Unpopular Medellin Mayor Daniel Quintero Quits Office
For the first time in Medellin history, scandal-plagued Mayor Daniel Quintero on September 30 officially quit his office — three months before his term actually ends in December.
Quintero – the most unpopular Mayor since Medellin began public polling 30 years ago, with barely 28% approval – is under investigation for various corruption schemes, now numbering close to 100 separate cases.
Substituting demagoguery for competence — like his mentor, hugely unpopular President Gustavo Petro — Quintero has viciously attacked the current mayoral-race front-runner who would replace him on January 1, 2024: former Mayor Federico Gutierrez.
Gutierrez enjoys a whopping 62% approval rating and a nearly 50% lead in polls over Quintero’s hand-picked candidate, his brother-in-law, Juan Carlos Upegui.
Quintero gave no rational reason for abandoning his post except to say that he will spend the next two months campaigning for various national and local candidates, aiming to build a support network for his planned run for the Colombian presidency in 2026.
His three years and nine months as Medellin Mayor have not only been marked by scandals, but also frequent abandonment of Medellin neighborhoods — along with unfounded, hysterical and profanity-laced attacks on historically popular figures here including former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
