The visit of Juan Fernando Petro, Gustavo's brother, to La Picota prison to the ward for people convicted of corruption continues to generate accusations and opinions from various politicians.
It may interest you: Petro controversy reportedly sparked clashes between prisoners in La Picota
One of them was by the former president, former senator and leader of the Democratic Center Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who from his Twitter account has made harsh remarks against the Historic Pact candidate Gustavo Petro, whom he called him a liar.
You may be interested: Constitutional Court ratified indictment of crimes against former President Uribe in trial for alleged manipulation of witnesses
“And an aggravating factor of Petro: He is a liar, he conceals, with a pose of seriousness he entangles the citizens”, Uribe said very early today, April 19 at six in the morning.
But this is not isolated, the previous day the former president had published an excerpt from an interview conducted by local media TVA Noticias, where he made harsh points to Petro and assured that what the brother of the leader of the Historical Pact did in La Picota prison was much more serious than what was done by some politicians who were convicted of parapolitics.
“For less than what Petro's brother did, many people were taken to jail convicted of parapolitics,” said Álvaro Uribe.
It should be noted that the leader of the Democratic Center is one of the main politicians who have pointed out to Fernando Petro of allegedly negotiating deals with prisoners convicted of corruption, a version that the Petro brothers and the Historical Pact campaign have denied.
It may interest you: Inter-Church Commission gives its version of the visit of Gustavo Petro's brother to La Picota
Álvaro Uribe also pointed out that the Penitentiary and Prison Institute should have audiovisual material of Juan Fernando's visit to La Picota, and reaffirmed that his presence in the corrupt ward was only to make political agreements: “A presidential campaign, the brother of a candidate, with the authorization of that candidate negotiating votes with corrupt people due to prison declines, it is very serious, it is very serious that the country does not know the audios, the videos that INPEC had to record”.
For his part, Petro has repeatedly reiterated, after his brother's visit to prison, that he had no knowledge of it and that Juan Fernando was not representing or authorized by the Historical Covenant.
“My Government programme does not envisage a reform of justice based on the reduction of sentences. We have defended the autonomy of the judicial branch and its empowerment to the fullest. No amnesty or pardon is proposed as they now face us,” Petro said, stressing that many of those prisoners for corruption once belonged to traditional parties: “Other rivals if you have them as allies and ready to exercise power. We are the ones who have taken them prisoner to those corrupt condemned people.”
For his part, Gustavo Petro's head of debate, Alfonso Prada, published a series of trills in which he explained that “these smear strategies are used, manipulating facts, supported by statements by criminals and against all logic or reason. Who would think of going to get votes from the Moreno sentenced to 25 years in prison for corrupt? What votes?”
He clarified that “there was naivety and clumsiness in that untimely visit from Petro's brother, right. What IS FALSE is that he went in the name of the campaign to offer penalty reductions in exchange for votes. False and incoherent! It's illogical and a liar.”
Prada concluded that “it is false of all falsehood. The campaign has NOT gone to prisons to negotiate anything. Nor are we going to do it. Corrupt in jail and have them return what was stolen and that's it. Respect for the law, period. Now to move forward with our agenda for Change for Life and Peace.”
KEEP READING