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OUR CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Orlando Avendaño spoke exclusively with Colombian conservative Senator María Fernanda Cabal about the electoral victory of left-wing extremist Gustavo Petro and the future that awaits Colombia under his government.
Congressmen and political figures have been joining Petro’s leftist project, who has obtained a majority that will allow him to govern with considerable comfort. For Cabal, this is due to the corruption of the “idea-less” parties that expect the same benefits from the new government.
“I want you to understand that a socialist would never have become president of Colombia without the support of the corrupt establishment called the regime,” Cabal said. “Without that same regime, which is the owner of Colombia, is the owner of a cartelized country, where laws and institutions have an owner.”
Although the senator does not believe that the congressmen of her party, Centro Democrático, will give in to corruption, nor give Petro a blank check, neither does she believe in the proposal of former president Álvaro Uribe to make a “proactive opposition,” in which the necessary support is given to the sensible policies of the new government.
Distrusting the capacities of the political establishment and the opposition that can be made from the parties, Cabal appeals to the institutions of the State to establish a retaining wall to prevent the advance of the authoritarianism of a new ruler who, for the first time, will be supported by the communist dictatorships of the hemisphere.
“We still have an Attorney General’s Office that I think is doing relatively well, we have an Attorney General’s Office that is still independent, we have a strange Controllership,” the senator said. “But the danger is not now,” she added, and gave as an example the rapid progress that Hugo Chavez achieved in Venezuela after a couple of years in power.
The danger is, according to her position, how Petro can advance in regional elections and how he can maneuver to put his allies in charge of the institutions.
Tomás Lugo, journalist and writer. Born in Venezuela and graduated in Social Communication. Has written for international media outlets. Currently living in Colombia // Tomás Lugo, periodista y articulista. Nacido en Venezuela y graduado en Comunicación Social. Ha escrito para medios internacionales. Actualmente reside en Colombia.