President Petro’s Repeated Absence Causes Outrage in Colombia

As the first year of Colombia’s new president Gustavo Petro winds down, questions are still being asked about why he has suddenly cancelled or rescheduled 82 events since taking office last August. From San Andres to Bucaramanga, the president’s whereabouts and reasons for abruptly canceling many events are shrouded in mystery, giving rise to rampant speculation and political attacks. His most recent absence was at an event held in the capital of Santander which was empty despite Petro being expected by some 2,500 people.

The citizens of Colombia have seen their fair share of disappointment under the rule of President Gustavo Petro. With cancelled engagements and missed deadlines, the nation’s leader is pushing the people to their limits amidst conflicting opinions from his own government team.

Petro’s press office has attributed most of these cancellations to “weather and illness,” claiming that they are common occurrences for any president. But a closer look at the president’s agenda shows that 32 of the cancellations were due to allegations of a “private agenda,” raising suspicion that he was instead attending confidential political meetings or other activities that could have avoided public scrutiny.

This lack of accountability has been further exasperated by the fact that he missed the final reading of a sentence that involved the dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua, where he was supposed to be accompanied by members of his government team and journalists.

In addition, the Colombian leader has only attended 28 of the 50 commitments he made during the installation of the current legislative period in July, which goes against the “national agreement” he promised in his speech. According to the Mayor of Bucaramanga, Juan Carlos Cárdenas, “It’s doing, not saying. President Gustavo Petro today stands up Bucaramanga. Is this the great national agreement?”

It’s unclear why the president has failed to attend his set dates, but his abdication of his duties have put Colombians in a troublesome position. His continuous non-compliance and evasions have left local authorities scrambling to sort out the logistics for his absence. Local authorities aren’t the only ones expressing their concern. Writer Mario Mendoza claims that Petro’s inability to meet his commitments is “an insult” and “spitting in the other’s face”.

It is unclear how much longer the people of Colombia will remain eager to forgive and forget the broken promises. With trouble growing from all sides, President Gustavo Petro is making it harder and harder for the nation to maintain its faith in him – and their country.