Álvaro Uribe confirmed approaches with Ingrid Betancourt for the first presidential round

Very early in the morning of this Friday, April 1, the former president and natural head of the Democratic Center, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, spoke out on his Twitter account to thank the presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt for the dialogues and possible accessions they hold for the first round.

“I am grateful to Dr. Ingrid Betancourt. It is very important to advance the dialogue with her, her team and the Democratic Center,” wrote the former president, today under investigation for two crimes, in a trill.

The talks to which Uribe refers were announced by the candidate of the Green Oxygen party. This Thursday, March 31, after the debate organized by the Javeriana University in Bogotá, Betancourt told the press that she is open to making possible alliances for the first round with Uribism.

Moreover, she said she is grateful to Álvaro Uribe for coordinating the operation Jaque, in which she regained her freedom after being kidnapped by the then FARC guerrilla group. In addition, he acknowledged that, due to the judicial situation of the former senator, no one wants to make alliances with him for the presidential elections.

However, she made it clear, as she has repeatedly done, that the red lines for accessions with her is that political parties and figures do not have, what she calls, “machinery”.

“We have had contacts with the Democratic Center. The truth is, for us the red border is machinery. These are debates that they will have internally, but I do hope that in these elections we can build a united front for a country, leaving machinery aside and offering Colombia a choice,” said the only female presidential candidate in this electoral contest.

The fact that the independent applicant opened the door to Uribism for possible alliances has not gone unnoticed by public opinion and, of course, they leave vehement questions to those who were a member of the Esperanza Center Coalition until a few months ago, but who got away after clashes with Alejandro Gaviria, who in that at the time he was a presidential pre-candidate.

Another one who also opined in this regard was Uribista Senator Paloma Valencia, who will return to the Senate after being reelected by the Democratic Center, and who left a pulla without mentioning names. “There are two types of uribists: those from when we have power and those of always,” the congresswoman wrote on her Twitter.

For now, there is nothing definite about whether Oxygen Green and Democratic Center will ally for the first round. However, it should be remembered that weeks ago, when the ruling party was looking for presidential candidate following the resignation of Oscar Iván Zuluaga, the The name of the former abductee appeared among the list of candidates whom Uribism intended to support in the elections that will define the successor of Iván Duque, who came to power at the hands of that group in 2018.

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