The Colombian Senate and House have approved a draft law seeking the division of three ministries and the reconstruction of certain departments, El Tiempo reports.
The Justice and Interior Minister, German Vargas Lleras, explained that one outcome of the passage of this law would be the removal of the disgraced Colombian intelligence service DAS and the subsequent creation of a new intelligence agency.
“This initiative goes from today [Wednesday] to presidential approval,” said the minister, “we have the faculties law and soon hope to have the ministries of justice, of labor, and of housing.”
The senior official noted that Colombia’s prison authority, INPEC, will also be restructured along with these ministries as part of the bill passed last month by the Senate that will see Santos granted extraordinary powers over the coming six months to reorganize state agencies.
The new ministries will be:
- The Ministry of Justice – separated from the Ministry of Interior and Justice
- The Ministry of Labor – separated from the Ministry of Social Protection
- The Ministry of Housing – separated from the Ministry of the Environment, Housing and Territorial Development