Fact Check: Colombian President Gustavo Petro Makes Ridiculous Claims After Japan Junket

Colombian President Gustavo Petro returned recently from a much-criticized trade visit to Osaka Japan, where Colombia invested a reported $11 million USD to built and operate a pavilion during the Future Fair. While the event’s value and the investment prudency may be debatable, the President made some outrageous claims last week, defending the project. Via Twitter/X he stated:

“I’ve entered the Colombia pavilion at the Future Fair of Osaka, Japan. They criticized its cost, but you know what?

1.3 trillion (1,300,000 millones) people entered the stand, we sold 700 different classes of Colombian products, all in one: We sold 11 million dollars of avocados, in the negotiation round, in two days, we sold $35 million dollars.

The most famous dish of the whole fair turned out to be lechona [Colombian Lechona, distinct from the Lechón of the Greater Antilles, is a small Colombian pig cooked stuffed with rice and spices] 10 million tons of lechona was sold at the fair, with the longest lines. It is a better dish than the sandwich or hamburger, or the hot dog, for the modern times with the hurry of the big city.

I wanted to massively sell Wayúu tunics and the gentlemen from ANATO and FONTUR opposed it, but for acts of campaigns Uribista [in support of Alvaro Uribe] with public money, yes it works.”

According to Gustavo Petro, more people than have existed in the history of planet Earth visited the Colombian exhibit in Osaka, Japan. There are approximately 120 million people in Japan, 8.2 billion people on planet Earth, but “1,300,000 millones” would be 1,300,000,000,000 or 1.3 trillion people (under US numeric conventions) Perhaps this is a typo, but even if he meant 1.3 million visitors to the Colombian pavilion, it would be a stretch. Last month, the entire event celebrated reaching a milestone of one million visitors.

Lechona (above photo), while delicious, is not popular enough, nor would there be enough food supply in the entire country of Japan to serve 10 million tons, which translates into roughly 22 billion pounds, or 10 billion kilograms. Even if the president made a typo and meant 10 million kilograms, at 125 grams per serving, that would mean 80 million plates of lechona were served, or 80 servings for each of the event’s confirmed one million visitors—not visitors to the Colombian pavilion, but visitors to the entire event.

Finally, while as a public agency indirectly under Petro’s control, FONTUR does have access to public funds, ANATO is the travel and tourism industry association, an organization made up of its members. So Petro’s complaint that they want to sell Wayúu products to benefit supporters of convicted former President Alvaro Uribe is perplexing, at best, and nonsensical at any rate.

Petro’s management of fiscal matters shows that mathematics is not necessarily his strongest talent, however these egregious statements go beyond errors or typos into the realm of absurdity.

He entrado al pabellón de Colombia en la feria del futuro de Osaka, Japón.

Nos criticaron su costo, y ¿saben qué?

Han entrado 1.300.000 millones de personas al estand, se han vendido 700 clases diferentes de productos colombianos; solo en uno: los aguacates, vendimos 11… pic.twitter.com/A8gJLMKyUu

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) September 5, 2025

Visitors to the Colombia pavilion in Osaka, Japan (photo: MinCIT)

Headline image: Lechona (photo © Loren Moss)