Colombian President Gustavo Petro is facing backlash after making a callous remark about the death of Senator Alirio Barrera’s horse, Pasaporte. The comment, widely condemned as cruel and unnecessary, is the latest example of Petro’s habit of deflecting political debate with personal attacks on social media.
Barrera, a senator from the right-wing Centro Democrático party and a staunch defender of Casanare’s rural traditions, was one of eight lawmakers who voted down Petro’s labor reform in the Seventh Commission of the Senate. Rather than addressing the political failure of the proposal, Petro chose to mock Barrera with an insensitive remark.
“This congressman rode his horse into Congress. The horse felt such beastliness on top of him that he preferred to die,” Petro stated. His words were a direct reference to Barrera’s grand entrance into Congress on horseback, during an act meant to highlight the Senate’s new pet-friendly policy. The ride, in September 2022, followed an announcement by then-Senate President Roy Barreras allowing lawmakers to bring their companion animals to sessions. For Barrera, his companion animal was a horse. ‘Pasaporte’ died a month later during a fair in Paratebueno (Cundinamarca) after a poisonous snake bit his leg.
Instead of responding with political maturity to the legislative defeat, Petro ridiculed the politician’s personal loss. Barrera, a skilled equestrian and proud representative of a ranching department, expressed his dismay.
“PRUDENCE! Mr. President. The country is TIRED of so much polarization. And don’t forget that it was on horseback that Colombia was FREED!!! Pasaporte wasn’t just my horse, he was my friend, my loyal companion,” he wrote.
Petro’s remarks have been widely criticized as tone-deaf and emblematic of an activist more focused on fueling division than addressing serious legislative challenges. Rather than explaining why his labor reform failed to gain support, he chose to discredit a representative whose only ‘crime’ was voting against an ill-fated reform.
Former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, a longtime supporter of Barrera, denounced Petro’s comments: “Solidarity with Senator Alirio Barrera, who was mistreated for his affection for his horse, Pasaporte”. The former Governor of Casanare (2016-2019) and close ally of the two-term conservative leader learned how to train horses as young man on one of Uribe’s haciendas.
The right-wing Centro Democrático party also condemned the president’s remarks, calling them “disproportionate” and evidence of his intolerance toward the opposition. The party emphasized that Barrera’s vote against the labor reform was entirely legitimate and based on policy, not personal grievance.
By resorting to insults, Petro not only disrespected Barrera but undermines the integrity of the democratic process. His labor reform – one of his administration’s key proposals – collapsed due to a lack of consensus, not because of Barrera’s rural upbringing, or fact that from humble origins, he managed to graduate from high school.
This latest episode exposes, yet again, Petro’s endemic pattern of using “X” to target those he considers ideological adversaries. By constantly defaulting with his “twitter finger” to divisive rhetoric and personal attacks – Petro keeps eroding trust in his governance, and the important strides the country’s first leftist administration has made to protect animal rights.
