Colombian Protests Force the Resignation of Finance Minister

Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla, Bogota, Colombia. | Photo: Twitter/ @radiosupercali

On Monday, Colombia's Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla quit his post due to the wave of protests that broke out in the country against his tax reform.

Carrasquilla and Deputy Finance Minister Juan Londoño presented their resignation to President Ivan Duque on Monday morning during a meeting at the Casa de Nariño, the government's headquarters.

Both officials are the authors of the controversial tax reform that led to a national strike since April 28. Their departure from the government occurs one day after the Colombian president ordered the withdrawal of the bill.

"Duque made that decision regardless of Carrasquilla. That is the reason for his departure from the office. The whole Treasury team is also supposed to resign," Caracol Radio journalist Darcy Quinn stated.

Experts criticized as "inopportune" the reform, which was issued amidst the social crisis triggered by the pandemic. They also called it "insufficient" in its quest to protect the vulnerable.

"Carrasquilla had planned to resign long before. Don't see his departure as a triumph, because that's how Duque will make it look like. The strike must go on!" activist Tatiana Nizo tweeted.

The Colombian people remain in the streets for the fifth consecutive day in rejection of the wave of massacres, systematic assassinations of social leaders, poverty, and mismanagement of the pandemic.

On Monday, the Veterans for Colombia Corporation rejected the country's militarization as a strategy to contain the protests in which at least 21 people have been killed by the police.

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