Bogota, Sep 14 (EFE).- Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Saturday that it was the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), through that country’s ambassador in Bogota, who warned him of an alleged plan to assassinate him before the end of this year in an attack involving a truck loaded with dynamite.
“The version came through there, through the DEA via the ambassador”said Petro, who insisted that this is an operation that ““is still ongoing” during a speech at the National Assembly for Social Reforms, Peace and Unity, in which he also explained three other versions of a possible attack.
The event, held at the National University in Bogotá, brings together thousands of supporters of the president, social movements and unions this weekend to show their support for Petro.
President Petro He has been feeding the idea of a coup d’état and a plan to assassinate him.without pointing out anyone in particular, through messages published on their social networks and in interventions in various settings.
In this regard, he said amidst the cheers of the audience: “Every time I win, they want to get rid of me; Petro bores them, every time the people elect me, they want to overthrow me (…) They can’t stand Petro in the Presidency anymore.”
“They put the money in to see if Petro disappears before December, and I’ll tell you: with the money they put in they bought two dump trucks (…) and the idea they have is to fill it (one of them) with dynamite and explosives, and with inside information about my routines, blow up the dump truck as I pass by. That is the death operation.”he denounced.
The president also assured that those who seek to assassinate him, whom he refers to as “they“They bought rifles and one of those people “He told an American lawyer who told the DEA the whole story and who also provided another amount of money from Dubai, owner of the emeralds in Colombia.”
Petro, emboldened by his social base, also referred to the alleged conspiracy to remove him from office through an investigation by the National Electoral Council (CNE) into his 2022 campaign for possible irregularities, such as the violation of spending limits.
“Three judges who have no authority to decide this or authority to say that the National Electoral Council can judge me, a Colombian-style trap, what is called a stab in the back”he said in reference to what he considers to be a coup against him.
“If they unleash a coup d’état, which is not done with soldiers, it is not done with generals, it is done with ties (…) the popular response to the coup d’état is a revolution”the president concluded.
Petro before his bases
Petro addressed multiple issues during more than an hour of speech, with emphasis on the “persecution” that his party and his followers suffer, he again attacked the media and lashed out at the “upper classes” of the country, privatizations and against members of the opposition, as well as against officials of previous governments whom he accused of corruption.
He also reviewed what he considered to be the achievements that his Government has achieved in the first two years of his mandate, such as having “lifted 1,600,000 people out of poverty”avoid a “economic collapse” controlling inflation, “reduce inequality”among others.
Other axes of his speech were the reforms that his Government has promoted, which have not managed to advance in Congress, such as the pension reform, which he considered as “about to be the first law of the Government of Change”
“When we proposed a popular agreement (to the opposition), we were generous after winning the popular vote (…) they responded with a trick: present the projects that we will discuss, and they did not approve any of them”the president criticized.
He also dedicated a portion of his speech to Pegasus software caseused by several governments for political espionage, which was allegedly purchased from an Israeli company in June 2021, when the country was experiencing weeks of social protests.
Petro said goodbye to the attendees amid shouts of “Town!” wondering ““If the treacherous stab wins or democracy wins in Colombia.”
EFE
