Federico Gutiérrez denounces cheating campaign against him

The candidate for President of the Republic by the right-wing coalition Team for Colombia, Federico Gutiérrez, continues to make accusations against the candidate for the Historical Pact, Gustavo Petro, and Senator-elect Piedad Córdoba, who yesterday was removed from the presidential campaign because of the accusations against him.

From the Casa Dann Hotel in Bogotá, Fico said that the election season is bringing out the true colors of presidential candidates, especially “those who have dedicated themselves to visiting prisons to seek votes in exchange for penalties for corrupt and violent people; what they want is very serious.”

The former mayor of Medellín suggested that he has information - although he did not indicate where he got it from - that other applicants “would use some drug traffickers who are in prison to try to dirty the campaigns,” including his own.

Just as he did on Wednesday in Corferias, Fico mentioned this morning the name of José Leonardo Muñoz Martínez, alias Douglas, drug trafficker and former head of the criminal structure La Oficina, “a structure that I fought so hard when I was mayor.” During Thursday's media attention, the candidate suggested that there would already be an agreement with this criminal who remains in La Picota prison in Bogotá.

Gutiérrez did not clarify what the agreement would consist of or how his name and campaign would be soiled, because of the alleged actions of detainees or those who visit prisons. Anyway, he said he wants to “alert the country to what is happening.”

He also said that his commitment during the elections “has always been a clean campaign, a campaign of ideas and debate around the issues, but here we are seeing the pace that this electoral campaign is taking.”

Once again, Gutiérrez asked Piedad Córdoba, Gustavo Petro and his brother, Juan Fernando, for explanations about “what are they doing talking to criminals of all kinds and why.”

It should be recalled that Gutiérrez told Córdoba on Tuesday that he had also visited the drug convict Francisco Javier Zuluaga Lindo, alias Gordo Lindo, to offer him benefits such as non-extradition in exchange for votes. Hours later it was clarified that Gordo Lindo has already paid his sentence in the United States and is settling accounts for the crimes of which he was convicted in Colombia.

Regarding the ruling of the International Court of Justice that reprimanded Colombia for contempt of respect for maritime limits imposed in 2012, Federico Gutiérrez responded to journalists by reading a statement aloud.

According to the letter, “Colombia cannot give up a millimeter of territory. The defense of the fishing rights of the raizal community of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina must be protected.” He noted that he will respect and abide by what the Political Constitution proposes on international conflicts such as this one, that is, to build a treaty and ratify it before the Congress of the Republic.

Then, in an apparent contradiction, Federico Gutiérrez noted that Colombia is a democracy and Nicaragua is a dictatorship, so “with a dictatorship we will not negotiate our border boundaries” and “Colombia's territorial line of defense will remain a state policy.”

Finally, Fico invited all the presidential candidates and the rest of the Colombians to “close ranks around the territorial defense of Colombia and the root communities of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina”, in order not to cede territory and protect the people.

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