“They say that they shut my mouth, I answer them no”, Alejandro Riaño referred to Polo Polo's seat

Through his Twitter account, the Bogotá comedian Alejandro Riaño spoke about the controversy he has had for days with Miguel Polo Polo. Although he did not refer literally to the newly elected politician to the House of Representatives, by the Special Circumscription Afro, the followers of the actor who gives life to Juanpis González assumed that it was a response to what happened previously. On the morning of March 14, the day after the elections, Riaño shared a thread of trills in which he assured that he should not be the focus of the debate at voting time.

“A few days ago I said that I would share what I thought after the elections and here it goes. I open the thread: I believe that elections are not the triumph of the elected; they should be the triumph of communities and the responsibility of working for them. If they don't receive a change, nobody wins, nothing happens,” Riaño began, and then went into detail about their opinions regarding the elections.

“I also think that there is a responsibility of the media who spend several days mixing support for political campaigns with trends. That is dangerous and diverts the focus from what really matters (...) The media and network users, such as Twitter, end up campaigning for free to people who don't necessarily represent the seats they aspire to,” he continued. This trill, in particular, was answered by some citizens who stated that although Polo Polo is part of the Afro-descendant population of Colombia, it does not represent them correctly.

“The election season is very delicate and we have a duty to learn to say what is right. For those who say that they kept my mouth shut, I say no. I should not be the focus of the debate, it must be the communities and I hope they don't shut their mouths”, he concluded.

It should be remembered that the controversy between the two arose after one of the interviews with Juanpis González, one of the most important characters in Riaño, with whom for years he has been criticizing the most privileged populations in the country, reference was made to Polo Polo. Riaño, in his show, characterized by the 'detestable gomelo', had as a guest actor Omar Murillo, to whom he made racist and classist comments in the midst of satire.

“Stealing is screwed up, Polo Polo, your cousin, look how he does it. He's a cool black guy there, from the Democratic Center. Yes, from the family, but he is very funny because he thinks that we are going to give him the endorsement one day of some pod (...) he is poor, black and gay, he is screwed. What is he doing in our party?” , said Juanpis. In response, Polo Polo, through a video, said that you could not 'go through life' by creating fictional characters to insult, according to him, Juanpis is a shield that serves Riaño to make improper comments. “Racists must be punished for the pocket, because it is not just a social sanction, but from the pocket,” polo by pole said in a video.

Polo Polo, in fact, given what Juanpis said, assured that he would bring legal action against Riaño for the crimes of insult and slander. The politician invited Riaño to present evidence that evidenced the alleged thefts that, according to him, have been committed on public money, and assured, among other things, that he was proud of the color of his complexion. “With regard to black, I love and am proud of my skin color, and with the other thing you say that I am gay, but, apparently, here the one who wants me is you who keeps thinking and mentioning me,” he said.

The predictions of those who were against Polo Polo's nomination to the Colombian political scene indicated that it would 'burn' in the votes, however, in contrast, it achieved the second highest vote on its list. His aspiration was placed only behind that of Rogelia Monsalve. “We are facing political mafias in the Pacific and the Caribbean, and against the dirty campaign of the left. And thanks to Almighty God and the more than 35,000 votes in conscience, we achieved the Afro seatback. Today a new right-wing political party is born. Thank you!” , the elected candidate highlighted on his social networks. Polo Polo was number one on the list of the Fernando Ríos Hidalgo Community Council of Black Communities, winning 7.40% of the votes.

The controversy over the election of Polo Polo broke out almost immediately after the announcement of the victory. According to the law, emphasized by those who are against Polo Polo's arrival in the seat, “those who aspire to be candidates from the black communities to be elected to the House of Representatives by this special constituency, must be members of the respective community and previously endorsed by an organization registered with the Directorate of Black Communities Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior”.

If the Afro-Colombian community decides to act against Polo Polo, due to the lack of identification they feel for him as a leader, they have 30 days to demand the nullity of the election.

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