Is it acceptable to criticize politicians' children? The harassment of Petro's youngest daughter generates rejection in Colombia

A new video in which Antonella Petro Alcocer, the youngest daughter of President Gustavo Petro, appears in a street harassment of her family has aroused the anger of her father and has been rejected in Colombia.

In the images, recorded by the perpetrator in an amusement park in Florida (United States), a woman can be seen approaching and shouting at Antonella, 15, and her mother, Verónica Alcocer, Petro's wife.

“Hey, how about the Pan American [Games]?

Well, not?

Tasty walking, complaining about capitalism (sic)”, she blurts out with the camera focused on the first lady.

Alcocer pays no attention to him and continues walking.

Antonella, on the other hand, is stunned and puts her hand on her chest, asking if they are talking to her, while she looks at the person who is screaming.

The woman, who recorded the moment, immediately speaks directly to him: “I don't want anything with you (…).

I'm not saying anything to you."

This Friday, a day after the video went viral on social networks, Petro questioned the “silence” of the Prosecutor's Office, headed by his political rival Francisco Barbosa, in the face of cases of harassment of his family.

“They are already repetitive, systematic crimes.

It is not an isolated event as it may have been understood before.

The harassment is repetitive when my daughter is on the street or anywhere,” she said in statements to journalists in Vatican City, after a meeting with Pope Francis.

She did not clarify what crime she was referring to.

The incident touched the president, who arrived in Italy on a trip dedicated to peace.

The day before, he also tweeted about the matter: “This happened with my daughter in a park in Florida, USA (…).

This is how a right-wing Colombian lady treated her.

Not content 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 a right-wing Colombian lady treated her.

Not content with the harassment she suffered in the Barranquilla stadium, the persecution of right-wing ignorance against a minor continues… https://t.co/WnluWGWOUY

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 18, 2024

Petro is not alone in his rejection.

Numerous voices from across the political spectrum have denounced 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 repudiate him.

“The hatred of some sectors of the reactionary opposition is exceeding the limits to the point of harassing 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 He came out to defend Antonella.

“Children must be cared for and loved by the entire society.

And this consideration must be above everything else,” she trilled.

The debate reaches the radio

The debate has entered the Colombian situation and reached the airwaves of the Blu Radio station this Friday.

During the program

Mañanas Blu

, director Néstor Morales and the panelists criticized Alcocer's actions during the incident, and defended the woman who yelled at him, arguing that she was respectful of Antonella.

For journalist Felipe Zuleta, the biggest mistake that was made during the exchange was made by the first lady.

“What she should have done was grab Antonella by the hand and take her with her,” he declared.

Morales joined the criticism.

He said that the woman rebuked a “political agent,” referring to her mother, and that she did what she should have done: leave the minor out of her.

“It was against Verónica Alcocer and not against the girl,” they concluded.

Her message is one that has been seen frequently in recent days on social networks: harassing a politician with words is acceptable, but without messing with her children.

It is not the first time that Antonella ends up caught in the middle of pointing fingers at her parents.

In November, while attending with her family, but without her father, the Colombia and Brazil game of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Barranquilla, 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, with tears in her eyes.

That same night, her father rejected the fans' behavior.

“My 15-year-old daughter had to leave the Barranquilla stadium.

They led the opposition chant against her, a minor woman.

Cowards,” she wrote in X.

The president's eldest daughter, Andrea Petro Herrán, has also been a victim, although she has lived in France for years.

In September, she reported that she had received intimidating messages on social networks in which she was threatened with death.

At the request of her father, the Prosecutor's Office quickly 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 has affected figures from different political sides.

Paloma Valencia, the Uribe senator who spoke out against the harassment of Antonella, has had to defend herself on multiple occasions when opponents have named her daughter Amapola de ella in their criticism of her.

Perhaps the most emblematic case occurred in 2017, when the girl was one year old.

In a column, journalist Daniel Samper Ospina used Valencia's daughter's name to mock her tough stance against drugs.

“Dr. Paloma had a daughter and she named her Amapola, something that Dr. Londoño almost criticized, who is so harsh with everything that has to do with drugs,” he wrote.

The director 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 exposed the name of my only eight-year-old son 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 declared.

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