President Gustavo Petro defended his secretary, targeted for her distance learning education, during an event in Tumaco. He accused elitist sectors of scorning the efforts of humble people. The leader linked these attacks to a persistent colonial mindset.
In Tumaco, President Gustavo Petro handed over 2,835 hectares of land cleared from illicit crops to local communities. During the Friday event, the leader addressed the criticism faced by one of his secretaries in the Presidency of the Republic.
Petro recounted that the official, who joined the role as a high school graduate and used her job to study online, now endures mockery for earning two degrees. “Today my secretary is a victim of vejamen, because she arrived as a bachiller, and that's how she was employed,” he stated. He clarified that he does not know her personally and that she is an ordinary worker, uninvolved in political struggles.
The president denounced the underlying elitism in these attacks, noting they come from those who value only degrees from low-ranked global universities or those in Bogotá's upscale neighborhoods. “Fraudsters they are, who do not understand the people, who mock them, who despise them,” he asserted. He compared this outlook to that of 500 years ago, when indigenous people, blacks, and peasants were seen as serfs or slaves.
Petro stressed that his government stems from popular support, not elitist inheritances. “This government is the result of you; it is here, no more no less, because you have supported it,” he said. He highlighted his personal background: decades of struggle alongside humble folks, far from social clubs or exclusive circles, committed to contributing to Colombia's history in good times and bad.
