Who is who in Gustavo Petro's new cabinet, with which he seeks to end the Government?

The third major shake-up of Gustavo Petro's government has been the longest in time since he came to power in 2022. It could be said that it began in December with the resignation of Ricardo Bonilla from the Ministry of Finance and has continued until today, when there are still portfolios pending firm appointments.

While the cabinet is being formed, the team with which the president intends to finish his mandate is already beginning to take shape. Traces of the traditional parties that have maintained participation in the Executive and the other sectors that have been included in the construction of the new cabinet can be seen.

EL TIEMPO reconstructs the profiles of the new ministers and their political backgrounds to learn more about the direction the Executive will take in its last 18 months.

Since December, it has been known that the president was going to restructure his team to remove those ministers who had electoral interest. However, these changes were anticipated in light of the revelations of Ricardo Bonilla's alleged involvement in the UNGRD scandal. He stepped aside and was replaced by the then vice-minister Diego Guevara, who had been working in the portfolio since the administration of José Antonio Ocampo. He has no political background and is known for being of an unorthodox economic line. He took over Bonilla's duties in December, but was only officially appointed to the position in January.

Although the ministerial shake-up was expected to take place in the last weeks of December, it only resumed on January 20. Laura Sarabia, who was the director of Dapre, took over as foreign minister instead of Luis Gilberto Murillo, who left to bet on a presidential candidacy in 2026. Sarabia has been one of President Petro's trusted officials and has been with him since the campaign, when Armando Benedetti took her to those tents. Precisely, she was part of his UTL in the last period he was in the Senate: 2018-2022. She has been widely criticized by the left-wing sector of the cabinet. She was even one of the targets of the attacks of the council of ministers of February 4, which ended up promoting this last ministerial shake-up.

María Fernanda Rojas came to the Petro government to replace María Constanza García, who left due to her differences of approach with President Petro. Rojas took office after having been a councilor in Bogotá for the Green Alliance. She is seen as one of the two quotas of the governing sector of said party. In addition to having been a member of the Greens, Rojas was director of the IDU during Gustavo Petro's mayoralty in Bogotá.

Juan David Correa resigned from the Ministry of Culture after the Council of Ministers was televised. He made the decision in protest against the arrival of Armando Benedetti as head of the office. Yannai Kadamani, who at that time was deputy minister of Creative Economies, took his place. Although she was initially an interim minister, a few weeks ago it was announced that she will be the permanent minister. Her career has been far from politics, as she is a professional in performing arts and a master in dance training, a teacher and cultural manager. However, some place her in the sector close to Petrism.

Gloria Inés Ramírez was not part of the discordant council of ministers, but she left the Ministry of Labor with a letter of resignation in which she made clear her differences with the arrival of Armando Benedetti. In her place came Antonio Sanguino, who would be the second installment of the Green Alliance. He has been a councilor in Bogotá, a senator in the period 2018-2022, and more recently was chief of staff in the mayor's office of Claudia López. The legislative work that he can carry out to move social reforms has been highlighted.

With the departure of Iván Velásquez, President Gustavo Petro broke a tradition of just over 30 years whereby the person in charge of Defense was a civilian. He appointed General Pedro Sánchez. Although he had to retire from the Aerospace Force to fulfill his appointment, there was some controversy with the move. He has no political origins and has been highlighted recently for his leadership in the 'Operation Esperanza', in which three indigenous children who were lost in the Amazon for 40 days were rescued. He was commander of the Joint Command of Special Operations and was now one of those in charge of presidential security.

Although three weeks ago his appointment as chief of staff generated a tough internal crisis in the cabinet, he will now be the Minister of the Interior replacing Juan Fernando Cristo. His arrival to the portfolio has generated mixed responses. On the one hand there are his controversies over cases of alleged corruption and gender violence and on the other side of the scale his power of political management stands out. In recent governments he has been a member of the Uribe and Santist parties and now he is close to President Gustavo Petro. The latter has been one of his greatest defenders in the face of criticism for his arrival to the Executive. Before being in the ranks of the Petro party he was in the Partido de la U, a group in which his good relations are highlighted.

This Monday it was announced that Patricia Duque will be Minister of Sports. She is a business administrator by profession and has been in charge of several entities such as the Superintendence of Public Services. She was in the Bogotá Council and was recently an official of the Bogotá Comptroller's Office. She comes to the Executive as a conservative player, although sources confirmed to her that she was in the government of Juan Manuel Santos on behalf of the Gavirista liberalism.

Susana Muhamad, one of the ministers close to President Gustavo Petro, is replaced by Lena Estrada Añokazi, of Uitoto origin. Currently, Estrada Añokazi served as director of the Augusto Ramírez Ocampo diplomatic academy, being the first female member of an indigenous community to hold that position. The new minister has also been close to the president and has extensive experience in the Colombian indigenous movement.

The new ministers of ICT and Mines and Energy have yet to be appointed. In the first portfolio there is a list of three candidates that the Partido de la U has submitted and there is currently a bidding war on that list, where there is already talk that the Minister of the Interior would be interested in influencing the appointment by someone close to the 'Ñoños'. In the second portfolio, the arrival of Edwin Palma, who was Vice Minister of Labor and is currently on the board of directors of Ecopetrol and is an intervening agent of Air-e, is already certain. Palma is close to the president and he has placed him in several positions.

On the other hand, confirmation of the arrival of Susana Muhamad as director of the National Planning Department and of Alexander López as head of the office is still pending. In this way, those who presented their complaints upon the arrival of Armando Benedetti would not have left the government but rather had just had their positions changed. The future of the Ministry of Foreign Trade is also yet to be defined, since it has been said that Luis Carlos Reyes would leave there and it would be handed over to the liberal sectors.

Juan Sebastian Lombo Delgado