Degrowth policies are on the rise in Colombia. Since the leftist Gustavo Petro became the president, degrowth ideology has been at the core of his government program. From the start, Petro announced his apocalyptic vision (so common among the elites at the WEF) that “years ahead would be worse” due to climate change. That is what he said to the nation’s businessmen at a meeting, in september 2022, just a month after becoming the president. These words were later confirmed by the then Minister of Energy and Mines, who said that “from that degrowth also depends that we can achieve a greater equilibrium and be less affected by the impact of climate change”. Now the government has moved forward, from words to actions, and is imposing austerity measures on the citizens in the name of climate change. But, of course, the environment is not its real goal. Its real goal is to build a new social structure. One in which they, the elite and the political class, share all the privileges while we, the citizens, have all the disadvantages on our side. Because it would be just too dumb to think that the austerity measures we all now have to endure will be applied to the elites. No, they never practice what they preach.
Petro´s government is the best example. Since it came to power, taxes have been raised, gas prices have increased continually by governmental decree, and, as a logical step, food, services, and products of all sorts have increased in price, hurting the people´s economy. Colombia, like most countries, was hardly affected by the Covid Wars and the war in Ukraine, a burden that also befell on the people. But things have become worse with El Niño, a “climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean”, and one which offers the government a great opportunity to impose more austerity measures in the name of global warming. Indeed, a water and energy consumption rate has been established for all citizens, who must comply or be heavily sanctioned. In this case, the low level of the water supply is the argument used by the government to control the use of water and energy consumption. And these measures are supported by liberals and even by right wing politicians, among whom there are climate cult advocates like the former president Ivan Duque, a member of the center-right party Centro Democrático. In fact, Bogota´s Mayor, Carlos Fernando Galán, a liberal politician from the ruling classes, has imposed measures to ration the use of water in the Capital, with 24 hour water outages, and has even asked the people not to take showers on weekends, among other things. Worse yet, politicians now say colombian households are the cause of the low levels of water supply, without mentioning the three million venezuelan refugees and migrants living in the country and who also consume water and use energy. No, politicians never mention this fact because they are responsible for the mess. After all, it is them who manage the country. And while Colombians are in a situation in which the bureaucrats in power even dictate the time people can spend in the shower; while the people are being gradually impoverished with new taxes and gas hikes, the government is creating new ministries and increasing the bureaucracy. Yes, while the government asks people not to travel because of global warming, the Vice President uses a helicopter to go everywhere! So it is only too obvious that the austerity measures imposed only work in one way: they are only meant for the common people, the class in power has a free hand when it comes to wasting money and resources.
As always these austerity measures are “transitory” but, as economist Milton Friedman used to say, nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program. The more so when Bogota´s Mayor and the government are talking about a plan to save water until water reserves are fully capable, a plan that extends to next year. But, just like in the Covid Pandemic, next year those in power will probably say that more time is needed to flatten the curve. Meanwhile, the government is working hard to centralize everything, to gain more and more control over the health system, retirement savings, State companies, etc. In the end, Petro knows centralization is the best way to consolidate power in the hands of a few, just what his friends at the WEF want. Yes, Petro has been applying all WEF recipes, using the country as a laboratory. He supported the WEF initiative for a global tax at Davos in June 2022. Like the “ol´ good fellows” at the WEF, Petro is an advocate of “clean energies”, so much so that he refuses to sign more oil contracts, without caring for the damage inflicted on the people, who see how energy costs spiral up when it could be otherwise if only the government had the will to extract more oil. And now he is trying to impose a social system based on a score, a system in which every citizen has a limit to water and energy consumption, designed to punish those who won’t comply.
Step by step Petro is building a Social Credit System in which resources are individually rationed and people are continually impoverished by means of taxes, gas prices, regulations, while the bureaucracy is permanently strengthened and empowered. A system similar to the one created by the CCP in China to control its population, so much cherished by our Western politicians and crooks at the WEF. This must not surprise us. In the end, what globalists and communist alike want is to impose a degrowth agenda to weaken civil society. All these measures have only one goal: to force degrowth on the people, so the elites can control it more easily. The question is: will there be a reaction? By the extent of the recent street protests against Petro´s government in Colombia, one would think a reaction is already under way. But, will it avoid the threat to civil liberties in Colombia? Only time can tell.