Colombia President Gustavo Petro apologized Saturday for a corruption scandal involving the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD) as he inaugurated a new session of Congress. During the opening of the 2024-2025 congressional term, Petro also stressed that his administration would reintroduce the health reform bill and pursue changes to labor laws.
The UNGRD corruption scandal erupted in February 2024 when the Presidential Transparency Secretariat filed criminal charges against former UNGRD director Olmedo López and former deputy director Sneyder Pinilla. They were accused of irregularities in the acquisition of 40 water tanker trucks intended to supply potable water to remote communities in La Guajira. The Secretariat reported that UNGRD had paid 46.8 billion pesos (approximately $12 million USD) for the vehicles, with alleged overcharges exceeding 20 billion pesos (around $5 million USD).
López, who resigned at Petro’s request, is currently at the center of the scandal after confessing to the Supreme Court that he diverted public funds intended for disaster relief to bribe congressmen in exchange for pro-government votes. Although he has implicated several government officials in demanding these bribes, López has never directly accused the president and has even asked Petro for forgiveness for his involvement in the corruption. Additionally, López has alleged that the UNGRD was pressured by the government to provide funds to the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group to persuade it to stop kidnapping for ransom, ostensibly to save Petro’s flagship “total peace” policy.
Addressing the corruption allegations during his congressional speech, Petro stated:
I want to apologize for what happened at UNGRD. There are lessons to be learned from these events, which are still under investigation. Mr. Olmedo was not a political transaction: he has been part of the left for decades, which suggests that corruption is not an ideological issue. Corruption in Colombia is a cultural phenomenon that permeates everything, affecting the richest and the poorest, those with responsibilities and those without.
In response, various political leaders commented on the issue. The right-wing opposition party, Centro Democrático, emphasizedthat the country needs more than just an apology, but solutions or answers to the scandal:
Mr. President, your apology is not just “a bad memory”. Today, the UNGRD scandal implicates several high-ranking officials in your government, including Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla. The country needs answers, not just an apology.
In addition to addressing the corruption scandal, Petro announced plans to reintroduce a revised health reform bill for congressional consideration, potentially shifting the system from a private insurance model to a predominantly public one. This comes after the original reform, aimed at eliminating the intermediary role of Health Promotion Entities (EPS) in favor of direct state funding for health facilities, faced a major setback in April. The seventh commission of the Colombian Senate voted to shelve the project, with nine senators from various parties opposing the reform. Notably, all these parties, except for the independent MIRA movement, had received campaign contributions for the 2022 congressional elections from the Keralty Group (owner of Sanitas EPS) and the Bolivar Group (owner of Salud Bolivar EPS).
Building on his reform agenda, President Petro also unveiled a comprehensive labor reform plan, proposing stricter regulations on temporary employment contracts and advocating for full compensation during rest periods as well as a reduction in the workweek from 47 to 40 hours. On social media, Petro lambasted the current labor landscape as bordering on “semi-slavery,” challenging the widespread belief that worker exploitation through excessive hours, job precarity, and low wages translates to higher corporate profits.
On the economic front, Petro concluded by lauding the positive impact of the minimum wage increase, countering earlier predictions of rising unemployment and poverty. He criticized economic experts who had publicly warned against the policy, stating that the outcomes have defied these forecasts. Recent statistics from the National Administrative Department of Statistics of Colombia lend credence to Petro’s assertions, showing notable progress in poverty alleviation.
