Internal government rebellion threatens to derail the end of Gustavo Petro’s presidency

Gustavo Petro is experiencing his most testing days as president. In addition to the violence that has erupted in the Catatumbo region, and the confrontation with Donald Trump over deportation flights, there is an internal rebellion by a group of ministers that seriously threatens to derail the end of his presidency. He has been questioned in a very forceful manner for having named Armando Benedetti as the main advisor to the government. In addition, ministers felt humiliated on Tuesday night when Petro ordered the live broadcast, without prior notice, of a Cabinet meeting in which he blamed them for breaking the government’s promises. Petro went so far as to say that he is a revolutionary, but his government is not. In the hours following the meeting, a minister, the director of the presidency, and Petro’s legal secretary all resigned; other senior officials have held meetings to discuss the way forward.

In the chaotic six-hour broadcast, the officials criticized Petro for including Benedetti in the Cabinet, whom they consider a conservative who endangered the entire progressive project by leaking audios in which he threatened to go to court with evidence that supposedly would prove the president’s electoral campaign was financed with illicit money. According to sources consulted by this newspaper, the ministers are surprised that far from removing Benedetti from the government, Petro has placed him in charge of the presidential agenda as chief of staff and installed him as a liaison with themselves and Congress.

Benedetti is also the subject of an investigation into alleged mistreatment of his partner in Spain, where she filed the complaint. He has denied the accusations and she later retracted her statement. However, this is not a sufficient explanation for some members of the administration. Susana Muhamad, the well-regarded Environment Minister, has threatened to resign if Petro does not back down. Minister of Culture Juan David Correa has resigned irrevocably and Jorge Rojas, the interim head of the Administrative Department of the Presidency, who had only been in office for a week, has also abruptly left.

The meeting between Petro and his ministers left everyone in shock. It has laid bare that the government is divided. Vice President Francia Márquez accused the president of permissiveness on corruption and Laura Sarabia, Petro’s second in command and recently installed Foreign Minister, of mistreating her. Gustavo Bolívar, a writer of narco-novels turned government worker, accused Sarabia of lying. The former chief of staff, who is 30 years old, has accumulated enormous power within the government in just two years, causing the displeasure of many who have accompanied Petro throughout his political career. Sarabia, raised on a military base, has more focused views than other members of the government. Business leaders and representatives of other parties defend her because they feel she is an efficient official who speaks out in contrast to the silence that the president usually maintains.

The early weeks of 2025 have been tumultuous for Colombia. It began with an offensive by the ELN guerrillas in the Catatumbo region, on the border with Venezuela. The ELN attacked FARC dissident units and committed selective assassinations in towns. Images of trucks full of corpses were published. Petro declared a state of emergency in the region but the Minister of Defense said in the Cabinet meeting that the military not been able to enter certain areas due to “lack of coordination.” Later, the Minister of Justice stated that total peace — the project of pacifying all armed groups at the same time — does not work. In passing, she added that the prison system is a disaster.

However, the breaking point was the public stand-off between Petro and Trump. The president’s firmness in confronting the magnate has been applauded among some sectors of the left, especially at an international level, but the internal criticism has been severe. Petro’s decision to prevent two planes carrying deported Colombians — handcuffed and treated like cattle — from landing caused Trump to initiate a trade war. In the end, Sarabia and the foreign minister at the time, Luis Gilberto Murillo, calmed the waters with Washington, promising to continue allowing the arrival of deportees; a trade dispute with the United States would be fatal for the Colombian economy. Petro was unhappy with the resolution of the crisis and has been on edge ever since, as confirmed by his X account. He said he was having trouble sleeping.

Some of his closest associates have also criticized his behavior in recent weeks, which they consider erratic. Petro has not listened to the advice of any of them, according to sources familiar with the matter. Firstly, they tried to persuade him to remove Sarabia, as they have been doing almost since the beginning of his presidency. Secondly, they tried to prevent Benedetti from reaching a top-level position. Neither goal was achieved. Augusto Rodríguez, in charge of the presidential security detail and a close friend of the president for 30 years, was outraged when Petro compared Benedetti to Jaime Batemán, a historic guerrilla leader who was his and Petro’s commander, and said so to his face during the Cabinet meeting.

Not everyone believes that Petro failed in the show he mounted in prime time. His most loyal supporters claim that he again imposed a debate, and that he exposed that there are ministers in his government who work for their own benefit. “What happened was not coincidental. The president does not sew without a thimble; double agendas are a reality,” says one of his closest associates. In any case, beyond the president’s motivations, the reality is this: the Cabinet is experiencing a major crisis and has lost credibility among citizens. Petro has the challenge of ensuring that his mandate does not fail with a year and a half still ahead of him. The opposite would be catastrophic for the nation.

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