Senator María Fernanda Cabal of the Democratic Center announced a petition that the Vice President of the Republic responded to regarding the cost of the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to Colombia between August 12 and 18, invited by Francia Márquez.
In the document published by the congresswoman, the Vice President indicated that during the stay of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, there were no expenses related to air travel, accommodation or fees paid to these personalities.
On the contrary, he was responsible for the technical requirements, mobility and guarantees of participation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as the Vice-Presidency itself had already mentioned in its assessment of the visit.
#DerrocheReal It turned out that because Francia Márquez was fascinated by a Netflix series with the Dukes of Sussex, she brought them to Colombia at the expense of taxpayers. How much did Francia Márquez’s scam cost us? Here I tell you⬇️
Hilo 🧵 pic.twitter.com/TVwracwmwS
— Maria Fernanda Cabal (@MariaFdaCabal) September 1, 2024
The response to the petition reveals that between August 12 and 18, a total of $244,245,305 was paid for the above concepts, which are broken down mainly into payments to logistics operators and advance visits.
“After Francia Márquez saw the story of Harry and Meghan on the Netflix series, she brought them to Colombia for a period of seven days at a daily cost of no less than $34,892,186“Colombians’ money,” said the congresswoman from the Democratic Center.
Among the main expenses listed in the document are transportation concepts, which between August 12 and 19 totaled approximately $28,747,594, with August 17, during his visit to Cartagena, being the day on which the most was spent.
#DerrocheReal In these tables, Francia Márquez’s team shows the expenses they made with Colombian money during the Duke and Duchess’ 7-day visit to Colombia.
Total daily expenses equivalent to $34,892,186, for a total of $244,245,305. pic.twitter.com/rGkff4JhfE
— Maria Fernanda Cabal (@MariaFdaCabal) September 1, 2024
Precisely that same day in Cartagena, during the visit to the La Boquilla Drum School, San Basilio de Palenque, where nearly 1,000 people participated, was the day in which the most money was spent on concepts such as food, transportation and technical requirements.
In the tables published by the congresswoman on her social networks, it can be seen that $3,993,431 was spent on August 12.On the 13th, the cost was $3,849,016, on the 14th it reached the sum of 5,179,970 and on August 15, during his stay in Bogotá, the cost reached $16,937,960.
On August 16, also in Bogotá, expenses amounted to $48,911,692; In Cartagena on the 17th of the same month the sum reached $88,290,535; while in the events in Cali the expenses reached $76,201,387. Finally, on August 19, they were $881,314.
Food expenses totaled $44,082,700 over the seven days.which were presented mainly on August 16, 17 and 18 at events in Bogotá, Cartagena and Cali. The largest expenditure for this concept was made in the country’s capital.
Regarding mobility and accommodation, expenses between August 12 and 18 reached $43,049,059mainly from visits to Cartagena and Cali; while the cost of technical, protocol and operational requirements totaled $47,841,913.
“Almost $250 million pesos were spent on the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to demonstrate that Colombia is a country of convergence for global causes?“, said María Fernanda Cabal in another tweet, which includes the response given by the vice presidency to the benefit that Colombia would receive from the visit.
