:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/OEBDRX7MYRFZFKDQQDJVUG2WDU.jpg "“There is a tendency to benefit criminals”: former minister Daniel Palacios")
From 2020 to 2022, Daniel Palacios He was Minister of the Interior in the government of Iván Duque. With the arrival of Gustavo Petro at the Casa de Nariño, he became one of the harshest critics of the national government, for this reason, for the former minister, the policy of total peace benefit the criminals and drug dealers under the guise of submission.
According to Daniel Palacios, you have to be careful with the tweeter Gustavo Petro, because the president shares a lot of things that they are not true and publishes photos that do not correspond to the reality of the country. This was revealed in an interview for Weekin which he assured that the national government had granted complete impunity when trying to establish conversations with criminals, whether they were criminals or drug traffickers.
According to Daniel Palacios, through his messages on the Twitter platform, Gustavo Petro generated lies that have led Colombians to think things that are not and to see realities that do not exist in the country.
“Through Twitter he intends to generate lies and tendentious statements that will lead the population to think things that are not true, he publishes photos that do not correspond to reality or statements that criminal groups exist in Colombia since the government of President Santos and President Duque, when it is clear that the ELN has been committing crimes for more than 40 years, just like the Clan del Golfo and Iván Márquez”.
Regarding the president’s reach on Twitter, Palacios assured that “Petro is one more tweeter who has to be careful if what he says is facts or factual opinions”.
Although the policy of total peace is one of the flags of the national government, for Palacios, ceasefire announcements with armed groups such as the ELN or the gulf clan They were not realized, but they allowed concessions to the groups who reinforced them.
“This peace that the government is promoting has several advantages. First, we see announcements of bilateral ceasefires which have been denied, for example, by the ELN. laying down of arms. We have seen that a shutdown has been announced with the Clan del Golfo, a group that has continued to commit crimes, murders and drug trafficking. We see a government that has imposed a program of peace at all costs, we see concessions to certain groups who have been strengthened and emboldened”.
According to Palacios, the national government has also given benefits to drug traffickers that may even end, with the abolition of extraditionall under the pretext of submitting to justice.
“We see schemes that give benefits to drug traffickers under the pretext of enslavement, in which not only is some of the fortune they have obtained illegally legalized, but extradition ends up the back door, because it It is said that anyone who confesses in Colombia will not be extradited.There is a lot of complacency with criminals and little authority before them.There is a tendency of the government to justify criminals and little support for authority.
For Daniel Palacios, the attempts at rapprochement between the national government and the criminals result in a total impunitybecause it is not taken into account whether they are criminals or drug dealers, so the crime in the country will continue to spread.
“Although the president has the power to seek rapprochement with illegal groups, here what we see is total impunity, because he speaks to everyone, regardless of their level of criminality or whether they it’s about criminals or drug dealers.”