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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/05/12/colombian-president-gustavo-petro-warns-of-coup-plot-against-him/">peoplesdispatch.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Colombian President Gustavo Petro warns of coup plot against him <br></h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Peoples Dispatch - May 12, 2023<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><p>Gustavo
Petro has been under constant attack from right-wing forces from well
before he became president. Photo: Cristian Garavito - President's
office
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<p>“For the first time there is a president, that instead of trying to
take the land away from peasants to keep it or give it to his friends,
he is trying to give the land back. And now some former colonel says
that this deserves a coup d’état… these coups are resisted and overcome
through the mobilization of citizens,” <a href="https://twitter.com/RTVCnoticias/status/1656779897560244225">declared</a> Colombian President Gustavo Petro during an event in Sucre, in which land was turned over to dispossessed peasants.</p>
<p>Petro was referring to the incendiary statements made on Thursday,
May 11 by retired Army Colonel John Marulanda during a debate on <a href="https://www.wradio.com.co/2023/05/11/debate-que-hay-detras-de-la-multitudinaria-manifestacion-de-la-fuerza-publica-en-retiro/"><i>La W radio</i></a>.
Marulanda said that the mobilization of retired members of the military
is a sign that Colombia is “following the steps of Peru” wherein “the
reserve forces were successfully able to defenestrate a corrupt
president.” He added, “Here we will do our best to defenestrate someone
who was a guerrilla fighter.”</p>
<p>Marulanda, who is the ex-president of the Association of Retired Army
Officials (ACORE), immediately tried to rectify his statement in the
interview saying “I correct what was said. It is not about trying to
defenestrate the president as Peruvian President Castillo was
defenestrated…[Petro] is legitimate, it is perfectly plausible that he
is president of the Republic.”</p>
<p>On Wednesday May 10, around 3,000 retired members of the Armed Forces
mobilized in the Plaza Bolívar against the government of President
Gustavo Petro and his policy of National Security. They particularly
take issue with Petro’s government plan for “Total Peace” which has seen
the government engage in peace talks and negotiations with numerous
different armed groups in the country and establish several bilateral
ceasefires. Retired army personnel also criticized the progressive
reforms promoted by Petro and the members of Congress from the Historic
Pact such as the health care reform and labor reform. Many in the
mobilization demanded “Out Petro!” and staged particular opposition to
the fact that he is a former member of a guerrilla group.</p>
<p>In this context, the incriminating statements of the retired colonel
have sparked serious concerns amongst progressive forces of a possible
coup plot against Petro.</p>
<p>Shortly after Marulanda spoke on <i>La W</i>, President Petro <a href="https://twitter.com/petrogustavo/status/1656750941347934208">wrote</a>
on Twitter, “Why do they conspire for a coup d’état? Because they are
terrified that we will end impunity. The truth frightens them so much
that they get desperate.”</p>
<p>The Attorney General of the Nation released a <a href="https://twitter.com/FiscaliaCol/status/1656818745241731073">communique</a>
the same day, in direct response to the declarations made in media that
mentioned “the possibility of attacking democratic institutions
established in Colombia and how a citizen expressed it word for word
‘defenestrate the president’”, and declared that it “rejects any attempt
to undermine the democratic institutions and their representatives” and
will open up an investigation.</p>
<p>On the other hand, far-right former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez rejected Petro’s warnings about a coup <a href="https://twitter.com/AlvaroUribeVel/status/1656998526113415170">saying</a>
“[It is] detrimental to talk about a coup d’état when Colombia has had
the most respectful Armed Forces of the democracy. [It is] detrimental
that through political agreements with Congress, a coup d’état is made
to the Health System.”</p>
<p>The tensions which have come to the fore in the last week, have been
brewing since long before Gustavo Petro was even elected. One of the
primary challenges facing Petro is how to deal with the massive Armed
Forces apparatus which has historically been an ally of the successive
right-wing governments in the country and is deeply entangled in its
structure of corruption and crime, and is a cornerstone of its historic
policy to suppress and <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/02/01/iachr-declares-colombian-state-responsible-for-extermination-of-left-party/">eliminate the left</a>.</p>
<p>The creation of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) by the 2016
Havana Peace Accords and the numerous investigations it has carried out
into the crimes committed by the members of the Colombian Armed Forces,
such as the <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/07/27/special-court-in-colombia-convicts-22-former-military-officers-for-killing-over-300-innocent-civilians/">“False Positives” scandal</a>,
have caused a stir amongst those who are and have been part of the
military apparatus. During the prior governments, there had been a de
facto code of silence on the crimes committed by the Armed Forces
against Colombian civilians, especially as they were often in
collaboration with the government policies. This was the case with
Uribe’s ‘Democratic Security doctrine’ which saw the expansion of
Colombia’s military presence and the intensification of the campaign to
militarily defeat leftist insurgencies.</p>
<h3><b><i>Read more: </i></b><a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/04/29/we-killed-innocent-people-retired-colombian-army-officials-confess-to-murdering-civilians/"><b><i>“We killed innocent people”: retired Colombian army officials confess to murdering civilians</i></b></a></h3>
<p>As Petro’s government continues to threaten the vested interests of
Colombia’s large landowners, military forces, health insurance moguls,
and other conservative sectors, these attacks are likely to continue.
However, as Petro declared, they will not deter his commitment to peace
and social justice.</p>
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