Minister of the Interior questioned Sergio Fajardo: “If he does not participate in the process, how are you going to say that guarantees were violated?”

The Minister of the Interior, Daniel Palacios, did not like the fact that presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo gave up going to the Electoral Guarantees Commission that was held this Wednesday, April 20 at the facilities of the portfolio.

When the event ended, the head of that entity said that the national government regretted that the aspirant of Centro Esperanza did not attend the event that tends to give guarantees to those who seek to succeed Iván Duque, following the irregularities of March 13 in the legislative elections.

The official did not let the criticism of Fajardo go unnoticed, who assured that the Duque government does not have “the moral authority” to provide guarantees to those who are vying for the presidency. For Palacios, those statements hurt the country.

“Obviously there are positions that are contrary to those of the Government, where opposition parties always express a reservation with the government,” said the minister, who recalled that when Fajardo competed in 2018 to win the presidency, former prosecutor Fernando Carillo, who held meetings similar to those that his today called portfolio.

Before ending his criticism against the candidate of the Centro Esperanza Coalition, the executive official said he would continue to invite Fajardo to attend those talks given that, “if he does not participate in the process how will he say that his guarantees were violated. If you don't come here and don't express what your doubts are, then you can hardly say that it was not included,” said the official.

Daniel Palacios' comments follow the letter sent by the presidential candidate on Wednesday, where he thanked him for the invitation extended to him and announced his decision to “not attend and not delegate to anyone else the spokesperson for my campaign at that meeting”, arguing that the commission has no moral or political authority “to offer the minimum guarantees that this electoral debate should have”.

The former governor of Antioquia gave three arguments not to appear at that meeting. The first was the amendment to the Electoral Guarantees Act, “which unfortunately was accepted by the Senate and House majorities.”

Secondly, the mathematician reproached that President Iván Duque took advantage of every open microphone he has to comment on the candidates' proposals “in an open and reckless participation in politics, without the prosecutor having deigned to remind him that the Constitution forbids him.”

Finally, Fajardo recalled that Margarita Cabello Blanco, the current Attorney General of the Nation, was Minister of Justice during the Duque administration before assuming her current position in the watchdog. “Therefore, it does not enjoy the independence that a watchdog should have. His silence has been eloquent,” said the candidate.

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