Director of the Family Welfare Institute (ICBF), Concepción Baracaldo, received a flood of criticism after she assured that her appointment was mainly at the invitation of the current first lady Verónica Alcocer.
After the remark, independent sectors, the opposition and even the government bank recalled another controversial statement by the official in which she pointed out that it was not necessary to prove experience to exercise leadership of the ICBF.
“Let him go! (…) It seems serious to me that he would dare to lead that entity without knowing his childhood and get himself appointed without merit,” said Senator Wilson Arias of the Historical Pact, a governing coalition.
Unexpected backup. One of the unexpected supports for Baracaldo came from former president and head of the Democratic Center, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who noted that the director “has shown transparency”.
“I am not criticizing the fact that the First Lady has nominated the new director of Family Welfare, who has shown transparency in her responses to the media. It is necessary to spend time managing it,” said Uribe.
However, the Democratic Center asked not to defend her and to join the voices calling for her resignation.
“The results are so bad that even the Historical Pact itself is criticizing it today,” said Representative Andrés Forero.
“You can’t improvise with the life of childhood. This institution should be led by someone with experience and competence. Don’t keep handing it over to politics,” said Dignity party representative Jennifer Pedraza.
False alarm. The senator of the Historical Pact and one of the men in Congress closest to President Gustavo Petro in Congress, Gustavo Bolívar, pointed out that by decision of Palacio Baracaldo he was no longer in office.
Fact later denied by the presidency and then Senator Bolivar retracted it himself.
According to Bolívar, the person who would replace the official would be Jorge Rojas Rodríguez, who served as Secretary of Social Integration during Bogotá Humana, a period when Petro was mayor of the country’s capital.
“Excuses. They confirm to me that the information about the appointment of Jorge Rojas in ICBF is not true. They confirm to me that Jorge will go to Belgium as ambassador,” said Bolívar.
protests. In recent hours it became known that a group of members of the ICBF union had taken up residence outside the Casa de Nariño with the aim of demanding the resignation of President Gustavo Petro, Concepción Baracaldo.
The demonstrators arrived with banners and posters alluding to the child crisis in La Guajira, a fact for which the president himself criticized the ICBF a few weeks ago.
Source: El Heraldo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
