President Gustavo Petro insisted that the downfall of the economic emergency decree in the Constitutional Court will bankrupt the Colombian state, with about 4 trillion pesos missing from the budget. He criticized the previous government for handing billions of public funds to the country's richest without return. He also anticipated a fruitful meeting with Donald Trump in Washington.
At an event in downtown Bogotá, alongside announcements on the reactivation of the San Juan de Dios hospital, President Gustavo Petro defended the economic emergency decree hanging in the balance at the Constitutional Court. According to the leader, its rejection would mean the absence of about 4 trillion pesos from the national budget, leading to the state's bankruptcy. "Who thinks the rich shouldn't pay taxes? If not done this way, the state goes bankrupt; that's the survival reason for declaring the economic emergency," Petro stated.
The president pointed directly at the previous administration, noting that during that time "billions of public pesos were given for free to Colombia's richest." He explained that the decree includes patrimony taxes to recover those funds, not to take them away from the wealthy. This measure aims to balance public finances amid fiscal challenges.
Meanwhile, Petro mentioned his upcoming meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, scheduled for Tuesday in Washington. He expects a productive dialogue and joked that he will offer "wine or whiskey." The Colombian-American Chamber of Commerce, through María Claudia Lacouture, highlighted that topics could include security, the fight against drugs, relations with Venezuela and China, migration, and trade. Lacouture noted the differences in electoral calendars: legislative elections in the U.S. and presidential ones in Colombia in May.
This statement comes as the Gremial Council has asked the Court to declare the decree unconstitutional, arguing that the issues are structural, not conjunctural.
