Strong criticism has generated the comments of President Gustavo Petro about the Attorney General of the Nation, Francisco Barbosa.
In a trill written by the Colombian president, he told Barbosa that “the prosecutor forgets one thing that the Constitution orders, I am the head of state, therefore his head.”
The comment generated a series of reactions regarding the independence of the judicial branch from the executive.
The Prosecutor himself came out to denounce Petro’s comment and stated that the president’s statement was an outburst and an aberration and affirmed that he has a limited understanding of the National Constitution, which is clear in pointing out that in Colombia’s democracy a tridivision of powers governs. public, such as the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branches.
That is why he made a call “to the international community because what Petro has just done is a first blow to justice in Colombia, and to the existence of the Rule of Law. His statements put the existence of the Supreme Court of Justice at risk ”.
Barbosa challenged the head of state to remove him from his position as Attorney General of the Nation, if he continues to hold to his idea that he is his supposed boss.
Faced with this situation, Francisco Barbosa decided to take his family out of the country and stated that if something happens to him, it is the president’s fault.
Court responds
In a statement, the Supreme Court of Justice intervened in the controversy by indicating that “it registers with great concern the erroneous interpretation of Article 115 of the Political Constitution, carried out and disseminated in the last hours by the President of the Republic, because he does not know the autonomy and judicial independence, the founding clause of Colombian democracy and an essential pillar of the social State of Law”.
The declaration signed by the president of the Court, Fernando Castillo, also states that “judges, in their rulings, are only subject to the rule of law, while prosecutors are also governed by strict legality controls in their actions.” .
According to the Court, “the Attorney General of the Nation, who holds the qualities of a high court magistrate, does not have a hierarchical superior and is chosen by the Supreme Court of Justice from a short list drawn up by the President of the Republic, is an official whose mission It is clearly regulated by the legal order and framed in the autonomy and independence of the Judicial Branch”.
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