Former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez has just had one of the greatest victories in judicial matters in recent years. In a 119-page guardianship ruling, the Constitutional Court forced the creator of Matarife, Daniel Mendoza, to rectify the statements he made in the series, that were full of biases, lies and inaccuracies once morest the former president.
In the web series, Mendoza – who was the main narrator and presenter – accused Uribe of being a “paramilitary”, “murderer”, “corrupt” and “drug trafficker”. He made all these assertions without clear proof or with a basic judicial ruling, that is, They were personal opinions once morest the integrity of the former president.
Precisely, in the sentence, the Court makes a harsh exhortation to the creator of the series Matarife. The high court makes it clear that Daniel Mendoza “It violated the fundamental rights to honor, good name and presumption of innocence of Mr. Uribe Vélez.”
“The behaviors that Mr. Mendoza Leal unfoundedly attributed to the plaintiff are the object of the broadest social rejection, in view of their special seriousness and social harmfulness. The repeated publication of such accusations had an intense effect, disproportionate and unjustified social reputation of the plaintiffundermined his prestige and generated scenarios of social blaming once morest him”.
The Chamber reaffirms that “The position that officials and public figures hold as centers of public notoriety does not mean that their honor and good name are devoid of constitutional protection.”, states the ruling. And he adds: “Our Constitution not only does not allow, but also prohibits freedom of information from being used as a tool to unjustifiably tarnish the prestige of public officials and promote their social stigmatization.”
In another section, the Court, in this case with a presentation by Judge Paola Meneses, warns that “The irresponsible journalistic exercise carried out by Mr. Mendoza Leal affected the right of society to be informed.”
In the Chamber’s opinion, “disinformation on matters of public interest and relevance related to the functioning of the State and the armed conflict is profoundly harmful, since it takes power away from the individual, robbing him of his autonomy to seek information and form opinions, unjustifiably destroys citizens’ trust in institutions and creates unfounded scenarios of anxiety, terror and fear that hinder the consolidation of reconciliation projects in society”.
“The exercise of freedom of information and of the press carried out by Mr. Mendoza Leal in this case was incompatible with the social function that journalists have in democratic societies, Therefore, the intervention of the constitutional judge becomes imperative to restore the rights of Mr. Uribe Vélez that were violated and protect the right of citizens to receive truthful and impartial information.”, adds in another part of the ruling the Constitutional Court.
In the ruling, the Constitutional Court recounted the reasons why it decided on this ruling, alleging that the complaints “published by Mendoza Leal do not satisfy the burden of impartiality, because they present a pre-valued and unilateral version of the facts,” says the ruling known on Friday night and that forces the creator of the series to retract.
What the defense of former President Uribe said
In this specific case, the defense was led by the lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella. According to the jurist, “the message of this ruling is clear: anonymity, cowardice and the abusive use of the digital world to destroy the name, andhe honor and tranquility of a person are not tolerated by law. The winery and trailing strategies are not outside the law and justice”.
De la Espriella considered that the only objective of this series, which was launched in 2020, was to “harm” and destroy Uribe’s “honor and reputation”. All this using the most vile and cowardly strategies, since it was believed that false accusations might be made from social networks without any consequences.
“There is no abuser who can remain unpunished in the face of the forcefulness of truth and honor. The infamous slanderer most convoluted and twisted that we have seen in Colombia, the coward who hid behind WhatsApp chains, ghost NGOs, malicious tendencies, has just been exposed in the ruling of guardianship issued by the Constitutional Court.
