While the president congratulated the hacker Julian Assange for his freedom —famous for revealing correspondence from the United States State Department—, He attacked journalists Maria Jimena Duzan and Ricardo Ospina in three tweets. Before that, the president cited another violent tweet from a tweeter which called the media “paramilitary” and then ended up generally calling the press “Mossad”, referring to the Israeli intelligence agency famous for operations around the world.
The tweet that followed this one targeted the journalist and columnist for Cambio Magazine, María Jimena Duzán. “I have respected María Jimena in her journalistic life, I consider her a true journalist and a victim of paramilitary violence. But following Vicky’s career is a path of error and lies. To insinuate that I exchange positions in my government for advice is a true lack of respect for myself. Semana magazine already disrespects me with satiety, but I do not expect it from María Jimena. I know that “Mossad journalism” prevails. They want to destroy Sarabia only to destroy the government and they commit villainy and scoundrelism,” she added.
What is clear is that the president has one standard for celebrating freedom of the press in the world, in cases like Assange’s, with all the issues and debate surrounding the crime he was accused of – espionage – but another standard for condemning with adjectives that put the work of journalism in Colombia at risk, especially when it is critical of his administration. This was also said by the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) which published a statement asking the president for moderation and respect for the practice of journalism.
“We request that the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of the Press of the IACHR, within the dialogues it maintains with the executive branch, draw attention to theThe need to move forward in the materialization of a real commitment to press freedom by President Gustavo Petro, which includes those voices that are critical of his management,” Flip highlighted.
This is not the first time that Petro has directly attacked the press; he has also done so with EL COLOMBIANO. But it does show that today the only media outlet with which Petro seems to have a respectful relationship is RTVC, which is run by his personal friend Hollman Morris, and which has become a mouthpiece for the administration, ignoring the difference between being a media outlet at the service of the Government and one at the service of the State.
The easy way out of chats
The president has argued, as has the director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency (DAPRE), Laura Sarabia, that the accusations, questions and stories about the division in his government and the case of Andrés Sarabia correspond to simple “chains of WhatsApp chats.” However, the sources themselves in the Presidency assure that the distrust of the entourage of the director of DAPRE and the first lady, Verónica Alcocer, towards the director of the National Protection Unit (UNP), Augusto Rodríguez, is real.
So far she has not explained in detail her relationship with Andrés Ávila.former director of the Special Assets Company (SAE) of the Duque Government, with whom he met in an office on 94th Street, as revealed by the newspaper El Tiempo. Nor with the businessman from Barranquilla David Cureto whom Ávila acknowledged that the brother of the high official also provides him with advice. Finally, Sarabia’s relationship with the president of Findeter, Juan Carlos Muñiz, has not been detailed.
You can read: La Flip made a harsh call to Petro: “it intends to sow doubt about the suitability of the media”
Sarabia denied all the accusations against her and filed a complaint for indirect libel. And, although the president said in front of an event for the promotion of generals of the Armed Forces that the WhatsApp chains sought to divide his Government, the first lady denounced last Friday undetermined people in the Prosecutor’s Office who, according to her, would seek to harm her with false information to link her to the National Unit for Risk Management. Alcocer said in her complaint that those people would be officials within the Government, not external or third parties “Nazis” as the president expressed in another message from his X account.
The analysis of Petro’s responses to journalistic publications against his Government shows that the president has not guaranteed that the press reviews what is happening in his administration, but always responds with a dangerous and violent tone. This is what she did with journalist Ricardo Calderón when he published the investigations about the visits of his brother, Juan Fernando Petro, to the Picota prison, and also about the relationship during the campaign of Sonia Bernal with Sandra Navarro in Casanare, the latter being the partner of a convicted drug trafficker. She has also done it against the director of Semana magazine for the publications of Day Vásquez and Nicolás Petro and at this stage she decided to appeal to compare the press to an Israeli intelligence agency. The president has repeatedly said he is a Democrat, but his comments about the press are increasingly worrying.taking to the limit the messages that may lead to violent acts against journalists or the media.
