It is no secret that President Iván Duque has publicly questioned several proposals by candidate Gustavo Petro. According to the website La Silla Vacía, in one out of every three speeches so far this year, he has referred to proposals by the leader of the Historical Pact, although without mentioning it. The president does not deny it and considers that it is freedom of expression.
Following the launch of the INTEGRA project by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will invest $40 million for programs aimed at the migrant population, President Duque referred to this week's questions about what would be improper participation in politics.
“I think that this country has something very clear in article 28 of the Constitution and that is freedom of expression. And on the ideas and principles that I defend, I will never stop speaking out and I will always raise my voice as president and as a citizen against populism, polarization and post-truth, as I have also done against drug trafficking, against organized crime and as I have done against corruption,” said the president in statements to journalists.
According to the president, he was upset and assured that when he thinks he does so on proposals and not on individuals or candidates; however, most of these interventions have been made amid the controversy that some Petro proposals have raised, such as the cancellation of ICETEX debts, the pension regime or social forgiveness.
He even spoke about the latter after the USAID event. “Any type of policy that seeks to reward, favor and mitigate the criminals who have hurt this country the most,” said the president, adding: “Colombia cannot continue to be more permissive to terrorism or drug trafficking. To talk about mechanisms that mitigate the sanctions that correspond to them, it seems to me that they are totally diverted to the purpose of legality,” according to the newspaper El Tiempo.
“They want me not to refer to populism, post-truth and polarization and they don't like me to use them because they refer to a wonderful book by Moses Naim called 'The Revenge of the Powerful' where he questions the three-P authoritarianisms that have ruined many countries,” said the president.
Contrary to the questions, Duque assured that he will continue to express his opinion “on everything that has to do with proposals and policies that concern the Colombian people, just as we have exalted proposals that serve, we have also questioned those that want to generate destruction and we have done so with an ethical principle. I am not talking about candidates or candidates, but I am referring to what is best for Colombia.”
The president's statement comes after the Anti-Corruption Institute filed a popular action against the president, before the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca, for the alleged omission of the Law on Guarantees, which establishes that the servants of state entities are prohibited from participating in politics.
“The Law on Electoral Guarantees expressly prohibits the president from referring to other candidates or political movements in his dissertations or public presentations, within four months prior to the first round election date, and until the second round is held,” the document reads.
Roy Barreras and Iván Cepeda, together with Senator Temístocles Ortega filed a complaint against the president in the House of Representatives Commission on Indictments in order to investigate, of course, “to act systematic, pontifying, provocative and incitement to violate the law, intentionally deliberate and for purposes openly incompatible with his position of favoring candidates of his choice, violating the constitutional and legal prohibitions on participation in politics and his oath of office which obliges him to guarantee the rights and freedoms of all Colombians”.
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