Colombian right-wing senator Alirio Barrera entered the country’s Congress on horseback this Tuesday (27), days after the president of the House determined that the building would become pet friendly – that is, that parliamentarians could take their pets to the place.
The images of the senator crossing Bolivar Square and climbing the steps to the Legislature’s entrance with the animal were widely shared on social media and covered by the Colombian press. Many of the senator’s colleagues, however, criticized his initiative.
Barrera was dressed in a hat and poncho and gave interviews before entering Congress, saying he wasn’t sure they would let him in — which he did, but through the back entrance. “The President of the Senate said we could bring our pets. Some have cats, dogs. I have my little horse,” he told RCN radio.
On the 20th, government official Roy Barreras, who heads the House, made the announcement with a black dog on his lap – the animal, according to the Colombian press, was named Covid, for having been adopted during the pandemic.
Affiliated to the Democratic Center party, the same as former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), Barrera is in opposition to the current chief executive, Gustavo Petro. He was governor of the department of Casanare, in which rural activities have a strong economic weight, and even ran as a pre-candidate for the presidency.
This Tuesday, the congressman himself shared a series of images of the endeavor on social media – in one of them, he appears cleaning the animal’s feces, with a broom and a shovel, from the floor of the square in front of the Legislative building.
The decision to ride horseback to Congress was, he said, a way of protesting about 20 bills debated in the House that restrict or veto the use of animals in different professional activities. “It would be unfair, because this is the means of transport for many families, in many regions,” he said. “There are more than 15 million rural workers in Colombia.”
The horse, Barrera added, is called Passaporte and is used by him on his farm. “I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to show it to my colleagues.” According to the AFP agency, the senator has already defended activities such as bullfights and cockfights on the platform.
Parliamentarians linked to the cause of defending animal rights criticized the rightist’s exhibition. “He wanted to mock a measure in favor of animals by using and stressing one of them,” wrote ruling senator Esmeralda Hernández on Twitter. His colleague Juan Carlos Lozada called the act a “shameful pantomime”.
Since 1989, Colombian law has guaranteed the protection of wild and domestic animals against pain and suffering caused by human beings, providing exceptions for activities considered to be cultural traditions, such as rodeos.
The new congressional rules authorize the entry of pets, provided that, “by their behavior or aggressiveness, they do not affect the order and tranquility of the premises”.
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