Thursday, August 08, 2019

Iván Duque Has No Moral Authority to Talk About Human Rights in Venezuela
In Colombia, at least 120 social leaders have been murdered in the last three months and 92 former FARC-EP guerrillas since the signing of the Peace Accords in Havana

Elson Concepción Pérez | internet@granma.cu
July 31, 2019 12:07:27

Jorge Corredor González, alias ‘Wilson Saavedra’, former FARC leader killed May 14, 2019, while eating lunch in a restaurant in Valle del Cauca. Photo: www.lapatilla.com

Colombia is virtually immersed in a dirty war against the forces of the left in the country. At least 120 social leaders have been murdered in the last three months and 92 former FARC-EP guerrillas since the signing of the Peace Accords in Havana.

The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, traveled to Lima, Peru, to join the chorus and, once again, attack Venezuela, based on the report presented by Chilean Michelle Bachelet on the situation of human rights there.

A report from the newspaper El Espectador, highlights the following words of the Colombian president in Lima: "I hope that now with the results of Michelle Bachelet's report, the International Criminal Court (ICC) can quickly, not only open the investigation, but have strong evidence to proceed to trial, so a dictator who has finished off the Venezuelan people can get what he deserves.

And as generally happens with these characters, muttering to himself, he added: "I can speak with moral authority because I was the first, three years ago, to denounce Maduro before the ICC."

If I were to analyze his words, it would be enough to address the "moral authority" issue, but instead of inventing "motes" in the eyes of others, he should at least worry about the spiral of violence in own his country, where between January and November last year, 226 social leaders were killed.

Will the Colombian government do something to stop the massacre and support the Peace Accords with the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP), converted by the President's work and grace, into a meaningless document? What will be done about the murders of former FARC guerrillas?

The issue of land, the main demand of campesinos and their communal and social leaders, prioritized by the guerrillas and reflected in the Agreement, is one of the main pending tasks that the government of Colombia owes its people, but the President has forgotten this. Colombian campesinos have more than once asked President Duque to open a dialogue, to address the problem and stop the wave of lynchings, but he remains more concerned with the supposed "human rights situation in Venezuela" and ignores the demands of Colombians.

Do the deaths of social and communal leaders in the Colombian countryside have nothing to do with respect and protection of human rights in the nation?

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