The entire cabinet of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos resigned on Monday as the government is facing the fiercest anti-government protests in recent history and is less than a year away from the 2014 elections.
The mass resignation was announced in a press release on the president’s website, who stressed that in spite of their resignation, all ministers, high commissioners and secretaries “expressed their full support to the president.”
“The members of the ministers’ council made their positions available to the president so he has all freedom to make the changes he thinks are pertinent,” the press release said.
According to newspaper El Tiempo, the entire executive staff of the president consists of 30 posts.
The same newspaper said that the point of the mass resignation is to show that the ministers are taking responsibility for a major crisis caused by an agrarian revolt that left at least seven dead, injured hundreds and forced the militarization of Bogota last week.
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This is the second such mass resignation in a little over a year; in August last year when the government was celebrating the end of its second year in office, the whole cabinet also resigned.
MORE: Colombia’s Entire Cabinet Unexpectedly Resigns
The possibility of a mass resignation was anticipated by economic newspaper La Republica, which last month reported Santos may sack five of his ministers.
Sources
- Comunicado (President’s Office)
- Ministros en pleno presentaron su renuncia a Juan Manuel Santos (El Espectador)
- Los 16 ministros de Santos presentan su renuncia protocolaria (El Tiempo)
