“Tourism is not going to reach where populism and demagogy reign”: Duque launches new hints to Petro

This Wednesday, March 23, the President of Colombia, Iván Duque, called on the hospitality and tourism sector in the country not to be “observer, but to make a commitment to the defense of entrepreneurship” that would be at risk in the face of populism and demagogy, throwing new hints against the opposition leader and candidate presidential of the Historical Pact, Gustavo Petro.

This was stated by the president during the inauguration of the 68th Annual Meeting of Affiliates 2022, held in Valle del Cauca, in which the members of the Hotel and Tourism Association of Colombia (Cotelco) participated, who assured them that “tourism will not reach where populism and demagogy reign”, terms with which he has qualified the senator from the left who leads the polls of intent to vote.

“Populism and demagoguery are destruction, and all they do is damage the entrepreneurial spirit of a society. Populism and demagogy always want to label the businessman as rich abusive, in order to generate a fratricidal struggle with the employee and thereby generate such polarization that allows many to ride on their electoral aspirations,” said the head of state during the event held in the municipality of Yumbo.

In this regard, he pointed out that he has never believed in this model, which he assured that he has fought and will continue to fight “all his life”, arguing that he was convinced that he has always believed in companies, and that with the birth of companies, “hope, an opportunity, formal jobs are generated” and with them the transformation of a family appears.

He also pointed out that he has been a defender of companies “because companies cannot defend themselves with a shameful spirit, it must be with enthusiasm, with determination and conviction”, referring to statements in recent days in which he points out that there are “authoritarian three p's who have begun to label the businessman as rich and ruthless and to the worker his victim”.

“But that is my invitation, so that this sector is not an observer, but to really make a call and a commitment to the defense of that entrepreneurship, to the defense of what we have achieved together, so that they do not take it away from us, so that they do not intimidate them. And so that, on the contrary, we make this sector, that oil, that foreign exchange collector, that motivator of investment, that transformation of human capital, that anchor for the development of women heads of households,” said the president.

These statements come a week after he mentioned that the authoritarianism of the three Ps had to be defeated, so he assured in the midst of his speech at the Assembly of Affiliates of ProAntioquia, which was held in Medellín, in which the president referred to the risks posed by autocrats 'three ps', defined by the Venezuelan writer Moisés Naim, as “ruled by the words: populism, post-truth and polarization”.

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