“NarcoTrafficking”: Roy Barreras deleted suggestive tweet against Federico Gutiérrez by order of the CNE

Through a resolution known this Thursday, the National Electoral Council asked the senator now associated with the Historic Pact coalition, Roy Barreras, to delete a post he made on his Twitter account that is related to the President of the Republic, Iván Duque Márquez, and the presidential candidate who won the Team for Colombia, Federico Gutiérrez.

Barreras published the message on April 3. It reads the hashtag #razonesparanovotarporFico and is accompanied by the image of a fence in which President Duque and candidate Fico appear. In the center, the message “no more dreaming, no more drug trafficking” is read, making use of the word game also occupied by supporters of the right-wing candidate's campaign.

The CNE was not amused by the fence and issued Resolution 1783 of 2022 to impose a precautionary measure, requiring Senator Barreras to remove the publication from his account and that, if there is a real fence with this message, it be removed within 24 hours.

As arguments for making this request, the Council assures that this play on words and the inclusion of the two photographs” implies urging a person to carry out and relate him to illegal acts without providing evidence that justifies claims of that magnitude, which undoubtedly goes beyond the tolerable limits in the negative electoral propaganda, insofar as it affects the dignity of citizens and their good name, thus exceeding the limits of freedom of expression”.

In addition, the CNE asks the former president of the U Party to refrain from making publications similar to this one. He also recalled that, “whoever uses mass media — social networks are included — must first carry out a diligent task of verifying and confirming information.”

It should be noted that in the resolution they address Barreras as “sir” and “citizen” — not as a “public figure” or as a “senator” — and that they make the above annotation referring to “whoever uses [...] ”, so that this decision could set a legal precedent for the scope of freedom of expression on social networks.

For his part, Senator Roy Barreras acknowledged receipt of the CNE resolution through his Twitter account. He assured that he accepted the decision and deleted the trill reluctantly, because other public figures have not received the same request despite causing grievances to the human dignity of himself or the other candidates.

He also criticized the fact that the electoral tribunal is becoming a trill hunter or an entity that exercises censorship.

KEEP READING: