Duque calls De la Espriella’s first month in Colombia’s government positive

Former Colombian President Iván Duque described Abelardo de la Espriella’s first month in office as positive, even though the new government had to confront a magnitude 7.4 earthquake just three days after taking power.

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If one thinks that this was a government that had to face an earthquake on its first working day, there is a very good balance after the first month, and I think the determination today, with such a qualified leadership, to confront organized crime is the right thing.

“If one thinks that this was a government that had to face an earthquake on its first working day, there is a very good balance after the first month,” Duque said during a leadership discussion with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He also endorsed the government’s security leadership and its determination to confront organized crime.

De la Espriella promised a hard-line security policy. Since his inauguration, the military offensive against criminal bands and dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, has intensified.

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After four years in which Petro did nothing other than protect criminals and treat all of them with kid gloves.

Duque praised the armed forces and criticized former President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” policy and his talks with some dissident groups. He supported De la Espriella’s decision to end negotiations with two FARC dissident groups and a paramilitary organization that had begun under Petro, saying those organizations had shown no willingness to make peace.

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Peace with impunity will never be peace, and it will never work.

“Peace with impunity will never be peace, and it will never work,” Duque said. He argued that the state should first apply firm pressure to disarm and demobilize the groups. Johnson, who spoke about his family’s visit to Colombia and his interest in its food and Gabriel García Márquez’s work, said De la Espriella’s government had done “a very good job” responding to the earthquake. He praised Colombians for the way they had faced the disaster.

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The government has done a very good job trying to deal with the disaster. I congratulate the people of Colombia for the way they have faced these difficulties.