Verónica del Socorro Alcocer García (born 26 May 1976) is a Colombian philanthropist and the current
First Lady of Colombia since 2022, as the third wife of President
Gustavo Petro.[1][2][3]
Alcocer was born in
Sincelejo in the department of
Sucre. At the age of 21, she had her first child,
Nicolás.[4]She married Petro in 2000 and served as
First Lady of Bogotá during his term as mayor of Bogotá (2012-2015), when she helped create projects that supported children's and women's rights and culture.[5]
Early life
Verónica del Socorro Alcocer García was born on 26 May 1976 in
Sincelejo, capital of the department of
Sucre.[6][7] She is the eldest of three children and her husband has claimed that she is of
Italian ancestry. His father was Jorge Emilio Alcocer (1943-2012),[8] a conservative politician from Sucre, son of José Eustorgio Alcocer, twice mayor of Sincelejo, while his mother, Elizabeth García de Alcocer, is a housewife who served as an active member of the
Catholic Church.[9][10]She showed interest in being
religious from an early age, as well as in law, a career that she began three times and never ended.[11][12][13]
She married
Gustavo Petro in 2000,[14][15] becoming the stepmother of Andres, Nicolas, and Andrea, Petro's children from his previous marriages.[16] They went on to have two daughters together, Sofía and Antonella. She has become an ambassador for Colombian culture.[17][18] Despite being the wife of a left-wing president with radical ideologies, Alcocer has expressed on multiple occasions her devotion to the
Catholic faith, and her defense of children's rights, showing herself as
pro-life,[19] without expressing her repudiation of any kind the abortion.[20]
Involvement in politics
Following Petro's victory in the
2022 Colombian presidential election, Alcocer became involved in the selection of some
Cabinet members, mainly
government officials and members of the president's office. She was also involved in the discussions of the
health bills proposed by the
Petro administration, held in the
Congress during April 2023, this being classified as an unprecedented event. His positions in the administration and those of Petro's relatives have been criticized by Colombian publications such as Semana and La Silla Vacía,[21][22] which have accused the president of nepotism.[23]
Alcocer was characterized by being potentially active during Gustavo Petro's presidential campaign,[24] which was unprecedented, since traditionally no spouse of a political candidate in the
history of Colombia had carried out politics as a couple along with her husband, which allowed her obtain consistent leadership as well as a positive image from the female population towards their
husband.[25][26]
In June 2022, a series of
secretly recorded videos of private meetings of Petro's presidential campaign were leaked, in one of which Alcocer was heard saying that all female journalists slept their way to the top. Alcocer later apologized, saying that the recordings were "taken out of context" and did not represent her ideas.[27]
After her husband's victory at the
Presidential election on 19 June 2022, Alcocer officially became the 20th woman to hold the distinction of
First Lady of the Nation. She declared;
"There is an office and there is a fee. There are many things to do, whether or not it is official. The agenda is set by me, but above all it is set by the needs of the people. From the perspective of an ordinary citizen, I have seen that extremely distant role. I think you have to be in contact with people to listen to them and channel what they clearly need".[28]
Within a week of assuming her role, Alcocer drew criticism from both her husband's
supporters and detractors for adopting a
white savior attitude towards the
Afro-Colombian community.[29]
Domestic initiatives and activities
During the heavy storms of November 2022, Alcocer was active in emergency response; on November 8, she landed in
Cartagena[30] and led a Unified Command Post which also involved Mayor
William Dau the governor of Bolívar, Vicente Blel, the Minister of Labor,
Gloria Inés Ramírez, the governor of Atlántico,[31]Elsa Noguera, the general director of Social Prosperity,
Cielo Rusinque the Minister of the Interior,
Alfonso Prada and the director of the Risk Management Unit, Javier Pava.[32][33]
On 24 May 2023 she traveled to
La Guajira, to meet the indigenous communities in
Uribia and
Manaure,[34] where she observed and listened to the main complaints of the inhabitants of these remote areas of the country,[35] as well as promising to be a voice from the people to the
government.[36][37]
On 19 September 2022 she traveled to Japan in the company of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to attend the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe.[41][42]
On 29 September 2022, Alcocer had the opportunity to meet with
Yuko Kishida, wife of the Japanese Prime Minister,
Fumio Kishida;[43] they spoke on culture and gender equality, as well as cooperation between both countries for means of friendly development between the two countries.[44]
On 14 January 2023, Alcocer traveled to
Vatican City[45] on behalf of her
husband, to hold a 30-minute audience[46] in the Library of the Apostolic Palace with
Pope Francis.[47] Among the points discussed in the audience, both discussed domestic,[48] the abuse of women and children in Colombia.[49] The event ended with an invitation from Alcocer to the Pope to visit Colombia.[50][51]
On 31 January 2023, Alcocer traveled to
Caracas, Venezuela,[52] where she held a meeting with Nicolás Maduro's wife,
Cilia Flores.
