The first crisis in President Abelardo de la Espriella’s new cabinet came just one week after starting to govern, and it begins with the Minister of Housing at the center, the Christian pastor Jaime Andrés Beltrán. On Sunday night, several local media outlets published photos of the official resting in front of the beach at a luxury residence in the city of Santa Marta. A rest by the Caribbean Sea just one week after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the western part of the country, and when thousands of families are sleeping in shelters, tents, or on the street after losing their homes. The photos of the minister by the beach sparked a wave of outrage from citizens and congress members across the political spectrum, and the House of Representatives has already requested to schedule a motion of censure against the minister.
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Beltrán responded around noon on Monday. “I was not on vacation, I wanted to spend a few hours with my wife and children, whom I had not seen for several days, to immediately continue with my work,” said the official in a message shared on social media. “We cannot forget that behind the minister, there is a father, a husband, a son. It is useless to build great things in the country if we destroy what is most important, the family. My challenge is to build houses for Colombians but without destroying the home.”
Building homes is as important as sustaining households, from love, example, and respect.
I am Minister of Housing, but I am also a present, committed, and sensitive family father to what is happening in our country.
I share and understand the concern… pic.twitter.com/8AAl9V8KlP
— Jaime Andrés Beltrán (@soyjaimeandres) August 17, 2026
“If at this moment Jaime Andrés Beltrán’s priority is to go on vacation to the beach, dismiss him Abelardo de la Espriella,” said Senator Jennifer Pedraza from the left. “This is not the time for disconnected cabinet members who prefer to go on trips. The country needs order, responsibility, and seriousness,” said Representative Daniel Briceño from the right, without mentioning Beltrán’s name.
According to the latest report from the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), on the same Sunday the photos of the minister by the beach were made public, Colombia reported 127,608 damaged homes, 26,392 destroyed, and 197 collapsed buildings. Most of these are in the departments of Chocó, Risaralda, and Valle del Cauca. More than 90% of the country’s homes lack policies that protect them against earthquakes, so the victims are awaiting help from the State, especially from the Minister of Housing. Beltrán has not yet commented on the photos of him at the beach.
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Jaime Beltrán is a politician from Bucaramanga who was very close to President Abelardo de la Espriella during the presidential campaign, and for that reason, he was one of the first the president considered for his cabinet. Beltrán himself harshly criticized a former mayor of his city for going on vacation in January 2021, during the pandemic. “The commitment you make to a city when elected, especially in the middle of a pandemic, can never be to go on vacation,” he told the then mayor. “You had the support of many people who believed in your project, don’t turn your back on them, don’t be indifferent,” he added. Now it is Beltrán himself who is judged for his indifference.
“It is a shame that the recklessness and lack of judgment of a minister tarnish the great work the government has done to address the earthquake crisis,” also criticizes Senator Andrés Forero from the right.
The government of Abelardo de la Espriella, which is committed to decentralizing executive power, has made a great effort to travel throughout the week to the areas most affected by the earthquake, and not appear as a group of bureaucrats giving orders from Bogotá. The president himself, who has been in office for only a week, has traveled several times to the department of Chocó, the epicenter of the earthquake. He also mobilized several of his ministers, including Beltrán, to the most affected cities, such as Pereira and Cali. Having now one of his ministers, and one who is key to reconstruction, in a photo resting by the beach, is the complete opposite image to what the new president wanted to convey.
“The Minister of Housing and beachgoer Jaime Andrés Beltrán must resign or the Congress of the Republic must apply the motion of censure,” demanded former Labor Minister Antonio Sanguino from the left. President De la Espriella has also not commented on his official’s behavior.
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