Petro Cannot Claim the Right of Reply in Colombia. His Party Can, and Has Until Tuesday Night.
COLOMBIA · GOVERNMENT
Key Facts
- —The address President Abelardo De la Espriella spoke on national television on Sunday, 13 September.
- —The response Gustavo Petro said on Monday he would request reply time to rebut the corruption accusations.
- —The rule Article 15 of Law 1909 of 2018 gives the right to political organisations in declared opposition.
- —The window Forty-eight hours, at equal length and in the same slot, limited to three times a year.
- —Who qualifies The Pacto Historico declared itself in opposition. Iván Cepeda said the party would use its response.
- —The catch No request has been confirmed as filed, and the annual quota position is unknown.
A former president said he would request it. Under the law he cited, he has no standing to.
Colombia’s former president Gustavo Petro said on Monday that he would seek a right of reply to the presidential address. The statute he invoked does not work that way.
It is a small distinction with a real consequence. The clock is short, and the person who can start it is not him.
What Petro Said
President Abelardo De la Espriella addressed the country at 8 p.m. Bogotá time on Sunday, 13 September 2026. He accused the previous government of a massive theft of public money.
Petro answered on Monday through his account on X. He wrote that he would request a reply to an address designed to deceive the nation and hide its author’s own incapacity.
He separately rejected the corruption accusation. He described its author as a man whose wealth came only from drug trafficking.
That is a serious allegation levelled without evidence in a social media post. It is reported here as his statement and nothing more.
The Law Gives the Right to Parties
Colombia’s opposition statute is Law 1909 of 2018. Two of its articles are relevant and they are not the same.
Article 15 covers presidential addresses. When the president uses the broadcast spectrum, parties declared in opposition get space on the same outlets within 48 hours.
The space must be of equal length and in the same time slot. The option is limited to three uses a year.
Article 17 is the separate right of reply, triggered by grave and evident distortions or public attacks by senior officials. Coverage tends to call both of them the right of reply.
The decisive words in both articles are the same. The right belongs to political organisations declared in opposition, not to individuals and not to former presidents as such.
So Petro personally has no standing to demand anything. What he can do is ask his party to use the right it holds.
Cepeda Phrased It Correctly
Iván Cepeda’s statement on Monday is the legally operative one. He said that as the former president had requested, the Pacto Historico would use its response to the address.
That is the correct construction. The party acts and the individual asks it to.
The Pacto Historico has standing because it filed a declaration of opposition within the statutory window. It did so alongside En Marcha and MAIS, among twenty parties that filed with the electoral council.
The declaration must be made within a month of a government taking office. De la Espriella was inaugurated on 7 August 2026.
The Clock
Forty-eight hours from an address that began at 8 p.m. on a Sunday expires on Tuesday evening. That is the entire window.
Two things remain unconfirmed. No source establishes that a formal request has been filed with the electoral authority or the broadcast regulator.
Nor is it known how many of the three annual uses the Pacto Historico has already spent in 2026. If the quota is exhausted, the question is moot.
The Hundred Trillion Peso Claim
Petro also defended his record with a figure. He said his government paid nearly 100 trillion pesos, about US$32.6bn at Monday’s official rate of 3,072.27 to the dollar.
That is three buckets, not one. He named borrowings taken from the International Monetary Fund, the fuel subsidy, and transfers to health insurers during the pandemic.
Press summaries calling it inherited debt flatten the claim. The fuel subsidy component is the best documented of the three.
His government settled obligations to Ecopetrol under the fuel price stabilisation fund totalling 57.3 trillion pesos across 2023 and 2024. That is about US$18.7bn at today’s rate.
The fund drawing dates to December 2020, under President Iván Duque, so the attribution of who borrowed is accurate. The central bank confirms it was repaid on schedule, with the final payment in December 2025.
The health insurer component is not quantified in any source located. No primary document totals the three.
One further caveat belongs on the dollar figure. Those pesos were paid between 2023 and 2025, when the currency traded between roughly 3,900 and 4,600 to the dollar.
Converted at the rates then prevailing, the same sum is closer to US$22bn to US$25bn. Today’s strong peso flatters the claim by roughly a third.
More: Colombia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a former Colombian president demand a right of reply?
No. Articles 15 and 17 of Law 1909 of 2018 give the right to political organisations declared in opposition, not to individuals. Petro can ask his party to exercise it, which is what Iván Cepeda announced.
How long is the window?
Forty-eight hours from the presidential address, with equal airtime in the same slot on the same outlets. The option may be used three times a year.
Does the Pacto Historico have standing?
Yes. It filed a declaration of opposition within the statutory month after De la Espriella took office on 7 August 2026, alongside En Marcha and MAIS.
Is Petro’s 100 trillion peso figure correct?
It is plausible as a sum of three items, about US$32.6bn, but no primary document totals it. The fuel subsidy component, 57.3 trillion pesos or about US$18.7bn, is the best documented.
Why does the dollar conversion matter?
The payments were made when the peso traded far weaker than today. At contemporaneous rates the sum is closer to US$22bn to US$25bn rather than US$32.6bn.
Sources: Law 1909 of 2018 as published by the Colombian Senate, Semana, Infobae, El Espectador and El Tiempo.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
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