He affirms that the policy of total peace has become a “cloak of impunity.”
The former president and director of the Liberal Party, César Gaviria Trujillo, issued a public statement in which he forcefully criticized President Gustavo Petro, for an alleged intention to include the Venezuelan criminal organization known as Tren de Aragua within the Total Peace policy.
In the statement, Gaviria stated that “the country has received with indignation the news that A ploy is being hatched to prevent the extradition of ringleaders of the criminal organization known as the Aragua Train.” According to the former president, The alleged maneuver consists of incorporating them into their peace program, under the argument that their leaders in Colombia requested it in a recently disclosed letter.
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The former president pointed out that This inclusion would have the purpose of “denying the extradition requested for these ringleaders,” who, apparently, already had a favorable opinion from the Supreme Court of Justice to be sent to Chile.
Gaviria expressed that “the court has fallen short in demanding these extraditions from the government.” In his statement, The former president maintained that the ‘Total Peace’ policy “has become a cloak of impunity so that common criminals mock the action of justice and now find refuge in Colombia protected by the government of President Petro.”
Gaviria also referred to the president’s speech before the United Nations General Assembly (UN), where according to his interpretation, would have tried to justify the activities of the Aragua Train as a consequence of the international blockade of Venezuela. “What nonsense! What monumental error!” wrote the former head of state.
The statement described the ‘Aragua Train’ as “one of the most powerful international criminal organizations that has expanded very quickly” and pointed out that “it is a multinational crime company that traffics in everything, including people.”
Gaviria recalled that the United States Government declared this organization a terrorist group and that under the administration of President Donald Trump, the use of military force against so-called “non-state armed groups” was promoted.
In that context, he warned that “President Petro’s government seems to continue unaware of the implications of this shift in the anti-narcotics policy of the United States.”
He added that Both the president and his government “will be exposed to the consequences” of their decisions and stressed that “Colombia rejects complicity with criminal organizations and the weakness of the government.”
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Finally, Gaviria warned that if the Aragua Train enters ‘Total Peace’, “the entire country must go on high alert because this would mean that the government has taken a course intentionally aimed at causing harm to Colombia for the benefit of extremely dangerous foreign criminal organizations.”
The former president concluded his statement by inviting “all democratic forces to demand that this government actually govern for the benefit of good Colombians, and not to favor the criminals of the most bloodthirsty criminal organizations.”
Source: Integrated Information System
