Colombia's never-ending political crisis: Petro removes seven more ministers

Since he became president of Colombia in August 2022, Gustavo Petro has suffered a political crisis that seems to have no end in sight. This Wednesday, the former guerrilla of the terrorist group Movimiento 19 de Abril decided to dismiss seven of its ministersAlfonso Prada (Interior), José Antonio Ocampo (Finance and Public Credit), Cecilia López Montaño (Agriculture and Rural Development), Carolina Corcho (Health and Social Protection), Sandra Urrutia (Information Technologies and Communications), Guillermo Reyes González (Transportation) and Arturo Luis Luna (Science, Technology and Innovation).

He also dismissed the former Director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic, Mauricio Lizcano, who will now be in charge of the Information and Communications Technologies portfolio.

Through a statement on his Twitter account, Petro announced who will be the replacements in each of the ministries. These changes, as he explains, serve to "consolidate the government program" of the left:

"Despite the fact that my cabinet, and its commitment to dialogue and the pact, was rejected by some traditional and establishment political leaders, we will persist with our program and our vocation for great national agreements. We reaffirm our commitment to always be faithful to the popular mandate received, and we have decided to shape a government to redouble our agenda of social change at the service of the great majority of citizens and peoples of Colombia," said the former guerrilla of the terrorist group Movimiento 19 de Abril.

This is not the first internal crisis in Gustavo Petro's government. At the end of February, the Colombian president dismissed three ministers: María Isabel Urrutia (Sports), Patricia Ariza (Culture) and Alejandro Gaviria (National Education).