The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, decorated this Tuesday in the same ceremony military, police and ex-guerrillasa decision that he believes can be highly criticized, but it is a “an example of peace and not war.”
“In the past it was not possible, in the past it was a real war, and today it is possible shoulder to shoulder, in the same function, to take care of democracy, take care of rights and take care of freedom”said the head of state during the ceremony in which Several former M-19 guerrillas were decoratedwho are part of the bodyguards that take care of the president, and other state officials. In his youth, Petro was a member of the M-19 guerrilla group and even at a government event he asked to raise the flag of that guerrilla movement.
On November 6 and 7, 1985, the M-19 took part in the violent guerrilla takeover of the Palace of Justice, in the heart of Bogotá, to impeach the then Colombian president, Belisario Betancur. one of the most serious episodes of the country’s armed conflict. On the second day of the takeover, the Army retook the building, which housed the Supreme Court of Justice and the Council of State, with blood and fire, in an operation that left 94 dead, including eleven judges of the Court, and dozens of wounded. and eleven missing, mostly cafeteria employees and visitors.
After the signing of the peace, in 1990, the M-19 became the political party Democratic Alliance M-19, with which it entered politics, which 32 years later allowed Petro’s arrival to the Presidency.
Gustavo Petro
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“Ex-combatants of the M-19, who are decorated alongside army officers, police officers, and different weapons. And that is an example, it can be highly criticized -obviously from other points of view- but it is an example because it is an example of peace, not war”, Petro expressed today at the Military House ceremony.
The Colombian ruler seeks to demonstrate to the country that “The meeting between brothers and sisters is possible, because in the end we were all born here in Colombia, we have lived it, sometimes we have suffered it, but we have also enjoyed it many times, because it is a country to enjoy, as long as we have peace” .
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EFE
