Colombia’s Gustavo Petro Asks Entire Cabinet to Resign After Trainwreck 6-Hour Meeting

Far-left President of Colombia Gustavo Petro requested the resignation of all of his government’s ministers and directors of administrative institutions on Sunday, choosing to announce the move on social media.

The announcement comes days after Petro hosted a disastrous six-hour government meeting broadcast live on television and social media in which he once again called for the legalization of cocaine and for the drug to be “sold like wine.” Petro also berated his ministers throughout the meeting for the lack of results of his leftist administration and failure to uphold most of its campaign promises.

“I have requested the formal resignation of ministers and directors of administrative departments. There will be some changes in the cabinet to achieve greater compliance with the program ordered by the people,” Petro’s message read. “The government will concentrate entirely on the implementation of the programme.”

Petro’s highly controversial meeting, an idea that the far-left president said was “inspired” by communist Cuba and presented as an “exercise in transparency,” featured several shocking moments in which Petro, a proud former member of the Marxist M19 terrorist guerrilla and Colombia’s first leftist president ever, acknowledged that his administration, which has roughly 18 months left in office, has failed to fulfil more than 75 percent of its campaign promises to date.

Petro appeared to exonerate himself of any responsibility in his administration’s lack of results by claiming during the meeting that “the president is a revolutionary, the government is not.”

Local politicians described the meeting as a “sad spectacle of civilization” and a “circus show.” The embarrassment prompted a new crisis in the Colombian government, which Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo declared “unsustainable” last week. Cristo formally presented his resignation to Petro on Monday morning.

The now-former interior minister reportedly stressed to local outlets that his resignation is “irrevocable” and asserted that he spoke to Petro on Thursday about the disastrous meeting that revealed “internal fractures” in the leftist administration.

In addition to Petro’s latest public defense of cocaine and the recognition of the failures of his leftist government, several Colombian ministers publicly aired their grievances and criticized some of their peers openly. One of the most notable points of contention centered around Armando Benedetti, a former ambassador embroided in several corruption, domestic violence, and drug and alcohol addiction scandals appointed by Petro last week to serve as his new chief of staff.

Laura Sarabia, Colombia’s new foreign minister, also received significant criticism. Sarabia began her tenure as top diplomat amid Petro’s short-lived diplomatic crisis with the United States that followed the Colombian president abruptly refusing to allow a U.S. deportation flight carrying illegal Colombian migrants into the country.

Both Benedetti and Sarabia and members of Petro’s inner circle who had departed the Colombian government in the aftermath of a 2023 illegal wiretapping and abuse of power scandal known as “nannygate.”

Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez and several Colombian ministers expressed their distrust of the controversial pair to Petro during the live meeting. Vice President Márquez said that, although she respects Petro’s appointment of Benedetti, she does not agree with it. Márquez also criticized Sarabia’s attitude with her, calling her disrespectful.

Environment Minister Susana Muhamad criticized Benedetti’s designation and said, “as a feminist and as a woman, I cannot sit at this table of our progressive project with Armando Benedetti.”

Muhamad resigned from her ministerial position on Sunday morning and confirmed to Caracol Radio on Monday that her resignation is in response to Benedetti’s designation as chief of staff.

“Mr. Benedetti will have access to all the information of the President of the Republic, of the functions of the office, and all of this generates a great mistrust in me, because it is something that has already happened,” Muhamad said. “I do not feel confident and calm about the difficult decisions that have to be made.”

In addition to Cristo and Muhamad, Culture Minister Juan David Correa and Labor Minister Gloria Inés Ramírez have already departed the government as of Monday morning. Additionally, Jorge Rojas, who recently succeeded Sarabia as head of the Administrative Department of the Presidency (DAPRE), and the Legal Secretary of the Presidency Paula Robledo Silva, have left their positions.

Foreign Minister Sarabia, Education Minister Daniel Rojas Medellín, Justice Minister Ángela María Buitrago, Agriculture Minister Martha Carvalajino, and Mining and Energy Minister Ómar Camacho have also resigned as of Monday. It remains publicly unknown at press time if Petro has accepted their resignations.

The Colombian magazine Semana reported on Monday morning that, according to unnamed government sources, Vice President Márquez is expected to resign from her position as Equality Minister but remain as vice president, as the latter is a democratically-elected position.

Additionally, Mining Minister Andrés Camacho and the director of the National Planning Department Alexander López are expected to resign shortly. Semana pointed out that Márquez, Camacho, and López are highly critical of Benedetti’s presence in the government.

According to Colombian journalists, several ministers had not been informed of Petro’s decision beforehand and found out on Twitter. Hours after he called for the resignation of his ministers, Petro left Colombia for a Middle East tour that will see him attend the World Government Summit 2025 in Dubai, followed by official visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. According to local outlets, Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia and new chief of staff Armando Benedetti will accompany Petro on his week-long Middle Eastern tour.

Prior to the ongoing crisis in Petro’s government, former Foreign Minister Luis Murillo resigned in January alongside the now-former Technology Minster Mauricio Lizcano and Transportation Minister María Constanza García. Colombia’s Blu Radio pointed out on Monday that 15 different ministers resigned from their positions between February 2023 and July 2024.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.