corcho in the Ministry of Health.

This diversity in the cabinet has been welcomed by the political class and the electorate. In fact, Gustavo Petro ends his first month in office with a favorability of 63% according to the consulting firm Invamer. This is among the highest popularity figures in the first months of government of Latin American presidents.

What are the priorities?

For this reason, the president and his congress want to seize the so-called "honeymoon" to make the necessary reforms. The most urgent is the tax reform, which was already designed by the Finance Ministry. Those reformes that would be headed by the aforementioned ministers have been left for the second year of government. It is clear that the priority for the government is to collect what is necessary to cover the fiscal gap and to carry out the social programs promised in campaign.

Despite the high popularity of the Petro government and the diversity of its cabinet has been well received; There has been, perhaps due to that same diversity that requires consensus, some ambiguities regarding some issues. One of them has been the issue of the energy transition, on which the government does not seem to agree. On issues of gas imports and oil exploration, the Minister of Mines and the Minister of Finance have made contradictory statements.

And the role of Francia Márquez?

Although Márquez was a fundamental figure during the campaign, in this first month of government he has been dedicated to minor tasks. With extensive experience in environmental and social leadership, the now vice president has political capital that belongs more to the base than to the top of the political elite. One of the challenges of the current government will be, therefore, to give visibility and power to that political base that Francia Márquez contributed during the campaign and without which Gustavo Petro could not have won.

Francia Márquez's quota in the cabinet is, precisely, Vélez, in the Ministry of Mines, who belongs to the movement Soy porque somos. Some statements by Vélez and by senators from the Pacto Histórico have been some of the low points of the government in this first month. Perhaps it is time to consider that the only way to give a voice to the social leaders who make up Francia Márquez's political capital is not necessarily to assign them a ministry. The new government has done its job of negotiating with the traditional class very well; its main challenge in this first year will be, therefore, to fulfill those promises of inventing a new way of doing politics.