BOGOTA (AP) — Two weeks after leaving power and in one of his last official acts, President Gustavo Petro on Friday denied him permission to The military garrison will be used for the inauguration of Conservative President Abelardo de la Espriellawho will become his successor from August 7.
“I do not authorize any garrison or military establishment to join the army until the last second, while I am president, for any inauguration,” Petro said in a speech at Quinta de Bolivar, a country house turned museum located in the center of Bogota, where he took Simon Bolivar’s sword from the presidential palace.
De la Espriella plans to take the oath of office at a military garrison in the southwest of the country to pay tribute to the social strength he promises to strengthen in the fight against illegal armed groups.
The Senate this week approved a proposal to travel from Bogota to Cauca, a restive department in the country’s southwest, to take the oath of office, without specifying whether it would take place in the garrison. House support remains.
“Civilians should take office before the people, not before the guns. Once they have taken the oath, but not in the military department, they can give any orders they want,” explained Petro, who as president is the supreme commander of the armed forces.
Petro didn’t know electoral victory of the Conservative De la Espriellahis staunch opponent, despite the fact that the electoral body confirmed this after a narrow victory over the progressive Iván Cepeda, who was supported by the outgoing president.
In his speech, he assured that they owe De la Espriella’s presidency to the “US State Department”, criticizing the political support of De la Espriella by President Donald Trump and his government.
Petro believes that Colombia will lose its sovereignty with the next government and “return to the viceroyalty”, this time in the service of the United States.
After alleging election fraud, Petro supported a lawsuit seeking to invalidate De la Espriella’s presidential bid, saying the election body had weakened its control over voting records, making it difficult for civilian oversight and vetting of judges.
Peter sends Bolivar’s sword to the museum
The president announced that after leaving the presidency he would join the “resistance”, in a symbolic act in which he carried the sword of liberator Simon Bolivar.
“The sword goes out to Quinta de Bolívar in ostracism. Colombia’s national independence ends on August 7,” Petro said on social media. “Bolivar’s sword will shine again when we achieve a second national independence,” he added.
Petro used the sword as a symbol of his “people’s struggle.” After taking office as president, he decided to display it in an urn in the presidential palace and use it at some public events.
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“Five Bolivarian countries are at risk of losing their independence; rockets have already fallen in one of them,” Petro said, referring to Venezuela. “They are also threatening boatmen who are not drug dealers with rockets,” he chided the boats. attacked by US in the Caribbean on charges that he was used for drug trafficking.
The symbolism of the sword is connected with the past of Peter, who in his youth was a member of the disappeared partisan detachment M-19. Bolivar’s sword was stolen in January 1974 by M-19. when he was guarded in Quinta de Bolívar.
From then on, the sword became a typical symbol of the M-19 insurgency until its leaders returned it as a gesture of peace in 1991, after they signed a peace agreement and laid down their arms.