Tension in Colombia: Gustavo Pedro denounces a coup | Is lafare continuing its trend in Latin America?

“The revolution has begun.” With that powerful phrase, Gustavo Pedro denounced his desire to remove him from the presidency of Colombia. He said this after the National Electoral Council (CNE) decided to “open an investigation and file charges against the campaign” into alleged irregularities in the 2022 presidential funding.

The president of the CNE, César Lorduy, announced the resolution considering Pedro as a candidate; His campaign manager Ricardo Roa and other members of his team must respond to “alleged violations of the financing regime for election campaigns” because they are suspected of having exceeded established spending limits and resorted to prohibited sources.

In the next message his famous and law (sic)”. It should be noted that according to the Colombian system, no authority other than Congress can investigate the incumbent President of the Republic.

“All the popular organizations in the country must enter the Permanent Assembly. The time has come for a widespread mobilization of the Colombian people. The Constitutional President of Colombia, elected by popular vote, orders the General Army not to raise a single weapon against the people (sic ),” the president added.

Investigation

The CNE’s decision is in line with a presentation calling for President Pedro’s campaign to be charged for allegedly violating spending limits.

According to the report read by Larduy, the plenary chamber of the CNE “decided by a majority to open an investigation and file charges against the first and second round presidential campaign of the Historic Accord Alliance, citizens Gustavo Francisco Pedro Urego, candidate; Ricardo. Roa Barragán, campaign manager Lucy Aydee Mogollón Alfonso, Maria Lucy Soto Caro and Juan Carlos Lemus Gomez,

According to the CNE, Pedro’s presidential campaign did not report to the organization the accounts of the contributions of the Federation of Colombian Educators (FECOT), the Polo Democrático Alternative Party and the Union Syndical for the first round of elections. Obrera (USO), or the costs of paying election and campaign witnesses, etc.

For the second round of elections on June 19, 2022, Pedro’s campaign allegedly exceeded the “spending limit of 1,646,386,773 pesos (about $389,541 today),” according to the CNE.

The money is said to have come back from donations from the Colombia Humana Party and the USO, and is believed to have been used to pay for his presidential election celebrations, election witnesses and air travel.