“Colombia cannot be permissive to terrorism or drug trafficking”: Duque referred to the social pardon proposed by Gustavo Petro

President Iván Duque joined the bitter controversy that presidential candidate Gustavo Petro unleashed over the alleged social pardon for the country's prisoners, who has not hesitated to distort several of the proposals of the aspirant of the Historical Pact.

This time, the head of state implied that he found this initiative inconvenient and does not think it would be beneficial for the Colombian judicial system. This was stated by Duque on Tuesday, April 19, in the framework of the presentation of the INTEGRA project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

As in recent days, the head of state has been questioned from different sectors for his participation in the elections that will define his successor, Duque explained that he was referring directly to the proposals and not to the candidates, in this case to Gustavo Petro, whom he defeated in the second presidential round of 2018.

Well, once he launched the abovementioned pulla and made that statement, the president assured that the country cannot give any kind of pardon to criminals who promote crimes such as drug trafficking and terrorism, so he once again dismissed what was proposed by the also leader of Human Colombia.

“Colombia cannot be more permissive to terrorism, nor to drug trafficking, to talk about mechanisms that mitigate the sanctions that correspond to them are totally diverted to the purpose of legality,” said Iván Duque.

The press consulted the president about his position because of the allegations made to him about his improper political participation; he said he was not aware of the charges against him and assured that they want to censor him for using terms such as populism, post-truth, among others.

“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.

The president 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 in the midst of the controversy that some Petro proposals have raised, such as the cancellation of ICETEX debts, the pension regime or social forgiveness.

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.

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