Overview

• President Gustavo Petro formally named Juan Carlos Florián minister on August 1, replacing Carlos Alfonso Rosero after Vice President Francia Márquez’s February resignation.
• Florián previously served as viceminister of Diversities and publicly acknowledged his exile in Paris where he worked as a porn actor and founded a sex workers’ union.
• Senator María Fernanda Cabal criticized the nomination on social media and vowed to summon Florián to a congressional control debate about his career and the ministry’s performance.
• LGBTIQ advocacy groups, including Caribe Afirmativo, praised the selection as a step toward an inclusive government and condemned sensationalist focus on his personal history.
• His promotion underscores ongoing volatility in Petro’s cabinet and intensifies discussion over the Equality Ministry’s role in advancing rights for vulnerable communities.