The head of state doubted the authenticity of the published material, for which the senator described the president’s attitude as disrespectful.
For the people of Cauca it is not a secret that the guerrillas, call it dissidents of the Farc, a subversive group that, apparently, did not demobilize in this department, and the ELN walk armed through towns and villages in this region of the country, which was a sanctuary for the M-19.
This April 19, national television and radio media, through their correspondents, reported that members of the ELN recently walked through the main entrance of Paniquitá, in the municipality of Totoró, in eastern Cauca.
In addition to being informed by residents of the area about the presence of ELN militants, Senator Paloma Valencia from Cauca was sent photographic and video material about that incursion. The congresswoman from the Democratic Center published on her Twitter account the photograph in which several members of that guerrilla group can be seen, with a message that said: “This is how the Pan-American highway dawns at the entrance to Totoró.”
Immediately, the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, who seeks to negotiate with the ELN, responded with another Twitter message from the opposition senator: “I ask the extreme right to stop lying and stop sowing fear. Do politics without lies”.
That tweet from the head of state provoked an immediate response from Senator Valencia Serna, who replied: “Intimidating those who denounce to cover up terrorism is not appropriate behavior for a president.”
The situation did not stop there, on behalf of @hyperconectado, who stated that they had submitted the photograph of the alleged guerrillas in Paniquitá, through a forensic filter, which allegedly showed that it was a montage.
The trill of the user of the social network was shared by President Petro, who stated that this photograph would be about the manipulation of the extreme right.
Obviously, Senator Paloma Valencia Serna, harshly replied to the head of state, and in a session on April 18 in Congress, said: “I want to leave a record about the disrespectful attitude of the president of the republic, Gustavo Petro, I think that A President of the Nation has a first duty of respect towards the members of the opposition and, of course, much more when a Senator of the Republic is denouncing an issue as sensitive as the armed threat of the ELN on different highways in the department. of the Cauca. Using a person with a caricature that affirms that I have staged to discredit a complaint as serious as the takeover that the department of Cauca is undergoing by men armed with rifles and camouflaged and identified with ELN banners, is not only disrespectful, Rather, it is an attempt to silence the voices of the opposition and to cover up the threat and fear that the people of Cauca are feeling.”
He energetically added that he had not altered any of the photographs, “there are several, which show the armed presence of men on the outskirts of the Pan-American highway at the Paniquitá junction, on the Totoró road.”
He maintained that the photographs were well known by all the people of Cauca and that many of them can attest to this, “they even say that the State forces, the Meteoro, were called to the scene and arrived when the members of the ELN they were gone”.
In addition, the political leader added that the president’s statements should be disqualified with the video that she delivered, in which armed men from the ELN are seen, entering the urban area of Paniquitá.
She added that she does not have time to tell lies, “the president will judge by her attitude, because she publishes false photos and false videos all the time, but I want to make it clear to President Petro that, despite his threats and intimidation, Despite calling me a liar and trying to ignore and cover up what is happening in Cauca, he will not silence me, he will not silence our voice, nor will he silence our denunciations; the armed ELN takes over Cauca and we Colombians demand respect for the Caucas and, above all, the action of the forces of order so that the Caucas do not have to live in fear, that President Petro govern and not cover up with lies what It is happening in Cauca”, Senator Paloma Valencia finally said in the congress.
The television news showed in its April 19 edition, members of the National Army, patrolling in Paniquitá, a place where ELN members appeared, according to a complaint by Senator Paloma Valencia.