Luis Gilberto Murillo responds harshly to Gustavo Petro's comment that "no one who is black is going to tell me": "It's unacceptable."

President Gustavo Petro's two appearances in national media on July 15th have been at the center of controversy due to various incidents for which he is being criticized. One of them is the way he referred to the Minister of Equality during the Cabinet meeting on the same day.

During one of the president's speeches, he addressed the controversy surrounding the appointment of Alejandra Omaña and Juan Carlos Florián to the Ministry of Equality. However, his words have generated criticism from various quarters, this time in the form of a strong rebuke from former Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo.

Referring to the journalist's appointment to the Cabinet, the president asserted that there is "an internal dispute" within the Ministry of Equality that is leading to "ousting officials" who served with him during his tenure as Mayor of Bogotá.

Along these same lines, he noted that "no one who is Black is going to tell me that a porn actor should be excluded," referring to the disagreements over the inclusion of two officials in this ministry.

This comment, which used the word "black," was met with criticism from several politicians and social media users, who called it racist . This Thursday, former Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo published a video on social media calling attention to this way of communicating with the head of state.

In the speech he was giving when the video was taken, the former official took the opportunity to address the controversial comment. He said the president's communication with the member of his cabinet is "unacceptable" and would have consequences for Colombian political debate and social discourse in the country.

"Let no one say, 'I don't accept a Black person saying such and such a thing to me,' because that's racializing the discourse in Colombia, especially when it's said by the president of the Republic," he charged forcefully, continuing to develop his point.

He also asserted that "we must move toward an inclusive nation" without placing Black, Indigenous, or other sectors on a political side, such as the center, the right, or the left. "The Colombian soul is not found in ideological and political divisions; it is found in effort and work. You find it in every Colombian," he concluded.

In this speech, which he said took place at an establishment in the United States, he also hinted at a possible presidential candidacy at the beginning of his address. " It's surprising in this country today that people say that an African American can't be president. Yes, we can, because we're ready."

On social media, Murillo has supported the country's racial struggles for inclusion. For his part, President Gustavo Petro has not responded to this call to attention from one of his former government officials, who became critical of the government on issues such as the aforementioned and the controversy over the issuance of passports.

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