Gustavo Petro posts Yerry Mina photomontage, igniting new controversy
gustavo petro posted a photomontage of Yerry Mina on X hours after a call for unity around Colombia’s national team. The post used the phrase “Dignidad o nostalgia de hidalgos esclavistas,” and it quickly reignited political debate around the squad before the last friendly ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Petro and Yerry Mina
The publication included two images and one sentence that carried the controversy. One image showed Yerry Mina shaking hands with Petro during the delivery of the national flag to the national team on Thursday. Another showed Mina smiling next to former president Álvaro Uribe during a visit years ago to one of Uribe’s farms.
Yerry Mina is 31 years old and was born in Guachené, Cauca. The post placed those two images side by side and framed the defender in a way that different sectors read as a political reference, not just a football post.
Antonella Petro and CATAM
The dispute did not begin with Petro’s post. It started after the flag handover ceremony at CATAM in Bogotá on Thursday, when images circulated showing James Rodríguez greeting Antonella Petro but not stopping for a photo. Some users interpreted that moment as James Rodríguez ignoring a request from Antonella Petro.
Hours later, Antonella Petro posted a video on social media calling for unity around the national team. She said, “A nuestra selección hay que apoyarla con unidad. En la cancha somos un solo país. Cuando vuelvan del Mundial acá los estaremos esperando con los brazos abiertos y ojalá ahí ya me pueda tomar la foto”.
Petro then reposted that video and wrote, “Antonella Petro le habla a James y le pide a toda Colombia apoyar la selección Colombia”. About one hour later, he posted the Yerry Mina photomontage, turning a plea for unity into a new round of argument over politics, race, and the national team.
Colombia before 2026
The timing gave the post immediate reach. It landed in the antesala del último amistoso de la Tricolor antes del Mundial 2026, when attention on the squad was already high and any message tied to James Rodríguez, Yerry Mina, or Álvaro Uribe was likely to spread fast.
For readers following the debate, the next step is not a match or a government statement, but the social reaction around Petro’s wording and the images he chose. The post has already shifted the conversation back to the same public fault lines exposed at CATAM, with Yerry Mina again at the center of it.
