The President of Colombia, Abelardo De la Espriella, announced this Friday during his first speech as president that he will correct the “wrong decisions” that led to a crisis in the health system and that he has the will to improve “whatever is necessary” to guarantee the well-being of the population.
“When a person dies waiting for surgery or an elderly person waits months for their medication, we are not facing a crisis, but a profoundly human drama. The situation our health system is currently going through is the painful consequence of wrong decisions that have deteriorated the service that millions of compatriots should receive,” the president expressed.
In his speech, delivered at the Pichincha Military Canton in Cali, he stated that the crisis in the health system will change under his government, for which he announced a shock plan in recent days aimed at speeding up appointments and medication delivery.
“The ‘tiger’ government will not approach the health issue with ideological theses. I arrive with the determination to correct what is necessary, recover what has deteriorated, and strengthen everything that serves the well-being of the people,” he maintained.
He also announced a shift in security and drug policy, stating that the path of dialogue with illegal armed groups has ended.
“The time for the recovery of order, authority, and freedom has begun,” De la Espriella stated.
“The State was historically noble enough. The State under the regime that has ended was complicit enough. In the tiger’s hour, it will be forceful and straightforward against crime,” he continued in his speech to about a hundred uniformed personnel.
In this vein, De la Espriella assured that during his term, fumigation against illicit crops will return, and he defended the use of herbicides which, he said, will not affect human health or the environment.
“I am going to implement fumigation with state-of-the-art herbicides that do not harm human health, do not contravene the mandate of the Honorable Constitutional Court, and do not affect the environment in any way,” he said, insisting that “coca has brought death, corruption, and destruction” and has devastated the jungles, displaced farmers, and been “the fuel for narcoterrorism” in Colombia.
