Colombian president dismisses sports minister amid first Cabinet crisis

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro dismissed his Minister of Sports Maria Isabel Urrutia on Tuesday because of the "indelicate actions with the budget" she managed in her office.

Petro said the new head of the ministry, a physical educator, will be sworn in Tuesday.

“I have declared the Minister of Sport to be dismissed for her indelicate actions with the nation's budget. Today the new minister takes office,” Petro wrote on Twitter.

Although the Colombian president had announced last week that Urrutia was leaving in the first Cabinet shakeup since he took office in August, Petro fast-tracked the dismissal after it was revealed that Urrutia, a former Olympic champion, signed 264 contracts for almost $5 million after her departure from office. Many of the contracts were signed late at night and through direct contracting.

"The contracts were already in place, the only thing we did was to give them a green light,” Urrutia told the media Tuesday. “We did the previous study of the contractors, they were people who presented their resumes, we reviewed them. There was no misappropriation of the ministry's funds.”

Petro also broke the news of the departure of Education Minister Alejandro Gaviria and Culture Minister Patricia Ariza.

The announcement was made after Gaviria expressed opposition to a controversial health care reform plan the government intends to pass in Congress.

“We are at a decisive moment for our reforms and we need more cohesion and determination,” Petro said in a national address after announcing the Cabinet changes.