Attorney General's Office to Open Investigation Against General Zapateiro on Monday, April 25

For allegedly participating in politics, the Attorney General's Office would open a preliminary inquiry against General Eduardo Enrique Zapateiro, commander of the National Army. Anonymous sources say that the control body will notify the uniformed officer of the start of the process on April 25. However, there is still no official statement about it.

It should be noted that General Zapateiro had already been denounced to the prosecutor's office since Friday, April 22. The senator and militant of the Historical Pact, Roy Barreras, was the one who sent a formal complaint to the watchdog in which, in addition to investigating the uniformed man, he asked to be suspended from office.

“I have lodged disciplinary complaint against General Zapateiro for a very serious misconduct with the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation. I call for their immediate suspension because of their flagrant political belligerence. It is a risk to democracy that it interferes with the elections by carrying the arms of the Republic,” Barreras said.

It should be remembered that this episode began on the night of April 19, when a unit of the Fourth Brigade of the Army was attacked by members of the Gulf Clan. In the event, seven soldiers were killed and four were said to have disappeared.

When the news broke, different characters reacted to the event, including the presidential candidate for the Historical Pact, Gustavo Petro, who, in addition to rejecting the attack, criticized the high commanders of the public forces. According to him, it is regrettable that the deaths of some soldiers occur while some have ties to the criminal group.

“While 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,” Petro said.

When he saw the tweet, General Zapateiro responded to him to demand respect from the politician. However, in addition to doing that, he mentioned several scandals in which Petro has been involved.

“I remind you that as a senator you are part of the collective that you dare to refer to as “politicians of drug trafficking”. As a citizen I recommend not to generalize. Respect first and foremost. I haven't seen any general on television receiving bad money. Colombians have seen you receive money in a garbage bag,” Zapateiro wrote.

This statement is seen as participation in politics, an action that is prohibited for uniformed personnel and public officials in the country. This provision is enshrined in article 127 of the country's Political Constitution.

Likewise, article 219 states the same:

It should be noted that this alleged infringement has not been reported only by militants and/or supporters of the Historical Pact, but also by important social organizations and lawyers in the country. Among those who denounced General Zapateiro is lawyer and researcher Rodrigo Uprimny.

“This thread of army commander criticizing a presidential candidate violates article 127 of the Constitution which prohibits public servants from intervening in electoral politics and, being military, also violates article 219 which states that the security forces are not deliberative. Very serious,” Uprimny said.

A formal investigation is being held against the uniformed man in order to determine whether or not he committed a fault.

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