2024-09-10 23:21:40
The representative said that the former president had interfered in the country’s property appraisal.
This Sunday, the representative of the Historic Pact, María Fernanda Carrascal, issued a public retraction after having accused former president Álvaro Uribe of interfering in the cadastral appraisal in Colombia. The initial accusations, made on August 6, 2024, generated a strong response from the former president and his legal team, who requested an immediate rectification.
Carrascal had claimed at the time that Uribe had prevented the country’s peasant farmers from having their property appraisals carried out, which supposedly affected access to land and rural legalisation processes. This statement, made in a context of debates on agrarian policies and land distribution, was quickly denied by Uribe’s team, who asked the representative to rectify her position.
Through X
The retraction occurred on September 8, when Carrascal published a statement through the social network X (previously known as Twitter), where he stated: “I retract what I stated to Mr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez and I declare that I am not aware that he has removed anything or prevented the cadastral appraisal of the country’s peasants. In these terms, the request made by the representatives of Mr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez in the month of August 2024 is answered.”
The Democratic Center, a party led by Álvaro Uribe, responded by calling Carrascal’s original accusations “irresponsible.” In a statement issued on Sunday, they said: “Representative Carrascal’s words not only affect the good name of former President Álvaro Uribe, but are an irresponsible act that misinforms public opinion.”
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It’s not the first time
The party also recalled that this is not the first time that Carrascal has been forced to retract her statement due to accusations against the former president. In 2022, the representative of the Historic Pact also had to publicly apologize after accusing Uribe of having “ordered murders,” a statement that generated controversy and tensions between political sectors.
Carrascal’s rectification comes amid a polarized political climate, where discussions about land redistribution and agrarian policy remain highly contentious issues. Cadastral appraisal, in particular, is a key process in rural land administration, as it sets property values and affects tax collection, as well as peasants’ rights to their land.
The public debate
The incident has once again brought to the forefront of debate the responsibility of political leaders in their public statements and the importance of basing them on verifiable facts. While Carrascal, one of the most visible voices of the Historic Pact, faces criticism for his statements, the coalition has not issued an official statement on the retraction.
For its part, the Democratic Centre has insisted that these types of unfounded accusations affect the credibility of the political debate and hinder progress on fundamental issues such as agrarian policy in Colombia.
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