Palabras del presidente Gustavo Petro durante el evento "Petro le cumplió a la Alta Guajira"

Here we have, as promised, the Nazareth hospital practically finished. Only 2% remains — a cafeteria and some very small spaces. Everything else is ready. This investment from the nation amounts to 41 billion pesos. Together with the Manaure hospital, which we will now visit, that one is 45 billion, Manaure 41 billion — nearly 90 billion pesos in total — and it benefits more than 100,000 inhabitants in La Guajira, between the Nazareth and Manaure hospitals. So here we already see a different health model. Obviously, Colombia does not know about this, only the people who live here, perhaps some part of La Guajira that has found out. This has remained secret because here we have had the greatest successes in what we asked the Senate of Colombia, the Congress, and the establishment of the most powerful people in this country to look at, precisely because what we did here is what we wanted to do throughout Colombia. We advanced a lot in many areas. No one can say that health is a chaos. What is a chaos is the EPSs, not health. And that is very different because you only have to look at these figures. The health system implemented here begins with nurses and doctors in the rancherías themselves, traversing a difficult territory due to its climate, a territory that has remained isolated by roads and increasingly extreme weather conditions — rich in sun, rich in culture, rich in beauty. Someday those three characteristics will come together to create another engine of economic development for the Wayuu people and for outsiders who have never lived here: tourism, which must be built and prepared, given the beauty of the region. And tourism cannot be aggressive; it must be expensive to come here, very Wayuu, very cultural, including its facilities, its food, the way of serving, and the very security of the territory. This balance we present today in the health field is very important to be known. I will read some figures and explain them. Maternal mortality. In general terms, in the contemporary recent history of La Guajira, many pregnant women died due to lack of care. Here the final result — which began with teams in the territories, then with the war hospital, as it is called, a hospital set up in tents but with all the technology and human services available — already made a great leap. Many people mock it out of social snobbery, saying how can they treat people in tents. Well, if there are no hospitals, it is the best that can be done. While this construction was underway — which took time, even with some traces of corruption that we managed to stop — people were treated in the Las Carpas hospital with the best possible technology. They tell me there were almost 8,500 consultations during that time. Now they will move to this hospital. Its high-tech machines will be transferred here. It will be more comfortable, obviously, but more than 300 children were born, which meant fewer deaths throughout the territory. The data from La Guajira shows the effectiveness of what we are doing as a public health model. It is a system paid for by the State, enjoyed by a population that did not have it, and it is not a system of hucksters. Here there is medicine for everyone, no hoarding. Here there are specialists who are available when needed, and here there is care for those who are injured, who break a leg due to work or life circumstances, and they are treated here; there is no need to take them to a distant, costly place for transport. Here healthcare is cheaper but better. Even compared to Riohacha, they tell me this is a hospital that has nothing to be ashamed of, with technologies that are not even found in La Guajira, and we must ensure they become widespread. But the best result is measured in people's lives. I have always said that a hospital is not the bricks. We proved it here: we could do it in a tent, now in this powerful building, but the results are what matter. So, in relation to maternal mortality, the number of cases has decreased by 32%, and the mortality rate — statistics up to December last year — but already up to week 21. Guillermo Alfonso tells me, what month is it exactly? Yes, May. By early May, we will present that publicly nationwide. By early May, maternal mortality cases had dropped 57% compared to last year, right? Compared to 2022. 2022, when we received the government from Duque Restrepo. I put that surname so we don't forget; it's not his surname, it's his deputy minister of finance. Infant mortality — perhaps the two key indicators to know if a population's health has improved or not. And in relation to infant mortality in general, for any cause, we dropped from 487 children who died in 2022 to 276 at the end of last year. That is, child deaths fell by 43.3% since we took office, and the infant mortality rate overall fell by 28.2%. But by May of this year, the latest statistic, the reduction in the number of deaths in all of La Guajira is 56.8%, and its infant mortality rate has fallen 41.9%. That is how peace and social justice are built in a region. When we look at malnutrition, which is what made La Guajira sadly famous — based on counts of decades of thousands of children who died from malnutrition, meaning due to poor water quality, and which occurred, I must say, because of imbalances between humans and nature. Perhaps the main one was giving away Colombia's coal to a foreign entity that never cared for the Wayuu population. In fact, coal mining dried up 17 streams by using water for coal extraction: only one remained in the south called Bruno Creek. And the consequence was thousands of children who died from lack of potable water or poor water quality. We traded coal for water, and thousands of children died. Here I would like to ask all Colombians: Are you willing to trade water for oil, because then what happened here would happen again And we would not be facing a country of beauty The rate fell 43.3%, and infant mortality fell 66%. For malnutrition Specifically, deaths dropped from 96 to 33 between 2022 and 2025 The number of deaths fell 65.6%, and the mortality rate fell 66%. By week 21 of this year, the reduction in deaths was 68.7%, and the mortality rate was 68.8%. Perinatal mortality — the last statistic I’ll give today — was reduced from 511 cases to 331 from one government to the other. Deaths fell 35.2%, the mortality rate 17.3, and counting for week 21 roughly the same figures. These are the results of a different health system that is public, without intermediation or business. In the place that many Bogotanos and people from Medellín and other Colombian capitals consider the most remote part of Colombia — because while Leticia in the south has an airport, here there is not even a road that can be maintained 24 hours — yet we have an airport with international capacity relatively close in Bahía Portete, but it is private. The State handed it over in concession simply so that the executives of the owners of Glencore or Cerrejón can arrive where the direct train from Albania reaches the dock to export coal in Bahía Portete, which is, in my opinion, the most beautiful bay in Colombia, lonely. Only executives fly in and fly out without even saying thank you. But that airport must become property of Colombia because it is under concession. I publicly said that I wish they would at least leave a few hours for civilian use. And the train from Albania direct to Bahía Portete is used one or two hours a day, in the midst of the space left because the world hardly buys coal anymore, not even the United States. So we could bring food from the south here, unite the north and south of La Guajira that are separated, get water, and use it for tourism, as a source of resources, etc., and for passenger needs — a direct modern railway line. After suffering so many decades of coal exploitation without receiving anything, because the politicking in this region stole the royalties, the population of La Guajira deserves to use it. I leave that there. But we deliver these positive news from the government of change. Health has improved in La Guajira. Health has improved in the extreme north of Guajiro. Children no longer die as before, far fewer. Women also far fewer. We have achieved a goal of my government, which I deliver with emotion, with joy. This has been a government entirely dedicated to life, not death. I hope Colombia knows how to choose. It is very easy. I invite all Colombians massively. If you stay home, this perhaps cannot continue. If you stay home, the decisions made by the governments will be due to the irresponsibility of those who stayed home. Depending on whom you vote for, you will be able to reflect, you will know how to choose. You must go out massively, even walking, to vote, to decide on the country of beauty, on a sovereign, free Colombia, liberty and life, life and liberty always, always and always. Thank you very kindly.