Colombian President Gustavo Petro was denied a presidential address on October 15 because it was considered by the Communications Regulatory Commission that said intervention did not meet the ‘urgency’ criteria, to which Petro noted: “A certain club that does not name the government determining prior censorship, because it has attributed the right to be the one that examines the content of the topics. Prior censorship is prohibited in the Colombian Constitution; it cannot be taken by any administrative body against the functions of the Executive because then it takes away the functions of the executive, and that is called a coup d’état.“.
In an interview with Holman Morris, director of RTVC, the president indicated that the topic he was going to discuss in his speech on October 15 was drug trafficking, to which he questioned its importance: “Isn’t the issue of drug trafficking and decertification of Colombia an issue of immediate relevance? Isn’t it relevant that missiles in the Caribbean are falling on Colombian boats, probably those of fishermen?…Isn’t the issue of health theft of immediate relevance?…“.
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Petro stated that with said CRC action: “They are not only censoring me, but also the 11 million citizens who elected me. You cannot censor a Head of State because they censor the majority of Colombian society. The Constitution contains the right to be informed and truthfully informed. The right to the truth flourishes when there is multiple information. What is happening is that the opposition (author of the guardianship and owner of the private television concessionaires) makes society lose the right to have another vision“.
In that sense, the president maintained that a speech is the right of the President of the Republic through all channels, “regardless of its name, to express a communication towards the entire society. The presidential address is a legitimate instrument of institutional communication as long as it is not used for proselytizing purposes… Clarifies that a natural disaster is not required for there to be urgency: it is enough that the message has immediate relevance to national life or public interest“.
In the middle of the interview, the president referred to the opposition, and said that the right is the “author of the guardianship because they are the owners of the private television concessionaires. So, all those channels permanently oppose each other and society loses its vision. In other authoritarian countries, such as the northern country, it is usually the president who censures his critics. Here is the reverse“.
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“The entire right is celebrating a ceasefire that appears to be falling apart and an incomplete hostage exchange. When this feast of the global right that has all the power of money and the media begins, everything seems like paradise. They tell me ‘you couldn’t’, it’s just that those who can are the ones who are producing the genocide!… They captured Greta, they tortured her and Europe reacted. In the governments that supported Israel, there were demonstrations that had never happened before“Petro added.
Petro vs. trump
On the other hand, the president also spoke about the measures of the president of the United States, Donald Trump. “Trump threatens everyone: Palestinians, Mexicans, Colombians, Venezuelans… It is a problem that the people of the United States have to solve“But he indicated that the situation must be resolved by the United States, as well as Venezuela (it must resolve its own conflicts), Israel, Colombia, among other countries.
VALENTINA DELGADILLO ABELLO
Portfolio Journalist
