President Gustavo Petro's harsh rebuke to his cabinet at the Council of Ministers: 'Betraying all the time'

On Tuesday night, during a new cabinet meeting broadcast on social media and institutional channels, President Gustavo Petro harshly rebuked his cabinet members , accusing them of "betrayal" over the budget execution in the regions.

The president's rebuke came during a presentation by Natalia Molina, director of the National Planning Department, who showed the ministers a series of graphs and maps on the evolution of public investment in the General National Budget between 2010 and 2025 and the distribution of the budget by region.

Molina presented a map that, he said, showed that the budget has been concentrated in places like Antioquia, Bogotá, and Cali , while other departments like Chocó and Guainía appeared in red due to lower investment by the Executive Branch.

At that point, the president interrupted the official and told them that the map should be different, as he asserted that the peace agreement signed during Juan Manuel Santos' administration included the condition of increasing investment in areas where violence is concentrated, and, he asserted, this has not happened.

"I'm already tired of telling the ministers this. Every time there's a cabinet meeting, we have to release the progress of this information (...) The map should be different for Santos' peace, and that hasn't happened here, and you're the ones responsible," Petro told his officials.

The president stated that his government's ministers "are investing money the same way they did 50 years ago" and concentrating it in Antioquia and Bogotá. Petro also accused them of having agendas different from those of the Colombian people and asserted that the government itself has helped to create inequality in the country.

" Why is there social inequality in Colombia? Partly because of this, because the government itself produces inequality, and so does this one (...) It can't be that this government, which is supposedly left-wing, creates these circumstances... Out of laziness, because the ministers and directors don't look at where the money is invested or have an agenda different from the government's," the president added.

Later, Petro went further, sharply criticizing his ministers for the lack of investment in places like Chocó and for the fact that money has been concentrated in areas where opposition leaders are in power. He also accused them of "constantly betraying the president."

"Look how we've rewarded opposition leaders, and they're organizing a coup against us. They're financing the coup, friends. What's this? Because Chocó is the least of it. Didn't 80 percent of the poorest people in Colombia vote for us? Why do you have Chocó like this, abandoned, as if you were Duque or the oligarchy government?" he said.

And he concluded: "I can't stand a cabinet like this, constantly betraying the president. I can't continue like this."

During the meeting, Petro stated that this is the reason why he is making so many ministerial changes, as his government must prioritize ensuring that the poor receive resources.

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