[Politics] Who manages President Gustavo Petro's agenda?

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Cecilia López, Minister of Agriculture, confessed this Friday morning that she was already on her way to the Casa de Nariño when the Palace called her to inform her to return because President Gustavo Petro was not there.

"The president will maintain a private agenda in Cartagena today," reported the president's communications team.

José Félix Lafourie, president of Fedegán, was also arriving at the signing of the agreement, which the parties have described as "historic", when he received the same message.

(In context: Signing of the land purchase agreement between the Government and Fedegán is postponed)

The concern among the large group of journalists who were going to attend what the Government itself shows as one of its greatest achievements in these two months that it has been in power became evident: Where is the president? Why was he not ready to sign a document of such magnitude? "Schedule problems," he replied.

This is not the first time that President Petro's absence has been justified in this way. The question, then, is natural: Who manages President Petro's agenda?

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This is a matter of importance for two elementary reasons: The time of an incumbent president is priceless. Every second is a very valuable asset to carry out its public policies for the benefit of the country. And the other is the time of others. Call themselves ranchers, taxi drivers, members of the military leadership, mayors. They are all active components of society that deserve to be addressed when previously cited.

In these two months, several of the president's interlocutors have received the laconic message of a rescheduling of meetings when "the agenda allows it."

In some cases, these are people who have come from distant places and with enormous efforts.

“It is a lack of respect regardless of the fact that he is the president of all Colombians, it is a lack of respect towards the 1,100 mayors of the country, where we take our own resources, from the municipalities to come to the city of Bogotá, we believed that we were going to find a dialogue,” said, for example, at the time Jhon Jairo Uribe, mayor of Remedios, Antioquia, the day that Petro stood them up.

"How does that do us?" Asked the taxi drivers who had gone a couple of weeks ago to an appointment with the head of state that he did not arrive at, in Corferias, in Bogotá.

The commanders of the military leadership, out of the logical respect they owe to their Supreme Commander, refrained from giving an opinion the day he failed to recognize him.

Not so the bankers who arrived late, three and a half hours after the scheduled closing of the Asobancaria congress in Cartagena, who left evidence of his annoyance.

Of course, the discomfort of the presidents and bankers was as loud as that of generals, colonels, captains and family members who made up the list of more than 200 people who were waiting for him at the troop recognition ceremony. Plus, naturally, the hundreds of soldiers.

(You can read: The rebellion of the congressmen of the Historical Pact against ministers)

Petro breaches his own order
This situation contrasts with Petro's own directive made on Monday, August 8, when he addressed his first Council of Ministers at the Casa de Nariño: "Time is a scarce commodity," he told them. “We have little time, we have to make the most of the time, we don't have time. We cannot fail,” he demanded.

His most loyal followers have also been victims of these breaches. Indeed, the trusted team of the then president-elect informed the press that Petro would be the main speaker at the meeting of the Historical Pact bench that met at the Plaza Mayor Events Center in Medellín, on Monday 11 and Tuesday 12. July, where he was going to draw the line of the government that the community would assume.

At that time, it was announced that the president-elect would be via streaming, a natural alternative when he was on a short vacation after the exhausting campaign. He didn't show up.

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"Basically we had an agenda crossing," said Alfonso Prada, now Minister of the Interior, at the time. “We are finishing off the junction, the agenda is obviously congested. We are deploying all the physical capacity we have to meet the commitments that are being presented.” This absence coincided with the disclosure of what is now his official photograph as president, taken in Caño Cristales, Serranía de La Macarena, in the department of Meta .

Some of his critics reproached and interpreted that Petro had not been with the mayors for having crossed his agenda with photographic production. This version was denied by Petro's close circle.

Not even his own ministers have been spared from the delays and breaches. There was also a Tuesday when the Casa de Nariño announced for 8:30 a.m. m., the possession of two of his ministers.

Then they informed that the act would be at 3:00 p.m. Later that would be the following Wednesday at 8.00 a.m. At the act, Petro arrived late and it was almost around 9:00 a.m. As it also arrived late in Cartagena, Bolívar, to the businessmen who were waiting for them to close the 7th Colombian Business Congress (CEC) of ANDI. And the previous weekend, when the entire government team met precisely to draw a line of action on the management of the Government, was late.

https://www.eltiempo.com/politica/gobierno/petro-incumple-otra-cita-quien-le-maneja-la-agenda-al-presidente-708120