The rectification comes more than a month after a judge ordered him to do so.
News Colombia.
The controversy that broke out after a phrase by President Gustavo Petro during a Council of Ministers on September 17 ended up escalating to the judicial courts. At that meeting, the president said: “A free woman does whatever she wants with her clitoris and her brain, and if she knows how to match it, she will be a great woman,” a comment that fueled criticism from different sectors.
The impact of those words did not remain in public discussion. Tatiana Echavarría, along with her daughter—who also heard the intervention—considered that the statement violated their fundamental rights and decided to bring the case to justice through a tutela action. The process reached a court in Bogotá, where the judge ruled in his favor and ordered the president to publicly recant.
“The accused President of the Republic, Mr. Gustavo Petro Urrego, is ordered to retract and present public excuses within five days from the notification of this ruling,” the ruling read. Although the order had to be carried out from October 17, the retraction only occurred this Tuesday, coinciding with the commemoration of 25N.
The video with which Petro complied with the court order
To comply with the decision, Petro released a recording in which he referred to the episode again and offered a rectification. “In compliance with judicial decisions that invite reflection and construction, I rectify the expression I used when I spoke about women’s happiness, referring to a specific part of their body and another. I recognize that this way of expressing myself was unfortunate, but scientific,” stated the president.
In his message, the head of state also apologized to the plaintiff, her daughter and all the women who felt affected by his words. According to him, the initial intention was to rely on scientific foundations, but he acknowledged that the way he expressed it was not appropriate. She also insisted that her commitment is to accompany and defend women, ensuring that her comment did not seek to reduce them to a fragmented vision.
“My deep conviction must be clear that no woman should be looked at, treated or valued in a fragmented way. None is just her body, none is just her mind, none is her family or work role. Each woman is a universe and deserves to be named that way by the State, the media, schools and politics, as a total, dignified and free being,” said the president.
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