Many have speculated recently why Colombian President Gustavo Petro so often misses official meetings and public appearances. But now his brother has offered a clinical explanation: Asperger's syndrome.
In the 13 months since he took office, Petro has missed almost 100 government meetings, according to Colombian media, as well as several ceremonial events he was expected to attend. Petro’s critics as a result have given him the nickname “el ausente,” or the no-show. Even many supporters fear he suffers from a debilitating condition.
On the Colombian TV news show Los Informantes on Sunday, Petro’s younger brother — Juan Fernando Petro — said he and Gustavo were diagnosedas teenagers with Asperger’s syndrome. The condition, which is on the autism spectrum, can impair a person’s social communication and interaction skills.
“We can be with ten thousand people and then all of a sudden we’re not there at all," Juan Fernando Petro said, "even though we’re there physically."
By Monday afternoon, neither President Petro nor his aides had confirmed his brother’s claim.
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Petro, Colombia's first-ever leftist president and a former left-wing guerrilla, is also dealing with scandals in his administration.
That includes charges recently brought against his son, Nicolás Petro, for illegal enrichment and money-laundering drug cash, some of which allegedly ended up in Gustavo Petro's 2022 presidential campaign coffers. The president's also struggling to move his reform agenda through Congress.
