Iván Duque: A star on the rise?
Senator Iván Duque, the leading presidential candidate and a member of Alvaro Uribe’s Centro Democrático, recently presented his ideas about Colombia’s future in Washington and New York. He spoke eloquently in English, but in bumper-sticker style: his comments on justice, corruption, economics, oil, health and education lasted no more than two minutes each – though people seemed to love the little he had to say.
That raises the question of whether he has substance and depth, but is just suppressing those traits for the sake of campaign-type rhetoric. He was criticized by people in the audience for his lack of experience. He responded that President Juan Manuel Santos had been a very experienced candidate, but that it hadn’t helped him much as president.
Duque’s motto is trust: in particular, he aims to restore trust in the justice system and the economy. He is vehement about the rule of law and insists that criminals need to be punished. Bringing FARC thugs to justice resonates with all who felt cheated when Santos pursued the peace agreement over the objections of the majority of voters.
Duque is a young, fresh face for a party accused of being obscure, and of not always playing fair. He seems approachable and is moderately eloquent, and always on script. He compares himself to Trudeau and Macron. Though he seems like a nice guy, in a twist on Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” he seems to know a-little-about-everything. He now has now a real shot at becoming president, where he’d need to shift from one-liners about everything, to knowing what to do about everything.
His economic plan doesn’t amount to much. It’s full of platitudes, and mute on the pressing fiscal issue – crucial, since Duque is proposing a lot of new spending. On the positive side, he promises pension reform to eliminate subsidies. And there are a host of good (though again, very general) proposals related to reducing corruption and increasing transparency.
The composition of Colombian exports hasn’t changed much over the past 10 years: Colombia continues to mainly export commodities and is in dire need of more value added for its sales abroad.
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