Recently, President Gustavo Petro had a meeting on social networks together with former President Duque. President Petro complained to Duque for asking to add Cuba to the list of countries supporting terrorism.
“The inclusion of Cuba on the list of countries supporting terrorism follows a request from the Duque government to the US government. The excuse was that the ELN’s peace negotiations, as agreed with the Santos government, were unable to hand over hostages at Duque’s request. The previous agreements that the countries of Colombia, Cuba and Norway had signed in the form of protocols were betrayed. Today my government is negotiating peace with the same free ELN negotiators,” commented the President.
On the other hand, Duque commented: “They condemn the Pinochet dictatorship, but they idolize the dictatorship of the Castros and their heirs.” They remain silent in the face of the Russian genocide in Ukraine and legitimize the ELN’s crimes against humanity by calling them revolutionaries. They want to equate Israel’s democracy with Putin’s oppression and cast their opponents as versions of Hitler while justifying massacres, kidnappings and institutional takeovers on “political” grounds. “That’s what demagogues are like with their double standards.”
The Colombian president then decided to respond: “The Castros made sure the children had food, health and education, but you, Duque, bombed them.” They thought that if the children died, communism would die, like that stupid you thought. Perhaps the dictatorship of those who think it is a blessing to kill 6,402 young people and think that this is how communism would end is worse than that of the Castros. “I don’t care about those who think they are Democrats with the blood of Colombian and Cuban children on their hands.”
Minutes later, the reactions on social networks continued. Some supported Duque’s words while others supported President Petro’s.
Now former President Duque spoke on Radio Caracol and called on Gustavo Petro to reason, as he believes that the president must be a symbol of unity. At the same time, he said that he disagreed with Petro’s position on Cuba. “You can be left-wing, but you can’t be an idolater of the most oppressive regimes.”
The former president made it clear that President Petro’s allegations against him must be placed in context. “The United States did this with evidence. It is not a lie to anyone that the bomb at General Santander’s police school was planned by the entire leadership of the ELN, including the people working for peace in Cuba. This has been more than proven, so much so that the Colombian justice system, independent and autonomous, requested the extradition of several members of the ELN,” commented Duque.
In this sense, the former president noted that at that time Cuba could distinguish between those who sought peace and those who did not come from its territory. “Cuba has decided not to hand over to the Colombian judiciary for extradition those who had prepared an act of barbarism of such magnitude. “That’s what happened.”
Likewise, Duque made it clear that he finds the president’s recent actions interesting. In doing so, he made it clear that he has never supported dictatorships. “What is attracting great attention is the fact that the Colombian state is traveling to Chile in the same week to mourn Allende and, moreover, to rail against the Pinochet dictatorship; and then go to Cuba to glorify the Castro dictatorship.”
