Presidential Candidates Won't Attend Meeting with Prosecutor Margarita Cabello, Will Send Representatives

On April 11, Attorney Margarita Cabello sent an invitation to the presidential candidates and their formulas to attend the office of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Bogotá, in order to discuss electoral guarantees in the face of the lack of credibility generated by the legislative results. Most candidates will send delegates.

The invitation was addressed in their own name to the eight candidates and their respective vice-presidential formulas, by 10:00 in the morning of this Tuesday, April 19. However, most will not attend in person, but will send representatives of the campaign to the meeting.

The first to refuse his assistance was Sergio Fajardo, candidate of the Esperanza Center Coalition, who during the delivery of flyers last Sunday said in Noticias Caracol that Juan Fernando Cristo, head of the campaign, would be in his place.

Fajardo revealed just this Monday a proposal that involves the organ that Cabello directs. According to him, he will submit a reform on the same day of possession, if elected, so that the functions of the Office of the Attorney General are assumed by the Office of the Ombudsman, which is part of the Public Prosecutor's Office, and the disciplinary control functions are carried out by the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation with a specialized chamber.

Gustavo Petro, candidate of the Historical Pact, is another of those who will not attend the meeting. According to the campaign, it will have a private agenda during the day and Alfonso Prada, head of debate, will go to the table convened by Cabello.

Petro is another of those who has proposed to reform the supervisory bodies with the elimination of the Office of the Prosecutor so that its functions are assumed by the Office of the Prosecutor. In addition, it represents the coalition most affected by the errors of the pre-counting of the past elections and which generated doubts in the electoral process.

The presidential candidate Enrique Gómez, of the National Salvation movement, would not attend the meeting at the Attorney General's Office either, because he is at campaign events in the city of Cali, which began with a large media tour. You will send a delegate to the work table.

For his part, John Milton Rodriguez will not attend the meeting either. The candidate was on a tour of the Colombian Caribbean and passed through Cartagena and Bolivar. Instead, the meeting at the Attorney General's Office will be attended by the vice-presidential formula Sandra de las Lajas.

According to La FM, Ingrid Betancourt would be the only presidential candidate who would personally reach the working table convened by Cabello, while the others would do so through delegates.

However, so far there has been no confirmation from the campaign of Federico Gutiérrez, one of the most intentionally voted according to the polls, and who is premiering the debate leader with the appointment of Luis Felipe Henao in his apposition of the campaign; nor has the response of Luis Pérez or Rodolfo Hernández.

The former mayor of Bucaramanga is about to go to trial in July for the corruption case known as Vitalogic, after he pleaded not guilty during the hearing this Monday. Thus, he will be able to continue with the campaign and will resume after the presidential rounds.

Margarita Cabello announced that she will give statements on the conclusions of the meeting on 1:00pm. It is expected that mechanisms will be established to shield the electoral process for the first round, on May 29, just as the inquiry into Registrar Alexander Vega is also being advanced and the reasons for the report will be known which had been requested by the supervisory body on that situation.

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