President Gustavo Petro harshly reprimanded Alfredo Saade during a public event: "Pay attention."

On August 8, President Gustavo Petro led the transfer of 6,500 hectares of land in Tierralta, Córdoba, as part of the Agrarian Reform. The event was attended by national and local authorities, as well as beneficiary communities. Some of his comments were not overlooked, including a warning he made to Alfredo Saade.

During his speech, Petro highlighted the most recent results in social matters, citing figures from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) , according to which monetary poverty in Colombia fell to 31.8%, the lowest percentage since 2012.

"We've reduced unemployment like never before in history, we've reduced poverty like never before in history; I'm proud of that, and I hope this year and the next year we can achieve even better results than we've already shown, and I believe we will," he stated.

The president attributed this progress primarily to the increase in the minimum wage and the improvement in working conditions, which, in his analysis, allowed for a substantial increase in the real income of three-fifths of the population.

He specified that the improvement was evident in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th income quintiles, that is, in the middle classes of society. "We managed, through salary policy and wage growth, to increase the real income of three-fifths of the population," he reiterated.

In the middle of his speech, Petro referred to the preliminary information on the state of the country's health system for week 30 of the year, announcing that it would be published soon. Noticing that Alfredo Saade, Chief of the Presidential Office, was taking notes instead of following his instructions, he challenged him directly : "With what I've seen regarding health in week 30, which we're going to publish... Saade, please pay attention, because we already have preliminary results for this year, halfway through this year." Petro then continued his speech.

At the same event, Petro questioned Barranquilla's economic outlook, stating that, in his opinion, the city is undergoing a "full process of impoverishment."

He contrasted this perception with the positive image that, according to him, some media outlets project: "Look at that paradox. I would say that Barranquilla is in the midst of a process of impoverishment, but for the press, it's the jewel in the crown, because it's run by a friend of theirs, a family, and many people in Barranquilla believe the story."

However, the President's comments and data on poverty in the city contrast with DANE data. They show, on the contrary, that poverty in the capital of the Atlántico Department remains stable, with a downward trend, even below the national average and not increasing, as Gustavo Petro claimed.

*This content was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on publicly available information released to media outlets. It was also reviewed by the journalist and an editor.