A new video showing Antonella Petro Alcocer, President Gustavo Petro's youngest daughter, harassing her family on the street has provoked her father's anger and rejection in Colombia. In the images taken by the perpetrator in an amusement park in Florida (USA), a woman can be seen approaching 15-year-old Antonella and her mother Verónica Alcocer, Petro's wife, and screaming at them. “Hey, how are they? [Juegos] Pan-American? Well, right? Taking a nice walk, complaining about capitalism (sic),” he blurts out as the camera focuses on the First Lady. Alcocer ignores him and moves on. Antonella, on the other hand, is stunned, puts her hand on her chest and asks if they are talking to her while looking at the person who is screaming. The woman who recorded the moment immediately speaks to him directly: “I don’t want anything with you (…).” I’m not telling you anything.
This Friday, a day after the video went viral on social networks, Petro questioned the “silence” of the prosecutor's office led by his political rival Francisco Barbosa in the face of the harassment cases involving his family. “These are already recurring, systematic crimes. This is not an isolated event, as one might have previously thought. “The harassment is repeated when my daughter is on the street or anywhere else,” he said in statements to reporters in Vatican City after a meeting with Pope Francis. He did not make it clear what crime he was referring to.
The incident touched the president, who came to Italy on a trip dedicated to peace. The day before, he also tweeted about the incident: “This happened to my daughter in a park in Florida, USA (…).” This is how a right-wing Colombian woman treated her. “Not satisfied with the harassment she suffered at the Barranquilla Stadium, the persecution of right-wing ignorance against a minor continues.”
This happened with my daughter in a park in Florida, USA, where my daughter went with her family. This is how she treated a right-wing Colombian woman. Not satisfied with the harassment she suffered at the Barranquilla Stadium, the persecution of a minor for right-wing ignorance continues… https://t.co/WnluWGWOUY
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 18, 2024
Petro is not alone in his rejection. Numerous voices across the political spectrum have condemned the video as street harassment of a minor. Alexander López Maya, an ally of the president and senator from the Democratic pole, was one of the first to reject him. “The hatred of some parts of the reactionary opposition goes so far as to harass the president's family with ridiculous and absurd premises,” wrote this Thursday in X. Paloma Valencia, an opposition senator and radical critic of Petro, also commented, To defend Antonella. “Children need to be cared for and loved by society as a whole. And that consideration must come before everything else,” he trilled.
The debate reaches the radio
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The debate has entered the Colombian situation and reached the broadcasts of the Blu radio station this Friday. During the broadcast Mañanas Blu, director Néstor Morales and the panelists criticized Alcocer's behavior during the incident and defended the woman who shouted at him, arguing that she was being respectful towards Antonella. For journalist Felipe Zuleta, the biggest mistake made during the exchange was the first lady. “She should have taken Antonella by the hand and taken her with her,” he explained.
Morales joined the criticism. He said the woman had reprimanded a “political operative,” referring to the mother, and that she had done what she should have done: left the minor out. “It was against Verónica Alcocer and not against the girl,” they concluded. His message is one that has been seen frequently on social networks in recent days: it is acceptable to harass a politician with words, but without messing with his children.
It's not the first time Antonella has been caught pointing the finger at her parents. In November, while she was attending the Colombia-Brazil 2026 World Cup qualifying match in Barranquilla with her family but without her father, a group of fans sitting near her began chanting: “Get out, Petro!” Get out , Petro!” Amidst the boos, the teenager left the stadium visibly upset and with tears in her eyes. That same night, his father rejected the fans' behavior. “My 15-year-old daughter had to leave the Barranquilla Stadium. They directed the opposition chant against her, an underage woman. Cowards,” he wrote in X.
The president's eldest daughter, Andrea Petro Herrán, is also a victim, although she has lived in France for years. In September, she reported receiving intimidating messages on social media threatening to kill her. At his father's request, the public prosecutor's office immediately opened an investigation and summoned the alleged perpetrators for questioning, but never accused anyone of a crime.
Children as a political weapon
President Petro has described the harassment of his children as “right-wing ignorance.” However, it is a phenomenon that affects personalities from different political sides. Paloma Valencia, the Uribe senator who spoke out against the harassment of Antonella, had to defend herself several times when opponents called her daughter Amapola in their criticism. Perhaps the most emblematic case occurred in 2017, when the girl was one year old. In a column, journalist Daniel Samper Ospina used the name of Valencia's daughter to mock her tough stance on drugs. “Dr. Paloma had a daughter and named her Amapola, which means Dr. “Almost criticized Londoño, who is so harsh on everything related to drugs,” he wrote.
The head of Semana, Vicky Dávila, has also spoken out against the use of her children to attack her. In 2020, Daniel Mendoza, the director of the controversial series Matarife, published in Dávila turned to X to report him. “Lawyer Daniel Mendoza and Mr. Gener Usuga have revealed the name of my son, who is only eight years old, as a member of a criminal clan. Where are the human rights defenders? Where are those who defend children? This is a crime. “This puts my son in danger,” he explained.
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