Far-left President of Colombia Gustavo Petro chose to not pay respects to conservative Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay at the Colombian Congress, where he has been lying in state, and will not attend Uribe’s burial on Wednesday afternoon, local outlets reported.
Instead, Petro spent much of Tuesday ranting against the United States and President Donald Trump, suggesting that he even considered barring Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau from visiting Bogotá to attend the funeral because Landau “offended” him.
According to the Colombian newspaper El Colombiano, Petro will not attend Uribe’s funeral Mass and burial. Vice President Francia Márquez, who has distanced herself from Petro and appears to be at odds with his government, will reportedly attend instead.
Uribe, 39 at the time of his death, passed away on Monday after he was shot by a child in June during a rally in Bogotá. Uribe spent 64 days fighting for his life at an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the Colombian capital. The late senator’s coffin arrived at the Colombian Congress on Monday night and laid in state until his burial on Wednesday.
Several Colombian politicians, former presidents, government officials, and diplomats accompanied Uribe’s family and paid their respects to the slain senator — with Petro notably absent. Over 4,000 Colombians reportedly waited in line outside Congress throughout Tuesday to enter and pay their respects and many chanted slogans against Petro outside Congress.
Petro did not visit Congress on Tuesday and instead limited himself to calling for a minute of silence for the late senator during a police promotion ceremony. Petro got the senator’s name wrong during the event.
“A minute of silence for peace, for the family, and for the peace of Senator Mario Uribe Turbay — Miguel Uribe Turbay, sorry,” Petro said.
Deputy State Secretary Landau travelled to Bogotá to attend Sen. Uribe’s memorial service on Wednesday. On Monday, Landau spoke with Donald Trump, Jr., on his Triggered podcast and expressed the United States’ concerns over Uribe’s death. Landau also pointed out that Uribe was a vocal critic of Petro’s leftist administration.
“You can’t have democracy if basically anybody who’s right of center becomes a subject of assassination attempts or outright assassination,” Landau reportedly said.
Landau’s remarks appear to have angered Petro, who said during Tuesday’s police event that he considered barring Landau from entering Colombia after the deputy secretary “offended” him.
“From Miami, where they have only created ideologies of hatred that they want to impose on us, the Deputy Secretary of State says he is coming tonight [Tuesday]. I could stop him. And I have thought about it because he insulted me. But I am not like them,” Petro said.
Petro also appeared to be offended by remarks from President Donald Trump, who recently compared the murder rate in Washington, DC, with that of Bogotá and “some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on Earth.”
Petro served as mayor of Bogotá between 2012 and 2015. According to Petro, Bogotá is “one of the places on earth where not a single child dies of hunger, that makes it one of the best places on Earth.”
“He says Bogotá is ugly. I don’t know if it’s a threat or what, but Bogotá has a homicide rate of between 11 and 12 per 100,000, and Washington has 25. Washington is twice as violent as the United States, and Trump lives there and I live here,” Petro said.
“I think Bogotá is beautiful. I prefer Bogotá to Washington, even if the mayor doesn’t say so, and even more so, Bogotá to Miami. The United States has to learn to respect us,” he continued.
The far-left president also called for an urgent meeting of Latin American foreign ministers to address a purported threat of “aggression and interference” by the United States. According to Petro, the United States wants to “attack” the region “just like in Gaza.” Petro’s urgent meeting request comes days after he pledged his support to Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro on Sunday following the United States doubling its bounty for information that can lead to Maduro’s arrest and/or conviction to $50 million.
“That is why the ministers and foreign ministers of Latin America must meet as soon as possible, because we have been threatened, because they want to attack, as in Gaza, the homeland of [Venezuelan founding father Simón] Bolívar,” Petro said.
Senator Uribe’s funeral proceedings began on Wednesday with a private morning ceremony at the Colombian National Capitol for members of his family and Congressmen. A funeral Mass was scheduled for noon at the Primatial Cathedral of Bogotá, followed by a funeral procession that will travel through several points of the Colombian capital until reaching the city’s Central Cemetery, where the late Senator will be buried.
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