In an inauguration ceremony during which the most interesting part was the discourse of hatred by the President of the Colombian Congress, what remains is too many questions

The speech of Ernesto Macías, president of the Congress, during the inauguration of the new Colombian president, Iván Duque, was, unfortunately, the most publicized of the ceremony on August 7. With negative and revanchist comments about the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the situation in Colombia, Macías welcomed Duque to the presidency of what, in his words, is an abandoned country.

Leer en español: El discurso de Ernesto Macías: Combatiendo odio con cifras

It is difficult (impossible) to believe that the new president had no knowledge about the words with which the Uribista senator was going to give way to his speech that, on the contrary, handled a prudent and sophisticated tone. He spoke of governing Colombia without divisions between right and left, without revenge or hatred and with the union of all the people; but after the words of Macias, his words no longer resonated or had coherence.

The Senator found it very easy to make a very destructive balance of the Santos government, which, according to him, delivers the "most troubling figures in history" in the social, economic and institutional. His speech seemed like a full-page paid by the Centro Democrático (Democratic Center) in some right-wing newspaper and its content, full of praise for a figure loved by many and hated by many more, made it clear who has and has always had power in Colombia.

"And allow me in this solemn act to pay a most heartfelt tribute to former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, for his greatness. It is timely, to recognize him for having saved Colombia from the infeasibility; because although it is true, Uribe in 2010, he did not leave the country turned IGNORE INTO a paradise, if he delivered it recovered and with good tendencies. I am sure that millions of Colombians want to say to you, thank you very much President Uribe", said Macías.

However, he failed to mention some positive things about the government of Santos (because to speak of the bad we already have our leaders) that the outgoing president left to Colombia during these eight years in addition to a peace agreement that, despite having its failures, ended the armed conflict with the Farc.

According to the Department of Social Prosperity, from 2010 to this year, 5.4 million people overcame multidimensional poverty, 4.3 million abandoned the monetary and 2.3 million people left extreme poverty.

According to figures revealed by the newspaper El Colombiano, 1.8 million families got their own homes supported by government programs and 275 thousand homes were given free to families in need. In addition, the access of young people to education rose 20 percentage points and the budget for the sector went from 20.8 billion in 2010 to 37.4 billion in 2018.

On the other hand, in the social sphere, Martín Santos highlights the role that his father had in policies related to minorities and the support of the government of the outgoing agent to the approval of marriage and the adoption of same-sex couples.

This is not a compliment, much less the government of Juan Manuel Santos, who clearly had his mistakes, but an effort to erase the words of Ernesto Macías and show, from the trade and the data, that "true ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the fact of refusing to acquire" (Karl Popper).

LatinAmerican Post | Luisa Fernanda Báez

Translated from "El discurso de Ernesto Macías: Combatiendo odio con cifras"