MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombia's Foreign Minister resigns

Murillo is believed to have electoral plans of his own

Luis Gilberto Murillo has turned in his resignation as Colombia's Foreign Minister, presumably to pursue an electoral position, it was reported Monday in Bogotá. According to local media, Murillo might be running for president next year. His successor effective Feb. 1 will be President Gustavo Petro's Friday woman and lawyer Laura Sarabia. Also resigning Monday was Transport Minister María Constanza García.

Murillo's departure came after Petro upped Colombia's stance regarding the Bolivarian regime in Venezuela, which remained in power after Jan. 10 despite producing no convincing evidence that Nicolás Maduro had won the July 28 elections.

“I have submitted my resignation as Chancellor of Colombia, I thank President @PetroGustavo for the opportunity to be part of this historic moment,” Murillo wrote on X. Days earlier, Murillo expressed his “deep concern” about the “increase and seriousness of the allegations of human rights violations” in Venezuela as the Colombian government joined those who admit that “they were not free elections.” which earned Murillo heavy criticism from his Venezuelan colleague Yván Gil.

In 2022, Murillo was appointed ambassador of Colombia to the United States. In May 2024, he left that post to assume as head of Colombian diplomacy after the departure of then Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva.

”Colombia is today a key player (...) with a diplomacy that promotes dialogue and international cooperation,” Murillo said recently. However, more than 100 people have died recently and nearly 20,000 were displaced in five days as clashes between the Government and the ELN guerrillas resumed.

So far, Sarabia has been the director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic (Dapre), in addition to being the presidential chief of staff who keeps Petro's agenda. She is believed to be Petro's most trusted person and the liaison between the head of state and the other ministers or politicians.

In May 2023 she was involved in a scandal of illegal eavesdropping on one of her employees for the loss of a briefcase with money in her home, which led her to resign as chief of staff and leave the government for a few months. But Petro brought her back onboard, first as director of the Department of Social Prosperity (DPS) and then as director of Dapre in a position that reinforced the initial position of chief of staff.

With next year's elections looming over, candidates who have held public positions involving budget execution in the last twelve months cannot run, which would explain Murillo's move.