Iván Duque answers questions about security, youth and controversy with MinTIC

The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, in a dynamic organized by Noticias Caracol, answered several questions that citizens addressed to him on various subjects that concern the country and for which they are asking the Head of State for a solution.

One of the first questions they asked the president was about security in Bogotá. “¿What are you, Mr. President, and your government doing to thwart acts of crime in Bogotá and in the country? “, asked a citizen.

The president told the news broadcaster that since the start of his administration they have been reducing homicide rates. “The year 2019 ended with the fourth lowest rate in almost 40 years, last year the lowest rate for 46 years, obviously with an impact that must be recognized with the months of isolation. And the idea we have this year is to be below the rate we had in 2019 ″, Duque pointed out.

And he added that it was necessary to expand the force, explaining that when his government began with a conviction from one of the high courts, nearly five thousand police officers left. “So recycling, recycling and deployment has been essential. In what corresponds to Bogota, our objective is to increase by 1,500 additional police officers before the end of 2021 ″, he promised.

“We are with General Vargas intervening in different parts of the city. In Bogotá, homicides take place between Friday evening and early Monday morning and 50% of these killings take place with a firearm and the rest with a knife ”: Iván Duque to Noticias Caracol.

Another question Duque answered in this interview was from a young man from Manizales who interviewed him: “What challenges does your Government have to take up within one year of its completion in order to involve young people in public decisions in the country? “.

Duque assured that several things have happened during these three years where he has sought to empower young people in decision-making positions. “There is something very important that is going to happen this year and it is going to be really historic. We are with the electoral system, with the clerk, with the CNE, with the Interior Ministry moving forward, with the Youth Council, taking the Municipal Youth Council elections, at the end of this year “, a d.

Likewise, Duque promised in this space that 70% of Colombia will have broadband internet access by 2022, mobile and home. to elect their representatives in municipal councils. He says they choose the departmental and the national departmental to influence public policy.

“It is the implementation of this citizenship status for young people that came out in 2012 and that we had not applied for years. And this has three important effects for me: it will become a kind of hotbed for young leaders in the country. Secondly, it leads young people to propose, to make them feel that today they can address the State by proposing and not necessarily by protesting. And something very important: it will put them in touch as a sort of guarantor, of supervisors, so that this pact for youth that we have signed with resources for education, employment, sport and culture can be successfully implemented at the municipal level.“said the president.

On how to restore the confidence of young people in the country’s institutions, Iván Duque told the newscast that the best way was to live up to what had been promised. “The pandemic arrived and we had to make an extraordinary effort because we could not afford to drop out of school. And today we already have, following those that happened during the pandemic, not only free public, technical and technological university tuition fees, but we are making it a state policy ”, clarified.

Regarding the scandal of the contract between the Ministry of ICT and population centers, the president said it was a “painful element”. And I add: “It’s absurd, it’s absurd that there are entrepreneurs who present false policies and who also try to put themselves in the position of victims.”

On whether Minister Karen Abudinen has political responsibility, she told Noticias Caracol: “Let’s look at the context of our country’s recent history in the face of so many contractual issues similar to this one. Here it expired on time. Here it was reported on time and seized on time. Today the value of the foreclosures doubles the value of the advance “.

Likewise, Duque promised in this space that 70% of Colombia will have broadband internet access by 2022, mobile and home.

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