On the night of April 19, a unit of the Army's Fourth Brigade was attacked by members of the Gulf Clan. In the event, three soldiers were killed, five wounded and four others had disappeared; however, in the last few hours the number of soldiers killed rose to seven. The incident generated the indignation of public opinion and candidate Gustavo Petro, who in the rejection of the attacks added a criticism of the senior commanders of the National Army.
The presidential candidate - who is listed as the favorite according to different polls - judged that the deaths of some soldiers will occur while some corrupt generals rise in the institution. A comment that did not go well within the military leadership and it was the same commander of the National Army, General Eduardo Zapateiro, who demanded respect from the leader of the left.
“While the soldiers are killed by the Gulf clan, some of the generals are on the Clan's payroll. The top is corrupted when it is the politicians of drug trafficking who end up promoting the generals,” said Gustavo Petro on his official Twitter account, citing the report given on the social network by the Sergeant (RA) of the National Army, Alexander Chala Sáenz, giving details about the attack in which the seven uniformed men died.
In response to the presidential candidate's words, General Zapateiro made a series of trills in which he rejected Petro's allegations about high commanders linked to drug trafficking and asked him not to engage in politics through the attacks of the country's armed forces.
He emphasized that “more than 500 soldiers have been killed and injured during the completion of the mission” since 2011 and, apparently, for Gustavo Petro they had been “invisible”, since he had not spoken out. That is why he stressed that his pronouncement was more due to the fact that the country is in the middle of a political campaign ahead of the presidential elections.
In addition, the uniformed man asked the politician that, if he knew of high commanders that they were related to drug trafficking, he should file a proper complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office. “Senator, do not use your inauguration (parliamentary inviolability) to try to make politicking with the death of our soldiers, but rather fulfill your citizen duty of substantiated denunciation to the Prosecutor's Office of the facts you mention, whoever you are.”
The following trills of the army commander called for respect on the part of the senator, noting that he himself also “is part of the collective that he dares to point out as 'politicians of drug traffickers'”. General Zapateiro also recalled the controversy that arose when the senator was seen receiving money in a stock exchange, “I have not seen any general on television receiving bad money. Colombians have seen you receive money in a garbage bag,” he said.
Finally, General Zapateiro demanded respect for the National Army and its uniformed personnel, who “unconditionally have defended the democracy of this nation for more than 200 years, even offering their own lives.” For now, the presidential candidate has not responded to the demand of the commander of the armed forces.
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