In a televised address Sunday night, Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella said his government will seek help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to dig the country out of a fiscal hole he attributes to corruption during Gustavo Petro’s administration. “They stole everything,” he said, arguing that drug trafficking and illicit money had artificially propped up the country’s macroeconomic figures for years, masking the true scale of the shortfall.
De La Espriella also highlighted a shift in security strategy, claiming August was the least violent month on record since he took office. He pointed to the extradition of an alleged crime boss known as “Araña,” who had been part of peace talks between the Petro government and an armed group called Comandos de la Frontera, and warned that anyone recruiting children into criminal ranks would face extradition to the United States. He also addressed a violent “armed strike” in Santa Marta, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, ordered by a paramilitary faction after the killing of one of its leaders, saying government forces had contained the unrest and taunting the group’s top commander over rumors he might flee toward Venezuela.
The president briefly noted Vice President José Manuel Restrepo’s trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and called for schools in earthquake-affected areas to reopen, even under makeshift arrangements.
Read the full report at El Tiempo.
Source: Presidente De La Espriella anuncia que hablará con el FMI para solucionar la crisis fiscal que heredada (eltiempo.com).
Image: US Army Africa, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).