The story would be the subject of a mini-series. In November, a Swedish tabloid published some images of Verónica Alcocer, wife of President Gustavo Petro, although separated from him for some time, during her stay in Stockholm. The cover of express titled “Fugitive First Lady,” based on the premise that it was an unofficial stopover surrounded by luxury goods, expensive coats and visits to exclusive restaurants.
The Colombian press was quick to report the information. And he used this material as a political weapon seasoned with all kinds of conjectures. First, questions have been raised about the possible waste of public funds. But you also have doubts about its presence in a country with which Colombia had just concluded a contract for the purchase of 17 Gripen fighter jets for approximately $4.387 million.
Almost none of the local media outlets that fueled these theories, incited by the opposition, clarified that the information came from one of Sweden’s tabloid newspapers. “Its coverage focuses on celebrity news, entertainment, crimes and scandals. But, at the same time, it takes a serious approach to political issues,” Swedish media analyst Ulricha Facht said by email. Regardless, the article on Verónica Alcocer focuses on her supposed life of luxury and alienation from the austerity that critics believe the couple of Colombia’s first left-wing leader should lead.
The controversial blocking of the website
To make matters even more complicated, since the story broke in mid-November, many Colombian readers have noted with concern that the website of the previously unknown Swedish tabloid had suddenly been blocked. Was this official censorship? Gustavo Petro’s government argued that the restriction was imposed in 2021, when he was not yet in power, by the online gaming regulator. The reason is that the page allows advertisements from pirate betting houses banned in Colombia.
Opposition MP Katherine Miranda, however, detected that this blockade was intermittent. With the information provided by the Ministry of Technologies, he certified that, from October 30 to 15 days before the publication of the express— The veto on the Nordic portal has been renewed. “In principle, when the information became known, everyone in Colombia had access to the page. It was only two days later that the actual blocking took place.” The parliamentarian warns, while clarifying the blind spots of this part of history, that in “a democratic state, the press cannot be the subject of reprisals or arbitrary limitations”.
The headlines in the Colombian press presented this Expressen coverage as a serious investigation. “No one questioned its origin and they amplified an insignificant issue without any compelling angle.”
Maria Paula Martínez Concha
— Political scientist and analyst
This is a complex issue, marked by regulatory gaps that could endanger freedom and the right to information. For now, press critic and academic Omar Rincón points out that the root of this whole problem lies in the “overpoliticization” of the media in Colombia. With particular emphasis on the figure of the first president and on the aspects of his private life which are not of public interest: “There is a change in the social class of power. From the agricultural elite of President Uribe, we moved to the traditional bourgeoisie of Bogota with Santos.
The political scientist and analyst María Paula Martínez Concha assures that the journalistic treatment of other first ladies had a different level. It was unusual, for example, for the media to scrutinize the price of her outfits so insistently: “It was with bad intentions that the European paparazzi pursued her with the camera almost planted in her face. However, headlines in the Colombian press featured this coverage of express as a serious investigation. “No one questioned its origin and they amplified an insignificant issue without any compelling angle.”
In video images published by the tabloid, Alcocer is seen with his daughter Antonella Petro, 17, and Catalan businessman Manuel Grau Pujadas, nationalized as a Colombian in record time under the current government. This is a figure close to Petro since he was mayor of Bogotá (2012-2016). This, and the fact that the Spaniard is part of the board of directors of Cisa (Central Investment Center of the Colombian State), and that he participated in the official visit of the first lady to Nicolas Maduro in Caracas in 2023, have also been used as arguments and ammunition to discredit.
Alcocer: “It hurts deeply”
In this way, the snowball continued to grow and Verónica Alcocer was forced to speak briefly about her a few days ago.
The text, signed from the headquarters of the aeronautics company in Linköping (Sweden), refutes in six points certain rumors spread in the Colombian media and social networks to keep pre-electoral agitation boiling in the run-up to the presidential elections next May. “Commitment to transparency and ethical values is the basis of our work. We do not tolerate corruption and follow a strict policy that regulates our conduct, in accordance with OECD international standards,” says the company.
Verónica Alcocer and President Petro, separated but without formal divorce, have been on the Clinton list of OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) since October 24, a sanction imposed by the Trump administration on the grounds that the cooperation of the Colombian government in the fight against drugs has been insufficient and has encouraged the cultivation of coca.
After this measure, their purchases of plane tickets, their bank accounts and payments linked to the American system such as Visa or Mastercard, among others, were frozen. This is why, express opted for the sensational title “First Lady on the Run” to depict a public figure whose private life suddenly came to a halt in Stockholm.
Local media reported that Verónica Alcocer returned to Bogotá on the weekend of December 14 on a commercial flight. The sequence of events leads Omar Rincón to expose some keys to the driving forces of the information agenda in Colombia: “Informative “petrocentrism” has achieved something disastrous for journalism and that is that by devoting itself to doing what is simplest, that is, activism disguised as analysis or opinion, it has completely forgotten its basic work: working with sources, data, documents and context. New York Times or a Swedish tabloid looking for clicks.
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