Colombia’s President Ivan Duque admitted his idea to organize a tax-free shopping day in the midst of a pandemic was a mistake, but stressed “we shouldn’t ask ourselves who’s to blame.”
“Imbecile” went trending on Twitter on Saturday morning in reference to the president over the epidemiological nightmare that has since been called “Covid Friday.”
In what Duque called part of his plan to reactivate the economy, the president revived a campaign promise to introduce three days without sales tax in the weeks leading up to the projected peak of coronavirus deaths amidst the pandemic.
The tax-free shopping day turned into such a potentially deadly disaster — with huge crowds gathered at large retailers to take advantage of what was basically a 19% discount — it reached international headlines.
Colombia’s economic reactivation: ‘Black Friday’ in midst of pandemic
Duque admitted that “we saw a lot of disorder in the country,” after claiming he observed “a generalized standard of good behavior respecting social distancing” before becoming almost entirely incoherent.
President Ivan Duque
Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez begged the government to limit the remaining two days of tax-free shopping to online shopping.
While local authorities and health experts couldn’t hide their despair about Duque’s latest and possibly deadliest mishap, Colombians resumed their habitual ridiculing of the president and his alleged stupidity.