'I hope it helps Benedetti': Lina Garrido shared the full text of her July 20 speech at the opening of Congress.

Lina María Garrido, who has been the talk of the town since July 20, 2025 for her reply speech during the installation of Congress , shared the full text of her speech through her X account. In the post she wrote: “ I hope it serves as input to Armando Benedetti for the complaint with which he threatened me .”

The representative titled the text "The Feelings of the People" and noted that it is dedicated to Senator and pre-candidate Miguel Uribe , who was the victim of an attack on June 7, 2025, in Bogotá.

"I share with you this masterwork, my speech of July 20, 2025, which has had Petrismo defeated and desperate since Sunday . It represents the beginning of the end of the gloomy era of Gustavo Petro," Garrido added.

I greet the Colombian people, embrace them with all my heart, and wish them a happy Independence Day.

President Petro: I am Lina María Garrido Martin. You know me; you've mentioned me several times in your tweets. I'm not from the oligarchy. I am the daughter of public school teachers, born in Arauca, a department that has given everything to Colombia: its resources, its history of struggle. The Colombian National Army was born there, and our freedom was forged there. We have shed the blood, the pain, and the lives of thousands of Araucanian men and women who have been condemned to a life of barbarism and abandonment.

I, the people, President, and I am also your voice. A voice that makes people uncomfortable. A voice that criminals and the corrupt want to silence for daring to courageously denounce the weariness of an entire people who can no longer bear this tragedy. Unlike those who are exercising their right of reply today, I voted for you, as did 11 million Colombians . Most of us were not Petristas, nor progressives, nor leftists, nor guerrillas. We did it because we were tired of unfulfilled promises. We gave you the opportunity, because for more than two decades in the opposition you claimed to have the solution to all the country's problems. And today, three years into your government, you have proven yourself a failure. You have betrayed Colombia.

When you've been in power for three years, your actions and deeds should speak for themselves. Perhaps in the first and second years, the people tolerate speeches, but in the third, they don't. Today, your government is all talk; it has no real achievements to show for itself. However, there are two facts that do speak for your government:

First, the presidents of the Senate and the House, whom you helped elect by manipulating Congress and with whom exactly one year ago you shared this plenary session, are now, due to statements by your former presidential advisor, Sandra Ortiz, caught in the corruption scandal at the Risk Management Unit. Everything points to your government paying them bribes with funds intended to care for the children of La Guajira, in exchange for approving pension reform and electing a Constitutional Court justice . You have a painting of the children of Palestine hanging in your office, and we all stand in solidarity with what is happening in the Middle East; no child should die like this. But I am going to give you a painting of the children of La Guajira, whom you have so instrumentalized in your campaign, with the hope that you may also look at this painting and remember one of the many promises you made to these children, that you may remember that you are the president of Colombia.

Second, and even more painful: a year ago, in this very place, Senator Miguel Uribe delivered the opposition's first rebuttal. He cannot be here today. A month ago, criminals attempted to assassinate him with two shots to the head and one to the leg. That never happened while you were in the opposition. Paradoxically, in that speech, Miguel told you: "President Petro: while you travel, they are killing us." And today, as he begins his 67th international trip, and just like yesterday, they continue to kill us. Although you no longer count them, there have been 200 massacres during your administration, and nearly 300 members of our Armed Forces have been murdered.

These two facts are the most accurate snapshot of the government you represent: corruption and criminality. And I would add: failure to serve the regions and profound disappointment among the electorate.

You sold yourself as a pacifist , but your "total peace" campaign failed. Today, criminal groups have increased their operations by 50%, financed by the production of more than 3,000 tons of cocaine per year, the fruit of the 300,000 hectares planted with coca. That's enough for them to use drones and high technology to kill police officers and civilians. Kidnapping, extortion, and the recruitment of minors have doubled. And yes, yours is the government that has seized the most tons of cocaine, because it is under your administration that the most cocaine has been produced in the entire history of the country.

You sold yourself as a Democrat , but you've attacked the courts, threatened Congress with swords in hand, and violated the Constitution you swore to uphold, but which no longer serves you. I remember as if it were yesterday the videos from your campaign where you swore to govern according to the Constitution and not hold a constituent assembly.

You too sold yourself as a feminist , but you've slapped the women of Colombia in the face with the appointment of aggressors to high positions in your government. I include you, Minister Armando Benedetti. Here I have this green handkerchief that I picked up from the floor the day Benedetti entered the plenary session as your new minister. This handkerchief fell from the false feminism of your government.

