Juan Manuel Galán says he is disappointed by the decision of Rodrigo Lara Sánchez, vice-presidential formula of Fico Gutiérrez

The former presidential candidate of the resurrected New Liberalism party, Juan Manuel Galán, said he was disappointed by the decision of surgeon Rodrigo Lara Sánchez to join the campaign of the winner of the Team's consultation for Colombia, Federico Gutiérrez, in such an important role as the vice-presidential formula.

The frustration that has aroused the annexation of former ombudsman Carlos Negret to Fico's campaign among supporters of the Centro Esperanza Coalition is well known. Regarding this decision, Juan Manuel Galán had to go out and say on his social networks that the former official's position was not that of the New Liberalism and that the statements of his number two on the list to the Senate would be reviewed by the party's ethics committee.

It should be remembered that Galán participated in this interparty consultation as a representative of the New Liberalism and the commitment of those who made up this closed list was to support whoever won the consultation, that is, Sergio Fajardo, on the way to the presidency.

However, Galán had not spoken before on the decision of Rodrigo Lara Sánchez, the natural son of former Huilense minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla. It should be recalled that the latter was co-founder of the New Liberalism in the 80s together with Luis Carlos Galán, father of Juan Manuel. The match was in the making in 1989 after the murder of Galán, which occurred six years after that of Lara Bonilla.

This Wednesday, April 6, eleven days after the announcement that Lara Sánchez would be presented in Medellín as the vice-presidential formula of the former mayor of Medellín, the director of the New Liberalism gave an interview to the radio station La W. In addition to delving into the subject of Negret, Juan Manuel Galán answered questions about the half-brother of Rodrigo Lara Restrepo.

The former senator reminded the audience that Lara Sánchez was part of the Citizen Commitment movement, whose natural leader is precisely Sergio Fajardo, today a candidate for president and competitor against Federico Gutiérrez.

In 2010, the surgeon tried to reach the Senate through the Citizen Commitment list, the same movement led by Sergio Fajardo, candidate of the Center Hope Coalition. It had the ninth highest vote, but the significant group of citizens did not exceed the threshold to win seats.

During Antanas Mockus' presidential campaign in 2010, Rodrigo Lara Sánchez joined the Green Party and coordinated the campaign in Huila. Then, in 2016, he became the mayor of Neiva in the same period that Fico was mayor of the Antioquia capital, with the sympathy of characters such as Antonio Navarro Wolff, Enrique Peñalosa and Mockus himself.

J uan Manuel Galán confessed that he had tried to get close to Lara Sánchez; however, contrary to what some media said, the Huilense never got involved enough in the project.

When journalists asked Galán if he was disappointed with Lara Sánchez's decision, the former senator was frank: “Well, yes, I was disappointed, of course, because I also consider him a very valuable person, a professional. He is very recognized in Huila, everyone appreciates him, recognizes him, respects him as a doctor, as a thorax surgeon, as a human being”.

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