Colombian opposition secures Senate presidency

Name secured the votes of the Conservative Party, the Democratic Center, Radical Change, the National Social Unity Party (Partido da U) and the Green Party, and with 54 votes against 50 overcame Senator Angélica Lozano, the main favorite and party partner.

“Thanks to God, to the Colombians and to the support of my colleagues. I assume my commitment to continue building the country we want from Congress”, revealed the senator after the formalization of the new period of ordinary session of the bicameral Congress (2023-2024) which includes the Senate and the House of Representatives (parliament).

Name received congratulations from almost all political spectrums, including the ultraconservative former president Iván Duque, who defined him as “a serious parliamentarian with the capacity to act with the independence that his position demands”.

The new president of the Chamber of Representatives is Andrés Calle, from the Liberal Party, a possible ally of the Government after having expressed support for Colombian President Gustavo Petro in the 2022 elections.

For the Government, it was important to guarantee an ally in the presidency of the Senate, which would allow it to advance with the social projects that it will present in Congress, with some rejected in the hemicycle in the previous legislature.

The President intends to present labor, health, education and a new mining code, among other initiatives, to Congress, after the parties that formed a government coalition withdrew their support in the last legislature due to their disagreement with these projects.

In his intervention in Congress on Thursday night, the first speech by a leftist leader before this institution, Gustavo Petro defended his peace plan and ongoing negotiations with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN).

“Peace is not a negotiation between armed groups, peace is a national agreement for the whole of society” defended Petro.

The President, a former guerrilla fighter who negotiated peace with the Government in 1990 to dedicate himself to politics, considered that dialogue is the only solution for resolving the conflict between the State and the ELN, a Guevarist-inspired guerrilla group that has been active since 1964.

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