Colombia.- The president-elect of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, will break another tradition this Friday and will give his first speech as president before military personnel at a battalion in the city of Cali (southwest) and not before Congress as presidents usually do during the ceremony in which they are inaugurated.
This was announced this Thursday by his team when explaining the details of the inauguration ceremony, which will begin this August 7th with the Congressional session, which was moved from the Capitol in Bogotá to the USC Arena of the Santiago de Cali University, also at the request of De la Espriella.
There he will receive the presidential sash in a session led by the president of the Senate, Honorio Henríquez, of the right-wing Democratic Center party.
Once the ceremony concludes, of which no further details are known, De la Espriella will move to the Army’s Pichincha Battalion, where he will give his first speech before the members of the Military Forces.
Following his victory in the second round of the presidential elections, the far-right politician had expressed his intention to take office at a military garrison in Popayán, the capital of neighboring Cauca, to pay tribute to “the true heroes of the nation” in an area marked by armed conflict.
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However, that decision was ruled out 10 days ago due to the risk of an eruption of the nearby Puracé volcano, currently on orange alert.
The possibility of taking office in a battalion in Cauca actually implied major drawbacks, not only from a security, logistical, and protocol standpoint, but also due to the negative political message that would be sent to the country regarding the subordination of civil power to the military.
Decentralization of power
The Colombian capital, seat of the three branches of government, was not in the president-elect’s plans for either his inauguration or for governing, as he insists on decentralizing the Administration and therefore wants to turn the Caribbean city of Barranquilla into an alternate capital of Colombia, and Cali and Medellín into satellite seats of the Presidency.
In this way, the inaugural act of his Presidency will shift from the solemnity of the Elliptical Hall of the Capitol or the grandeur of the adjacent Bolívar Square, in the center of Bogotá, to the coldness of a university auditorium that looks like a sports coliseum in Cali.
The chosen venue is the USC Arena, at the Santiago de Cali University, a modern multipurpose complex with a capacity for more than 2,300 people that features over 800 parking spaces, a helipad, state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems, and high-definition LED screens.
In that place, De la Espriella will swear to respect and comply with the Constitution and the Law before a majority of senators and representatives to the Chamber, other national authorities, and international guests, including King Felipe VI and the presidents of eight Latin American countries.
