The president Gustavo Petro insisted this Sunday, September 1, that a coup d’état is brewing against him, something that several political sectors question, stating that there is no evidence to support the president’s claims.
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“They have organized to carry out the coup d’état. What has been announced is unfolding,” asserted President Gustavo Petro on his X social media account.
He added: “It will depend on the people who elected me whether the oligarchic design becomes a reality or if we defeat them again. This will not be a parliamentary vote from our enemies to remove us. This will be a popular struggle.”
Tweet from the president about the coup d’état
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The political reactions to the President’s tweet
One of the first to react was Representative Catherine Juvinao from the Green Alliance, who compared the case of the head of state with the investigations underway against former president Álvaro Uribe.
“If justice investigates Álvaro Uribe: good, justice is for everyone, a good precedent, that’s how it should be. When it investigates Petro: the coup d’état is consummated, fascism attacks me, the people must engage in a popular struggle. Conclusion: Petro thinks he is above the law,” said the representative.
Meanwhile, Senator David Luna, one of the heads of the opposition, asked President Petro to, instead of continuing with that narrative, start working for the country.
David Luna.
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“Instead of digging deeper into a coup that does not exist, recognize your mistakes, assume any responsibilities that may arise, and start working. The country is falling apart, we are beginning to experience uncertainty in practically all sectors, as if we were to keep closing our eyes. Your call for a “popular struggle” is a dangerous euphemism; your call is a call to violence, to the alteration of the norms, and we will not allow that,” said Luna, a senator from Cambio Radical.
“The strategy is to play the victim, inventing persecutions to divert attention from your corruption scandals and investigations; a coup is invented every time there is talk of electoral limits in your campaign,” stated Representative Carolina Arbeláez, also from Cambio Radical.
Although President Petro did not associate his statements with any specific event, some sectors have linked it to the recent decisions made by the National Electoral Council (CNE) to expedite the investigations against his 2022 presidential campaign.
The process in the CNE against President Petro’s campaign
This Thursday, the process against the Petro Presidente campaign for alleged funding irregularities was officially resumed, and it is expected that in two weeks the motion for charging President Petro and his campaign manager, Ricardo Roa, now the president of Ecopetrol, will be voted on.
The examination of the document could take months, but the electoral tribunal, composed of representatives from the main political forces in the country, decided to expedite the review.
A system of simultaneous rotation was applied so that the dossier is in the hands of all interested judges at the same time and does not pass one by one. This is due to the fact that the process had been paused for a long time, almost two months.
President Gustavo Petro.
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“The figure of simultaneous rotation is provided for any matter; in this case, it is because the matter was suspended for several months while the State Council resolved the conflict of competencies”, sources from the CNE told this newspaper.
Thus, it is expected that by September 11, the magistrates will have already studied the case and that day they could make a decision regarding the presidential campaign case.
From there, there would be two scenarios. One, that the motion does not achieve a majority and is shelved because the full CNE did not find reasons to advance the investigation. Two, that it be accepted and charges be filed against Ricardo Roa, campaign manager, and against President Petro. In this scenario, the case against the president would pass to the Accusation Commission of the House of Representatives, the natural judge of the presidents of the Republic.
MATEO GARCÍA
Political Sub-editor