Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s four-day tour of Colombia was NOT cheap.
As we’ve been reporting, the couple went down to the South American nation for a four-day, quasi-royal tour to see things there. But it wasn’t all fun and games, as some of the government’s critics are now pointing out. Instead, they are complaining about the cost the Colombian gov spent on hosting Harry and Meghan. And seriously, this is NOT chump change!!
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According to a report published by Colombian news outlet CW Noticias, the four-day tour cost the country eight billion pesos in just security needs alone for Harry and Meghan!! That’s just a shade under $2 million USD. For just a four-day, unofficial tour with two people who aren’t even working members of the royal family! Damn!!
Broken down further per that CW Noticias report, the security needs for the Spare author and the Suits alum came down to finding the money to pay more than 3,000 police officers and soldiers to be staffed throughout the tour, as well as helicopters, bomb disposal units, bomb-sniffing dogs, around-the-clock armed guards near Harry and Meghan themselves, and bulletproof shields and other long-distance security measures to prevent possible sniper attacks.
Thankfully, as far as safety was concerned, the tour went off without a hitch. But from a financial perspective, it was a VERY steep bill for Colombia to cover. That’s half a million bucks a day!! And now, since the country’s vice president Francia Márquez is the one who invited Harry and Meghan down to the South American spot, she’s the one taking all the blame!
Andres Escobar, the security chief of the Colombian city of Cali where Harry and Meghan spent some time on their trip, took to X (Twitter) to make a public comment about the cost of the voyage. He accused Márquez of “squandering public money on her vanity,” and said that the cash spent on Harry and Meghan was “taxes spent on rich white people for photo opportunities and social media.” OUCH!! He continued:
“Billions that could have been used to expand coverage of children’s canteens, pay salaries of community mothers, seed capital for Afro communities or adapt sports venues practically in ruins.”
Then, when DailyMail.com asked him to expand upon that X message in an interview, Escobar added more complaints about the poor state Colombia finds itself in and the waste that came about with paying for Harry and Meghan to visit the nation:
“The country paid almost two million US dollars for the security of this trip and there are many, many Colombians who are hungry and have a lack of basic needs. They invested this money because the vice president wanted to meet two high profile public figures and brush aside criticism and problems that we have here through a corrupt government.”
He continued:
“We are in an economic crisis and eight billion pesos have been spent for the visit of Harry and Meghan, Colombian military planes and helicopters have been used and the money could have been better spent. Before this current government came to power they campaigned that they would save money and not waste it but they have done just the opposite with this visit.”
He also took the interview as an opportunity to slam VP Márquez for inviting Harry and Meghan to Colombia only after first seeing them on Netflix:
“The vice president asked them here because she saw them on Netflix. Can you believe that? How ridiculous. I can’t believe she said that. This country could have used the money to invest in our own infrastructure. We are in a bad way and money is wasted for this.”
Oof!
Thoughts, y’all?? Does Escobar have a point here?! Sound OFF with your take in the comments (below)…
[Image via WENN/Avalon]
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