On Monday, March 18, the first face-to-face meeting between President Gustavo Petro and the governor of Antioquia, Andrés Julián Rendón, took place. The event took place at the San Pedro Claver educational institution, in the municipality of Apartadó, and had several moments that led to controversy.
To begin with, Representative Juan Fernando Espinal condemned how the security scheme approached Governor Rendón to confiscate his belongings. “(…) The governor opened his backpack calmly, but that was a very bad message”.
In turn, representative Julián Peinado asserted that The actions of the Presidency's security team constitute “a malicious practice”. “If it had really been a matter of security strategy for the Presidential House, well, then, the governor's body would have had to be seized, because there could have been something strange in his loose shirt,” he ironized.
“I think it was a way to generate discomfort, I think it was malicious, I think it was premeditated to cause discomfort (…). It makes no sense for a governor who is sitting at a main table to have his suitcase searched. That is a topic to make uncomfortable, to get it out of your mind. It seems more like a way to deconcentrate the governor“added the Liberal party congressman.
However, he highlighted that Governor Rendón did well by acting in a “calm and transparent” manner, despite being insulted in which “his dignity was attacked.”
“The paranoia that this government has towards the different actors in the territory and the hostility with which it behaves does leave a bad precedent.”added representative Peinado.
