The president of Colombia spoke on the issue in Cali, where he participated in a discussion called ‘Compromiso Valle’.
Gustavo Petro delivered an energetic speech before an audience made up of young people to whom he told that the “front line” was not a terrorist group and that the country’s judges have been pressured not to authorize the release that he himself requested for various members of that organization who are currently in prison.
“It seems to me a profound mistake that the judges were told that, if they led them, they were committing a prevarication. They put pressure on the judges… that’s why they denied the freedoms one after the other, ”he lamented.
In fact, he said that having people behind bars is not justice: “As a kind of revenge, the State decided to lock up young people as if they were terrorists, to criminalize the protest… They only thought that, in taking revenge through jail, the disappearance and murder. Today 200 young people are still imprisoned”.
It was for this reason that he launched a strong defense of that group, which gained notoriety during the 2020 national strike.
Gustavo Petro defended the ‘front line’ vehemently
The ruler implied with his words that this organization ended up doing good to society.
“How many people in Colombia do not believe that the ‘front line’ is a terrorist organization”, he wondered before giving a particular definition.
“The ‘first line’ was a defensive attitude to not let themselves be killed, to protect a neighborhood, a community, a youth,” he exalted.
And he justified his appearance with a harsh pull directed at the previous government: “That it should not have existed? Of course… because the order should never have been given to attack the people who were protesting as enemies, they simply had to open the Palace, speak and dialogue, but it was not like that”.
Finally, he sought the applause of those who listened to him, assuring that thanks to them he came to power.
“A million popular young people left their neighborhoods, just as they went to the barricade, but this time they went to the polls and changed the history of Colombia, they made me win and I owe it to that, I won for you,” he closed.