Social forgiveness: reactions to meeting between Gustavo Petro's brother and Iván Moreno

The candidate for the presidency of Colombia for the Historical Pact, Gustavo Petro, continues to arouse controversy over his statements to the press and at public events. On this occasion, several figures in national politics have reacted to the response given by the visit of his brother, Juan Fernando Petro, to prisoner Iván Moreno in the La Picota Prison in Bogotá.

The former mayor gave an interview to W Radio from Sincelejo (Sucre), where he attended an event that had been organized for women and Verónica Alcócer, his wife, and Francia Márquez were invited. One of the journalists asked him about Juan Fernando's visit to the prison.

Without a glimmer of nerves, Petro replied that his brother went to visit Iván Moreno, former mayor of Bucaramanga and former congressman convicted in the hiring carousel case, as well as one of the natural heirs of the flags of the National Popular Alliance — the party of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, his grandfather, whose defeat in the presidential election of 1970 caused the formation of the M-19 guerrilla, which Petro formed.

The left-wing candidate then affirmed that Moreno “is not a narco, he is not parapolitical: he is corrupt — or was corrupt — he is in a very interesting process from a personal point of view; you can go there and talk to him and check it out”.

He added that the reason for Juan Fernando Petro's visit to Iván Moreno was due to a proposal for social pardon in which the convicted person, who considers himself politically persecuted, wants to participate from prison.

Previously, as quoted by RCN Radio, Petro had referred to his proposal of social forgiveness as something “that includes everything from Uribe to the ELN. We are not interested in starting new cycles of violence, but rather ending them all and definitively. We want there to be no longer armed insurgency against the State, nor drug traffickers next to the State.”

Some figures in national politics are not convinced by the explanation given by the senator, since they have received it as a synonym of pardon. One of the first to reproach these statements was his closest opponent: the candidate of the Team for Colombia, Federico Gutiérrez.

With a hostile video response, the candidate asked Petro that “if you're going to lie to people head-on, as you always do, let it be at least Easter.

His coalition partner and former mayor of Bogotá Enrique Peñalosa asked an open question through his Twitter account:

For his part, the candidate of the National Salvation Movement, Enrique Gomez, was even less kind to his response to Petro's proposal for social forgiveness. This is how he referred to it:

Christian pastor John Milton Rodríguez, candidate for the presidency for Colombia Justa Libres, launched this curve ball through the same social network:

Sergio Fajardo, candidate for the Centro Esperanza Coalition, followed his habit of not committing himself to attacks on a single sector. He said that both Petro and Fico are playing “anything goes”.

The Galán brothers, Fajardo's coalition companions, were not happy with Petro's explanation either. In the case of Juan Manuel, he pointed out that it was his brother who first denounced the carousel of hiring. For his part, Carlos Fernando said that Petro is capable of anything to win the presidency.

Former President Álvaro Uribe Velez himself reacted to the news: “Why was Petro's brother in La Picota convincing the “parapolitics” to move votes for him in exchange for reforms to justice?” This message filled the patience of Juan Fernando Petro himself, who replied:

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