The strategy of Miguel Uribe Turbay backfired. Very badly. The public knows that he considers Álvaro Uribe to be his great mentor, a role model to follow. It is well known that he is disconnected from the reality of the country. Last year, he claimed in an opinion program that the Colombian middle class earned between 20 and 60 million pesos a month. On social media, Miguel Uribe launched a spot that has backfired: romanticizing the early morning that millions of Colombians have to endure and which many sociologists say could be the germ of our violent gene. For someone living in Soacha, waking up at four in the morning is necessary to send their children to school and then cross the city to work at the other end. People wake up early and work so brutally in Colombia because they do not have rights. But Uribe, in his disconnection, claimed in that advertisement that what we needed was to return to the years of his mentor, Álvaro Uribe, and dust off the motto “Work, work, and work.” The video he spread on his social networks had another goal, criticizing the supposed lack of discipline of President Petro.
The senator’s responses only sank him further. Journalists like Félix de Bedout criticized a message that goes against labor principles in the more developed countries, and also reminded the senator what time Congress starts working – nine in the morning – receiving from Uribe Turbay a response that reflects his disconnection with the country: that it is very hard for him because he wakes up at five to go to the gym as he is preparing for a marathon.
Someone who is at the antipodes of the government, Vicky Dávila, criticized the message of the Uribista senator through the social network X: “Senator, the vast majority of Colombians do not want Petro’s destructive project to be perpetuated in 2026. But people also do not want to return to the past. What we see in the video are citizens who need solutions and solidarity from the State and private enterprise. These people have spent their whole lives seeking someone to really listen to them and for politicians not to use them to win votes in elections. They need their promises to be fulfilled and to not be lied to. Workers also need free time, vacations, to be with their families, to exercise, to see their children grow, and to fulfill their dreams. They need to sleep well. Advanced countries have shorter but more productive workdays. They are solid economies with adequate growth, and people have a better quality of life. The suffering of the people should not be perpetuated. We must reward effort and hard work, but not inhumane conditions. Here we need innovation and entrepreneurship. Here we need more ethics, more decency, and a firm but more humane government.”
According to the OECD – data provided by La Silla Vacía – Colombia is the country that works the most (48 hours a week) and has the least productivity. Undoubtedly, the video, which would be the spearhead of his presidential campaign, backfired on Senator Uribe Turbay.