Colombia’s Coalición de la Esperanza calls for investigation into president Iván Duque

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Sunday, August 8, the Coalición de la Esperanza announced that it will call on the Prosecutor General’s Office for a position on president Iván Duque’s statements to El Tiempo newspaper regarding a number of candidacies for the 2022 presidential elections and on the Chamber’s Accusations Committee to formally investigate the president for undue involvement in politics.

“The members of the Coalición de la Esperanza – Juan Fernando Cristo, Humberto de la Calle, Sergio Fajardo, Juan Manuel Galán and Jorge Enrique Robledo, repudiate president Iván Duque’s interference in the 2022 electoral campaign,″ reads the coalition’s statement.

They continued: “The coalition considers it an unprecedented event in contemporary history for a president of the Republic to openly intervene in politics, as Duque did today when in an interview with the newspaper El Tiempo, he described the candidacies of a number of politicians and presidential hopefuls as ‘motivating’.”

In the interview he gave to the Colombian newspaper, the president pointed out that some politicians with “great abilities and qualities are starting to enter the arena” in the campaigns presented so far, a matter he finds “very motivating” adding some names.

“For example, the case of ex-mayor of Medellín Federico Gutiérrez. I also see the case of Alejandro Char, of Enrique Peñalosa. I see people with a great ability of execution making important proposals for the country,” and mentioned some of his party’s candidates “In the Democratic Center, I see the case of Dr. Óscar Iván Zuluaga, I see the case of Edward Rodríguez, of Ernesto Macías, I see that there are more and more people willing to propose interesting ideas for the country.”

In its statement, Coalición’s members emphasize that according to Colombian law, government employees may not participate in politics.

“According to current regulations, no civil servant or private individual exercising public office may participate in politics or use their position to favor or support the political causes of candidates for elective office. Nor may they use their position as a means of pressure to favor a particular cause or campaign,” they note.

This was not the first time president Duque has been criticized by the center-left political group, one of the last such instances occurred on Saturday, August 7, which marked the 3rd anniversary of Duque’s term.

In a statement entitled “Three years of Duque: more poverty, less employment, more insecurity and less peace,” the coalition expressed its dissatisfaction with the current government, explaining in four points how the country’s problems have worsened as a result of the president’s different policies and positions.

“In the 3 years of Iván Duque’s presidency, Colombia has been plunged into the most serious social, economic and institutional crisis in its recent history. During this mandate, Colombians have seen an aimless government, without a clear north and with no knowledge or experience,” states the document shared by the political alliance members.

In this respect, the Coalición de la Esperanza began by criticizing the strategies adopted by the government to tackle the Covid-19 health crisis, pointing out that no effective measures were taken to address this unexpected impact, such as efficient plans for emergency jobs or the urgency of granting a basic income.

Moreover, in the four points they mentioned unemployment, human rights violations by the State, non-compliance with the peace agreement, the strategy used with respect to foreign relations and lastly, they pointed out that the president has not been open to dialogue with the different social sectors that have criticized and opposed his policies and positions, going as far as denialism in statements such as that his is the “government of equality” amid deep inequalities.

Source: Infobae