Colombian President Gustavo Petro. | Photo: X/ @ElOpinometro_

Bogota, May 24 (RHC)--The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, rejected this Wednesday calls from right-wing sectors for a coup d'état against his administration, after former president Álvaro Uribe incited the uprising of the Armed Forces against his government.

The Colombian head of state responded on his account on the social network X, reminding Alvaro Uribe that these type of actions are a crime in the Penal Code.  In addition, he responded to the statements of former president Álvaro Uribe, recalling his policy of persecution of critical thinking and human rights defenders.

15 years ago, Miguel Ángel Beltrán, a professor at the National University, was involved with the FARC insurgency during his postdoc at UNAM in Mexico.  After the persecution initiated by the Colombian government, he was arrested by the authorities of this country.

Later, he moved to Bogotá to stand trial for terrorism crimes. After serving three years in prison, he was released due to lack of evidence against him.

“It is the application of state terrorism, of silencing those of us who thought critically, of silencing those who defended human rights, of silencing the opposition and well, all this totalitarianism that Álvaro Uribe Vélez implied,” added Beltrán.

From the academy, this space was used to categorically reject the destabilizing position that former President Álvaro Uribe continues to promote from academic circles, promoting an uprising by the military forces against the current government of Gustavo Petro.

The conflict analyst, Jertza Merchan Díaz, declared: “This is the policy that he has always supported, but not only him, but a good part of the Colombian political elite that resorts to different types of forces, among them, illegal ones.  At this moment, they are calling for legal action, so that the war continues, and it is an accommodating way of interpreting the security of citizens and the rights of citizens."

President Petro responded to Uribe through his account in X, citing the Penal Code, reminding him that it is a crime to promote the dismissal of the government and take military initiative against the constitutional order.  Uribe is currently being tried on unsuccessful charges of paramilitarism.

During the two periods of Álvaro Uribe's government, from 2002 to 2010, there was an increase in the violation of human rights and discrimination against students and academics for expressing critical and different thinking within the framework of the government that was developing in the country.

It has long been reported that the government led by Petro is experiencing a soft coup by various right-wing groups in the country, in order to achieve his removal.  This adds to the accusations of those groups that oppose social policies and the direction the country is taking.