Colombia's Petro denies calling for cabinet resignations (updated)

Evolution Petroleum

01/02/2024 15:44

(Recasts paragraph 1 with denial from President Gustavo Petro,
adds quotes in paragraphs 4-5 and context in paragraphs 6-8)
    By Oliver Griffin and Luis Jaime Acosta
       BOGOTA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Colombian President Gustavo
Petro on Thursday denied asking his  cabinet ministers to
resign, despite three government sources confirming the request
to Reuters and reporting in local media.
    Colombian presidents frequently request mass, 'protocol'
cabinet resignations in order to make changes to the government,
though these are not guaranteed.
    The three government sources said had Petro asked for the
resignations of his ministers during a meeting on Wednesday
evening.
    Petro dismissed the reports.
    "This is a lie," he said in a message on X, referring to a
story about the request. 
    Rather than the president demanding their resignations,
ministers offered to resign, Agriculture Minister Jhenifer
Mojica said during a presentation near capital Bogota.
    "Regarding the resignations, it really was a general offer
from the national government," she said. "We must always be
willing to do everything possible to fulfill the government's
program."
    The director of the national planning department, Jorge Ivan
Gonzalez, did submit a resignation letter, but Finance Minister
Ricardo Bonilla told journalists it was not connected to any
mass resignation. 
    Petro last called for ministers' resignations in April after
a debate on a health reform was abandoned by the lower house of
congress. 
    During the 2023 reshuffle, the president replaced former
Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo with Ricardo Bonilla, and
also named new interior and health ministers.

 (Reporting by Oliver Griffin and Luis Jaime Acosta 
Additional reporting by Carlos Vargas
Writing by Oliver Griffin
Editing by Sandra Maler)
 ((Oliver.Griffin@thomsonreuters.com; +57 304-583-8931;))