🗞️ President Gustavo Petro has announced a number of new ministers as part of his cabinet reshuffle, including Ministers for Culture, Equality, Environment, Mining, and Sport.
Notably, Vice President Francia Márquez has been replaced as Minister of Equality - a Ministry she herself created. Her replacement is Carlos Rosero, an AfroColombian social leader.
Only hours before the announcement, Márquez published a press release denouncing threats to her life after reporting corruption and saying, somewhat cryptically, that ‘when the government gives in to the blackmail of those who whisper in the shadows, it is the whole country that ends up paying the price.’
The new Environment Minister, Lena Estrada, is Colombia’s first indigenous minister – a member of the Amazonian Uitoto Mekana community.
During his mandate so far, Petro has appointed around fifty ministers. In 2025 alone, he has made changes to 11 of the 19 portfolios as part of this - his fourth - cabinet reshuffle.
Meanwhile, Armando Benedetti, the man who caused the cabinet crisis and triggered this reshuffle, is being moved from Chief of Staff to Interior Minister – an appointment to which congresswomen have responded with a letter of protest, saying they will refuse to have any direct contact with him.
In the letter, the representatives call the appointment ‘deplorable, disrespectful, and incoherent’ - a betrayal of ‘the flagship promises with which [Petro] came to power.’
Iris Marín, Colombia’s Human Rights Ombudsman, has also rejected the appointment, saying it is ‘neither convenient nor respectful of human rights’ to appoint an official who has such serious accusations against him - not only of gender violence, but also of corruption.
🗞️ The first Invamer Poll of 2025 has been published and President Gustavo Petro’s disapproval rating is up 3% to 63% - now with a 32% approval rating, down 2% from the last poll in December.
The President suffers from the highest disapproval ratings in the cities of Bucaramanga (80%) and Medellín (78%); his highest approval rating was measured in Cali - at 44%.
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