Huevos Revueltos con Política · La Silla Vacía

Despelote dentro de la Cancillería

·11 min·1 clip

A passport system failure and an ambassador's personal chef crashing a luxury car expose the internal chaos inside Colombia's Foreign Ministry.

The episode, hosted by Tatiana Duque, opens by highlighting two recent scandals: a failure in the new passport issuance system and an ambassador's personal chef crashing an official car. Guest reporter María José Restrepo from La Silla Vacía explains the investigation is based on interviews with diplomats totaling around 70 years of experience and a review of documents. The first major problem identified is the lack of a coherent foreign policy, tracing back to former Chancellor Álvaro Leiva, who focused the ministry on peace issues and left diplomats abroad without clear directives. The ministry became reactive to President Petro's tweets on international affairs. A second problem is the politicization of embassies, with 61% of Petro's appointed ambassadors not being career diplomats, including examples like Jennifer Edima Palma in Turkey and the secretary general Elvira Zanabria Salazar. The third issue is financial, with both the ministry's budget and its revolving fund running deficits for four consecutive years. The report provides specific figures, such as the revolving fund's profits dropping from 125 billion pesos in 2022 to just 541 million in 2025. The episode details operational crises, including the CITAC consular system being down for three days, affecting services for 4.7 to 6 million Colombians abroad. It recounts how diplomats in the Middle East during the Israel-Iran conflict lacked proper safety infrastructure and communication from Bogotá. The consequences discussed are a loss of international credibility for Colombia and potential problems for the one million Colombians abroad registered to vote in the upcoming election due to dysfunctional consular services. The episode concludes by directing listeners to the full report on La Silla Vacía's website and briefly mentions other political news about fractures within the right-wing Democratic Center party.

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