The Colombian president, the left-wing Gustavo Petro, has had four new fronts opened in just a few hours, joining a controversy that has plagued the Charges of capital crimes against his eldest son, who has been following him for months. The most serious of these new problems is the suspension of Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva by the Attorney General's Office of having committed “anomalies” in the public tender for the issuance of passports.
The judicial authority assumes that Leyva exceeded his duties in a public tender to award the issuing of passports to a company, which the Chancellor denies and for which Gustavo Petro has an explanation: it is a maneuver by the judges, by his government to depose power: “Of course they will not let us govern if it is the mentality of those who are used to letting people down and do not want there to be an example of what a popular government, a democratic government, is “, assured Petro, according to statements collected by Europa Press to the Colombian broadcaster Caracol Radio.
Just a few days ago, prosecutors formally charged Nicolás Petro, the president's eldest son, with alleged money laundering and illicit enrichment in the election campaign for his candidacy in 2022. Prosecutors on Monday raided the headquarters of the Colombian Federation Education Workers (Fecode) in Bogotá against Fecode's then treasurer, Nelson Alarcón, who allegedly approved 500 million pesos (about 116,000 euros) for Petro's campaign.
Petro's reaction in this case followed the same pattern as in the allegations against his foreign minister: They want to remove the president from office by force.
A violation of the ceasefire
As the Colombian judicial system tightened the siege of the minister, Defense Chief Iván Velásquez condemned the entry of gunmen from the Central General Staff (EMC), the FARC's main dissident group, into the municipality of Cumbitara (Nariño, southwest), which he said was a “clear violation of the ceasefire” that was recently extended with this group.
“The armed presence of uniformed men of the FARC (EMC) dissidents in Cumbitara, Nariño, is a serious fact that seriously calls into question the recently extended ceasefire with this illegal organization,” the senior official said in a message on his account. from X collected by Efe.
In videos broadcast on social networks, a group of armed men on motorcycles are seen arriving in the city center and talking to police officers, assuring them that they are the ones in territorial control of the area.
Velásquez, who is in Tumaco, also in the Nariño department from where the Colombian government deployed this week, added that the dissidents arrived “not exactly as a threat to the police, but in an action that is absolutely reprehensible.” “It is not consistent with the intentions of the peace process and what was discussed when extending the ceasefire.”
According to authorities, EMC members came to the community to meet with traders “to continue the extortion practices.”
“We have collected all the information to submit to the monitoring and verification mechanism,” concluded Velásquez.
Ten days ago, the Colombian government and the EMC announced a six-month extension of the bilateral ceasefire that began last October 2023, as part of the third cycle of dialogues they held in Bogotá from January 9 to 18.
The relationship between both parties was characterized by tensions and argumentswhich lasted throughout 2023, with the suspension of the first ceasefire concluded between January and June last year due to the murder of four indigenous minors recruited by the guerrillas and a disruption in the negotiation process after the EMC left the negotiating table resigning was an impasse that they were finally able to resolve.
The fourth cycle of dialogue between delegations is expected to take place in March.
Murder of a journalist
On the other hand, a Colombian journalist Mardonio Mejía, who ran the radio station Sonora Estéreo and reported news from San Pedro and Sucre, was shot dead this Wednesday afternoon in his home in the municipality of San Pedro, in the Caribbean department, by hitmen from Sucre (North) condemned the Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP).
“The murder of journalist Mardonio Mejía is terrible. He died after killers shot him dead in his home this afternoon. Mardonio ran the Sonora Estéreo radio station and reported news from San Pedro and Sucre,” said FLIP Director Jonathan Bock. in the social network X.
A wave of fires
Finally, Petro announced that he would appeal for international assistance in fighting the numerous forest fires that have devastated large areas of forest in various regions of the country in recent days.
“All Air Force equipment is being used to extinguish fires in dozens of places in the country, but the Ideam (Meteorological Institute) forecast says that the warming crisis will extend to the entire February and part of March. “For this reason, I have ordered the activation of international aid protocols,” the president said.