Colombian President Gustavo Petro stirred up a new controversy this Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting held in Ipiales, Nariño, by interrupting a presentation about the dairy sector to criticize singer Shakira for her phrase "women no longer cry, women invoice."
Petro interrupted the Minister of Commerce, Diana Morales, who was presenting on programs in the dairy sector, to divert the topic to reflections on the commodification of the female body.
"A moment ago, Shakira sparked something in me when she said women generate income. The body is not for sale because it belongs to life, not the market, not even a little or a lot, because it turns people into slaves, for God's sake," the president stated before his ministers, who responded with laughter and bewilderment.
Petro again mentioned anatomical terms related to the brain, defending the use of scientific names in matters of sexuality: "Who said it's a sin to say the scientific names? In sexuality, the brain plays a role; sensitivity is linked to the nerves, and the nerves reach the brain."
The president argued that those who sell their bodies become commodities: "What comes out of there are not human beings, but rather commodities with use value and exchange value, quick, they evaporate over time, beauty fades away."
The speech also included philosophical references to Hegel and Engels regarding the relationship between form and content, concluding with the reflection: "The beautiful form lasts a night or two. The content makes that last a lifetime."
The phrase by Shakira that sparked Petro's reaction comes from the BZRP Music Sessions #53, released on January 11, 2023 alongside Argentine producer Bizarrap, and it was globally interpreted as a anthem of female empowerment and economic and emotional independence; however, it seems that the president of Colombia made a distorted interpretation of it.
The episode is not the first of its kind. In September 2025, Petro had already sparked a similar controversy in another Cabinet meeting by stating that "a free woman does whatever she pleases with her clitoris and her brain."
Those statements led to a legal action filed by the lawyer Tatiana Echavarría, and the 66th Circuit Court of Bogotá ordered the president to publicly retract.
Petro fulfilled the order in November 2025 through a rectification video in which he stated: "I retract the expression I used when I spoke about the happiness of women, referring to a specific part of their body and to another." However, just five months later, he repeated a speech with very similar content.
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