This Saturday, Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, resurfaced after a puzzling absence of nearly 48 hours from X, his favored communication platform. His absence extended beyond the virtual realm, as since Wednesday, he had not appeared at any public events. On Friday, Petro unexpectedly withdrew from a summit of Caribbean State leaders, where he was supposed to host. Laura Sarabia, the Foreign Minister, issued an apology during the meeting: "I would like to take this opportunity to excuse President Gustavo Petro, who could not join us due to reasons of force majeure." However, the specific reasons were not disclosed, leading to a wave of speculation, which was further fueled by the silence from the Presidency in response to media inquiries regarding the President's situation.

The daily agenda shared by the Presidency team was notably sparse. Wednesday stated: "private work meetings." Thursday mentioned: "work meetings and monitoring the implementation of the Peace Agreement and transport infrastructure." No program was shared for Friday, nor was there any mention of the Caribbean States Association meeting, where Panama's President, José Raúl Mulino, assumed the interim presidency of the cooperation organization. This silence coincided with a national strike called by labor unions to support the government's push for a popular consultation.

The strike saw limited participation on Wednesday and Thursday, following the Senate's fourth commission approving the labor reform in its penultimate debate on Tuesday night. While the reform, aimed at improving Colombian labor rights, still requires Senate plenary approval, the marches dwindled as the popular consultation was promoted to support this very reform. In stark contrast to May Day, where around 30,000 people marched in Bogotá, the strike only saw 3,000 participants, a tenth of the previous turnout. The President has remained silent on the matter.

Petro's punctuality has been under scrutiny since the beginning of his term, but his two-day disappearance during social mobilizations rekindles criticism from his first foreign minister, Álvaro Leyva. In two recently published letters, Leyva argues that Petro lacks the capacity to fulfill his duties. In the first letter, published in April, Leyva mentions Petro's "two-day disappearance" during an official visit to France in June 2023. "It was in Paris where I could confirm your addiction problem," he states in the letter. Weeks later, in a second letter, the veteran conservative politician provides examples of Petro's absence from confirmed events and notes instances where he had to perform duties left vacant by Petro in front of other heads of state.

In response, Petro has labeled Leyva a "snake" and accused him of joining an international conspiracy to overthrow him, despite previously advising him to seek re-election. Regarding his disappearance in Paris, Petro claimed he was with his daughters and granddaughters. In four tweets on Saturday, Petro addressed recent national issues: he pushed for the Senate to revote the popular consultation; defended Ecopetrol's president, Ricardo Roa; celebrated Colombia's lowest unemployment rate for April in a century; and accused Bogotá's mayor, Carlos Fernando Galán, of criminalizing protests. Yet, he did not explain the reasons for his recent absence or why he canceled his summit attendance, leaving room for speculation about his private life.