[53][54] The main topic of the meeting was the reinforcement of bilateral relations between Colombia and Venezuela.[55] She also had a private meeting. with the President of Venezuela,
Nicolás Maduro.[56]
On 3 May 2023, Alcocer and Petro made a state visit to Spain,[57] as part of Petro's agenda, in which they discussed the central axes of
Petro administration, such as
global warming, education and
Total Peace.
In November 2023, she traveled to
Venezuela for the second time together with the president, who met with the President of Venezuela
Nicolás Maduro to discuss migration, energy transition and climate change.[62]
Verónica Alcocer with The
Queen of the Netherlands.
Alcocer has faced criticism from her detractors, who on multiple occasions have accused her of seeking to monopolize the functions and obligations of a public office; detractors have also claimed that the title of First Lady is a burden,[64] merely protocol and ceremonial.[65][66]
In September 2022 Vice-President
Francia Márquez, expressed that her relationship with the
President was strong. She also stated that she herself had refused the possibility of attending the
funeral of the Queen Elizabeth II, saying that when the
Minister of Foreign Affairs[67][68] had proposed her to represent Colombia at the funeral[69] she said she was not interested in attending the funeral of a representative of
African oppression and slavery, taking as a reference that Great Britain was one of the most extensive
colonial empires that oppressed the
African race for many years,[70] Marquez urged the media and the nation to take for granted that she was chosen to represent Afro-Colombians[71] of her nation and to contribute from her position to the construction of peace.[72]
In February 2023, Alcocer joined the celebration of the
Carnival of Barranquilla;[73][74][75] this was the first time that a First Lady in office participated in this event. Alcocer had previously been the target of criticism for the celebrations held on the night of August 7 after the
presidential inauguration of her husband, where videos were leaked in which she appeared dancing to the rhythm of cumbia, fandango and porro, native sounds of
Córdoba and
Sucre, native departments of the presidential couple.[76][77]
Alcocer was harshly criticized, after a series of videos were leaked during her stay in
Madrid, in which she made funny faces while the
national anthem was playing, which was classified by some as disrespectful and rude,[78][79] at the same time she was criticized for dancing in the street to the rhythm of the native
mapalé dance[80][81] from the
Pacific region of Colombia, performed by a group of Colombian musicians based in Spain.
In January 2024, Alcocer was a trend, after it was known through an investigation carried out by the newspaper
La Silla Vacia the budget allocated to its private staff, which included transportation, makeup artist, fashion advisor and photographer, this news caused great controversy, since a
first lady is not a public servant, which caused different opinions from different sectors.[82][83]
Fashion and style
On the day of the presidential election, Alcocer chose black pants with a blue wool vest. When she voted for her husband, she inspired everything from memes to analysis of what her four years in this position will be like.[84][85]
On 7 August 2022, for her husband's
inauguration ceremony, Alcocer used a design made up of a jumpsuit chosen for the occasion and designed exclusively for her. One detail included a brooch with the image of the Virgin of the Miraculous, symbol of devotion and faith; this was made in
Santa Cruz de Mompox by designer Virgilio Madinah, and brought together faith and indigenous heritage.[86][87]
Alcocer seeks to showcase the work of Colombian artisans, appearing in public with items such as Metalero handmade jewelry, a bag by designer Adriana Ureta and gift shoes from Norberto and Antonio.[88]
For her arrival at the
Palacio Real de Madrid on May 3, 2023, Alcocer wore an ecru crepe dress, 100 percent wool, decorated with handcrafted
appliqués, which were made by Diana Chirimía, from the
Embera katío tribe. The fabrics were decorated with beads, by the indigenous embera Gladys Nacavera Güipa, while
Cali designer Andres Totalora oversaw the completion of the ensemble.[90]
While representing Colombia at the
Coronation of Charles III, which she attended with the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Álvaro Leyva, she wore a white dress with headdresses of unlink blue flowers, complemented with a unlink pale pink hat.[91][92]
Notes
^Her
husband was suspended from 19 March to 23 April 2014, but she did not attend to her duties as first lady.