Gustavo Petro reignited a social media storm over Colombia’s national team after posting a montage of Yerry Mina on X with the phrase “Dignidad o nostalgia de hidalgos esclavistas.” The message landed just after a brief attempt at calm around the squad and pulled the argument back into public view.
The post mattered because it came in the days before Colombia’s last friendly before the 2026 World Cup, when every gesture around the team was already being read as more than football. Petro’s image of Mina showed the defender, 31, with a serious face as he shook the president’s hand during Thursday’s act of handing over the national flag to the squad at CATAM in Bogotá, then paired it with a second photo from years ago showing Mina smiling beside former president Álvaro Uribe on one of Uribe’s farms.
That contrast gave the message its force. It was not just a post about a player; it linked a current national-team figure to a political memory that remains loaded in Colombia. The reaction was immediate, with users on social media splitting between support and rejection, and the debate only sharpened because the same day had already been marked by a separate controversy involving James Rodríguez at the CATAM ceremony.
Petro had first amplified a conciliatory note. After several users interpreted that James Rodríguez had ignored a request for a photograph from Antonella Petro during the flag ceremony, she posted a video calling for unity around the team and said, “A nuestra selección hay que apoyarla con unidad.” She added, “En la cancha somos un solo país,” and, “Cuando vuelvan del Mundial acá los estaremos esperando con los brazos abiertos y ojalá ahí ya me pueda tomar la foto.” Petro reshared that message and wrote, “Antonella Petro le habla a James y le pide a toda Colombia apoyar la selección Colombia.”
Then, about an hour later, he posted the Yerry Mina montage and reopened the controversy he had just helped cool. That turn suggests the dispute around the national team is no longer only about sport or even only about protocol; it has become a stage for political signaling, with footballers drawn into a broader fight over identity and memory. Mina, a central defender from Guachené, Cauca, is now part of that argument whether he asked for it or not.
