Colombia's president urges court to allow raising taxes by decree as floods hit northern region

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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday called on the nation’s highest court to lift a suspension on an economic emergency decree that would grant his government the authority to raise taxes without congressional approval.

In a televised Cabinet meeting, Petro said that the government must raise tens of millions of dollars to fund recovery efforts in two northern Colombian provinces that have been affected by floods that have killed at least 14 people and displaced an estimated 69,000.

“The best thing would be for the suspension (on the emergency decree) to be lifted” Petro said, noting that financing reconstruction would be hard.

Last year, Petro’s government failed to pass a tax bill that sought to raise government revenues by around $4 billion in 2026.

In late December, after Colombian courts went on a holiday recess, Petro issued an economic emergency decree that enabled the government to raise taxes without congressional approval.

In the decree, the government argued it needed more funds to meet several urgent needs, including defending the military from drone attacks staged by rebel groups and settling outstanding debts with health insurance companies.

But in January Colombia’s constitutional court suspended the decree, saying the reasons for implementing it were not valid as they were not unexpected emergencies.

The Colombian government is now urging the constitutional Court to lift the suspension, arguing that more funds are needed for aiding flood victims in Sucre and Córdoba, two largely rural provinces in northwestern Colombia.

“If the court lifts the suspension on the decree we will have the resources to tend to this crisis” Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said Tuesday.

Colombia’s National Meteorology Institute said the floods were triggered by two cold fronts in the Caribbean that brought unusually strong winds and rain, with some areas in the north of the country getting a month’s worth of rain in the span of a week.

In Monteria, the largest city in Cordoba province, some streets were still flooded Tuesday, with locals getting around on canoes to recover items like mattresses and furniture from their homes.

“Many of our things have rotted,” said Rodolfo Ortega, a resident of Monteria. “The only thing we have been able to recover are our clothes.”

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Fernando Vergara contributed from Monteria, Colombia.

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