A controversy arose in Colombia following some videos were leaked in which Roy Barreras, senator-elect of the Historical Pact that leads the presidential candidate Gustavo Petroproposes plans to discredit rivals and talks regarding visits that members of that coalition made to prisons to speak with “extraditables.”
In the recordings, which were made several months ago and released this Thursday by Colombian media, Barreras refers directly to the then candidates Sergio Fajardo y Alexander Gaviriaof the Hope Center Coalition, as potential rivals of Petro who must be attacked.
“Alejandro Gaviria is an electoral threat and we are going to take care of dismantling that threat (…) Let’s think tactically if we have to divide the center or not. If that helps, (we have to) take the abandoned Fajardo and bring him, or else Well, we are going head-on once morest Alejandro Gaviria,” Barreras said in one of the videos, published by journalist Gustavo Gómez, director of the 6AM Hoy por Hoy program on Caracol Radio.
Fajardo then disputed the first round of the elections and finished in fourth place with just 4.18% of the votes, following which Gaviria stated that he will support Petro in the ballot on June 19 with independent populist Rodolfo Hernández.
In another of the videos, in which Petro appears, Barreras is seen saying that one of the strategies was “to divide that center even more and make it possible for Mr. Fajardo, who is not trustworthy either, to survive so that he divides the vote in the center “.
The senator also says that the other proposal might be “trying to save Fajardo and press him to accept the invitation of Petro to make a competition” with them or “just the opposite, because what Fajardo It’s also a threat.”
“Extraditables Pavilion”
The videos also talk regarding contacts with prisoners awaiting extradition to the United States and that, according to the magazine Cambio in April, were made by the elected senator of the Historical Pact, Piedad Córdoba, to “support the campaign” of Petro.
Intelligence sources cited by that medium indicate that the meetings were with José Leonardo Muñoz Martínez, alias “Douglas” and former head of the Envigado Office gang of hit men; Juan José Valencia, alias “Andrea” and part of the financial arm of the Clan del Golfo, and John Freddy Zapata, alias “Messi” and who is part of this criminal gang, the largest in the country.
In this regard, Barreras assures in another video, released by the magazine Semana, that information was going to be published on a visit “to the pavilion of extraditable leaders of the Historical Pact offering the ‘non-extradition’ of those extraditables” and he proposes to anticipate: “That’s going to be removed soon, you have to blow it up like when you blow up an explosive in a controlled way”.
“The campaign has to warn him and disqualify him and not go out and give explanations like the person wanted to say something else,” said Barreras.
Gaviria’s reaction
In the face of controversy, Gaviria He assured that during the electoral contest he received “many attacks” and that he tried to “practice what he preached” that in “political competition there are opponents (that one wants to defeat), not enemies (that one has to eliminate).”
“I never liked the moral sufficiency that comes with assuming the role of victim. Many of the attacks and slander hurt me, of course. But I’m not going to stay (…) ruminating grudges and collecting grievances,” he said in a published message. On twitter.
He added that “many of the decisions are problematic” and rejected “pettiness in politics”, but said that “decisions must be made above all with the future of democracy and the well-being of all in mind.”
Gaviria joined Petro’s campaign on June 2 because he considered that “the risks of an institutional breakdown, especially with Congress but also with the Courts, are greater with Hernández”, while Petro “He has made an effort to articulate a vision of change.”
Reviews from Fajardo to Petro
Fajardowho following losing said that he will not vote in the second round for Petroassured that the campaign of his leftist opponent has been “for years destroying whoever confronts them and does not kneel.”
“They use all forms of struggle. They divide tasks in private, so that some appear as angels in public. False. Clean politics can be done. Do not hesitate. The time will come. These are the same as always,” he said on Twitter. former candidate (EFE)
