Photo:Joel González - Presidency

​“Health has improved in La Guajira, I present this achievement of my Government with emotion”: President Petro​

Nazareth (La Guajira), June 12, 2026

Here we have, we had promised: the Nazareth hospital practically finished. 2 percent remains pending, a cafeteria and some very small spaces, everything else is ready. This investment by the nation reaches 41 billion pesos, together with that of Manaure, whose investment is 45 billion. So there are close to 90 billion pesos, which benefit more than 100 thousand inhabitants in La Guajira, between the Nazareth hospital and the Manaure hospital.

Here a different health model is reflected. Unfortunately Colombia does not know about this, only the people who live here. Perhaps some part of La Guajira has found out, but for the rest of the country it has remained a secret.  We ask the Congress of Colombia and the most powerful people in this country to look at what we have done here, which is what we wanted to do throughout Colombia.

We are making progress on many issues, no one can say that health is chaos. The real chaos is the EPS, not health. You just have to look at these figures, the health system implemented here, which begins with doctors and nurses in the rancherías, covering a territory that is difficult to navigate due to its climate, a territory that has remained cut off by communication routes, due to increasingly extreme climatic circumstances, although rich in sun, in culture, in natural beauty. Someday these three characteristics will come together to activate another engine of economic development, that of the Wayuu population. Now we have to build tourism, we have to prepare it for the very beauty of the region, a tourism that cannot be aggressive, that is not very expensive to come here, very Wayuu, very much about the culture, including its facilities, its food, the way of serving, the very security in the territory.

This balance that we make today in the field of health is very important to know. I'm going to give some figures and explain them. Maternity, maternal mortality in contemporary and recent Guajira history, many pregnant women died due to lack of care. Here the results begin with the teams in the territories, then with the war hospital (that's what it's called), a hospital that is set up with tents, but with all the technology and human services at its disposal. This is already a big leap.

Many people mock in their social careerism that how are they going to serve in tents. But if there is no hospital, it is the best thing to do. While this work was being built there were some signs of corruption, which we were able to stop. People were served in the tents, with the best possible technology. They tell me that there were almost 8,500 treatments, which will now go to this hospital, with high-tech machines. It will be more comfortable, obviously, more than 300 children were born and that meant fewer deaths throughout the territory. The data from La Guajira show the effectiveness of this public health model.

It is a system paid for by the State and enjoyed by the population, who did not have it. It is not a system of hucksters, here there is medicine for the entire population. There is no hoarding, here there are specialists who are there when they are needed. And there is care for those who are injured because they broke a leg or due to some circumstance of work, of life. There is no need to take it to a distant place, with an expensive transfer. Here the health service is cheaper, it is even better than in Riohacha, according to what they tell me.

This hospital does not have to be ashamed of its technology, it is one that cannot be found anywhere else in La Guajira. It must be generalized, but the best results are measured in terms of the lives of the people served. I have always said that a hospital is not bricks, and here we prove it. In the hospital tent it was possible, and now with this building it is also possible. But what is important are the results: in relation to maternal mortality.  the number of cases has decreased by 32%. We will present this for the entire country, at the beginning of May, the truth is that maternal mortality cases had decreased to 57% compared to last year compared to 2022, when we received the Duque government, or better, Restrepo. I put that last name so that we don't forget, it is the last name of your Minister of Finance.

In relation to infant mortality, we dropped from 487 children who died in 2022 to 276 at the end of last year. That is, deaths of boys and girls fell by 43.3% since we took office. And the infant mortality rate fell 28.2%, but by May of this year, according to the latest statistics, the reduction in the number of deaths throughout La Guajira was 56.8%. And its infant mortality rate has fallen by 41.9%.

This is how peace and social justice are built in this region, and social justice. If we go to malnutrition, unfortunately thousands of children have died from this cause in decades, especially due to poor water quality, due to imbalances between human beings and nature. The main imbalance was having delivered Colombia's coal to a foreign company, which never took care of the Guajira population. Coal dried up 17 streams, because they use the water to extract coal. Only one remained in the south, which is called the Bruno stream. The consequence of this was thousands of boys and girls who died due to lack of drinking water, or due to its poor quality, when exchanging coal for water.

Here I would like to ask all Colombians: are you willing to change water for oil? What happened here will happen, we will not be in front of the country of beauty, but in front of a holy field of boys and girls. In La Guajira we changed that, look at the numbers: number of children who died since 2022, compared to the end of 2025, from 96 to 33. The number of deaths due to malnutrition fell 65.6%, and the mortality rate fell 66%. For week 21 of this year, May, the latest statistics indicate a reduction in deaths of 68.7%, and the mortality rate was 68.8%.

Perinatal mortality, the last statistic I give, was reduced from 511 cases to 331, from one government to another. And deaths fell by 35.2%, the mortality rate by 17.3%, counting until week 21. These are the results of a different health system, which is public, which has no intermediation or business, in the place that many Bogota residents and people from other capitals of Colombia consider the furthest from Colombia. While Leticia to the south has an airport, here there is none, not even a road that can be kept open 24 hours a day. The only airport with the capacity to be international is near Bahía Portete, but it is private. The State gave it as a concession, so that the owners of Glencore, or Cerrejón, can reach where the direct train from Albania that goes to the dock ends, to export coal in Bahía Portete. In my opinion it is the most beautiful bay in Colombia, lonely, only executives arrive and leave by plane. And they don't even say thank you. But that airport has to become the property of Colombia, because it is granted under concession.

I have said publicly that I would like the train that comes from Albania on a direct line to Bahía Portete to be left free for at least a few hours a day, to be used on civil terms. That it would be used for an hour or two hours a day, in the middle of the space left by the transportation of coal. For example, we could even bring food from the south, uniting the north and south of La Guajira, which are separated. And use it for tourism, as a source of resources, for passenger transportation. A direct modern railway line, that the population of Guajira can use, after suffering so many decades of coal exploitation, without really receiving anything in return, because the politicking of this region stole the royalties.

I'll leave that there, but we deliver this positive news from the Government of Change. Health has improved in La Guajira, health has improved, children no longer die as before, many fewer. The same goes for women, much less. We have managed to achieve an objective of my government, and I deliver it with emotion, with joy. This has been a government dedicated all the time to life, not death.

I hope Colombia knows how to choose. It's very easy, I invite all Colombians en masse. If they stay at home, this may no longer be possible. If they stay at home, the decisions made in the next government will be due to the irresponsibility of the person who stayed at home.  We must go out en masse, even if it is walking, to vote to be able to decide about the country of beauty, about sovereign Colombia. Freedom and life, life and freedom, always, always, always.