You sold yourself as a friend of the elderly , but you were unable to secure the resources in the General National Budget to guarantee the payment of the pension bonus. You didn't even guarantee the resources in the Pension Reform .

He portrayed himself as transparent, but his administration is marred by the worst corruption scandals: the 15 billion euros of Benedetti, "Papa Smurf," Laura Sarabia's nanny, the violation of campaign limits, the shady Ecopetrol contracts, Nicolás's money laundering, the embezzlement of the teachers' healthcare system, the financing of criminal groups with government contracts, and of course the mega-scandal of the Risk Management Unit, which today has captured the former director of the entity, his management team, Sandra Ortiz (his former regional advisor), former presidents of Congress, and keeps Carlos Ramón González, his right-hand man and former director of DAPRE, at large.

You sold yourself as an economist, but you've bankrupted the state. You broke the fiscal rule, failed to execute more than 100 billion of the 2024 budget, and presented an underfunded budget for 2025. You've branded us a poor and indebted country. If the economy is doing as well as you say, why are you going to present another tax reform?

You sold yourself as the savior of healthcare, but you induced it into a coma . You are responsible for the healthcare genocide. Stop shifting blame: today you control the entire system, including the administration of the eight largest health insurance companies in the country, which serve 30 million users. Millions of Colombians are dying waiting for medicine, an appointment, or treatment. That's why I reported you for homicide, Minister Jaramillo: you confessed to having created this crisis to pressure Congress. And prepare yourselves, because I'm going to overturn your healthcare reform.

You took advantage of young people, farmers, indigenous people, and the most vulnerable populations. You destroyed ICETEX and housing programs. There are no infrastructure projects, no roads, and no territorial transformation. Pure blah, blah, blah.

You want to sell yourself as a world leader, but today we're just a laughingstock in the eyes of the international community. The United States has you on your knees. In Germany, you mourned the fall of the Berlin Wall—what a shame. In Paris, you lost. In Chile, you lost. In Manta, you also lost. You're more concerned about the war in the Middle East than what's happening here. I hope you soon achieve peace in those countries... so that, finally, you'll remember that you're the president of Colombia, and that they're killing us here.

During the campaign, you disguised yourself as everything I've mentioned. All you needed was to change your skin color to captivate the African vote. But to do so, you exploited Francia Márquez , whom you betrayed and despise. I'd like to take this opportunity to send a message to the Vice President: You hold the most important position in the country held by a woman. You don't know how much struggle it has cost us to carve out these spaces, and you have disappointed all Colombian women. You allowed yourself to be subjugated, silenced, and trampled upon. With your silence, dignity will never become a custom.

Mr. President, your disapproval rating is approaching 70%, despite the fact that you've become an expert at fabricating smokescreens: the referendum, the constituent assembly, the change of the national emblem, alleged coups, speeches about drug addiction, fights with the United States (which always loses), the Statue of Liberty in Cartagena, and the shameful cabinet meetings. By the way, ministers: the same president who forced you to commit prevarication by signing the decree today calls you lazy, traitors, and incompetent. Get your resume ready... and money for a good lawyer, because they're going to fire you just like the other 55 ministers before you.

In closing, I want to speak to the heart of Colombia: to those brave women who, amidst difficulties, support their families; to the hardworking men who are the backbone of our nation; to the families who, with effort and hope, strive for a better future for their children. History has shown that Colombians know how to resist and rise up in the most difficult moments. Today, more than ever, we need to unite, learn from this great mistake, and not repeat it. We will overcome this dark chapter. We will rebuild what was destroyed, and we will emerge stronger. We will win the next elections with our heads held high, with our consciences awakened, and with the strength of the people. Petro will be a chapter we will always mourn as a country. And he will regret having lost the respect and trust Colombia offered him three years ago.

Remember: Petro only has four million votes, and in Colombia, 22 million people voted. That means we, the other 18 million voters, must commit to unity and choose a proposal that consolidates national reconciliation, restarts the engines of productivity, and treats criminals like criminals, without kid gloves.

Remember: Colombia is unbreakable. Lina Garrido is unbreakable.

Sincerely, Lina María Garrido

The issue didn't end there, as Garrido shared a message on social media in which she said, " I hit him so hard he had to run away, coward! " The president responded that he's "not used to running away" and accused her of relying "only" on "insults and lies."

In addition, a fight broke out between Armando Benedetti and Lina María Garrido.

The Minister of the Interior claimed to have filed a criminal complaint against her for libel and slander. The congresswoman responded ironically: "Paint them, Minister."

GERALDINE BAJONERO VASQUEZ

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