He did not give details, nor names, nor is there antecedents that support the seriousness of his statements. But Gustavo Petro, in a virulent speech against the main Colombian cement company, which closed an act of handing over farms to farmers, told Spanish businessmen to put money to “overthrow” his government.
“They collect small talk (money) from some big Spanish businessmen. They go to Spain to see how the government collapses,” he declared in the municipality of Carmen de Bolívar, department of Bolívar, in northern Colombia, before a dedicated audience that applauded his words. “Don’t even think about doing that because you would be starting a new phase of violence. Don’t be stupid, that has already been done in the history of Colombia,” he added.
Petro’s relationship with Spain is full of chiaroscuro. He has shown his support for the Catalan separatist parties and their unconstitutional actions, had a former member of Terra Lliure as a campaign adviser, and branded the discoverers of America as slavers and genocidal before landing in Madrid on his official visit last month. May.
On the Spanish side, he received the treatment that is offered to any Head of State who travels to the country. The Kings received him at the Royal Palace, he held meetings in La Moncloa with Pedro Sánchez, stayed overnight at the El Pardo Palace, traveled in the Rolls Royce that belonged to Franco, and gave a speech in the Congress of Deputies. As the Vox parliamentary group withdrew from the venue in rejection of his visit, the rest of the chamber applauded Petro standing for a long time.
The anecdote was told by Petro when he refused to wear a tailcoat at the royal dinner because he considered it a colonial and oligarchic symbol. She came in a dark blue suit and wore the Isabel la Católica necklace that had been imposed on her.
He also held a friendly meeting at the CEOE, despite arriving more than two hours late for the appointment, faithful to his habit of being excessively late. “There is an opportunity for you and an opportunity for us, we cannot treat each other as before, because it is not a subordination, here it is a partnership, we are partners,” said the Colombian President.
However, on a subsequent tour of Germany, where he lamented the fall of the Berlin Wall, he stated that he had received derogatory treatment on Spanish soil for being on the left and for the color of his “coffee with milk” skin.
It should be remembered that Spain is one of the main investors in Colombia, with some 28,000 million dollars and there are about 800 companies of all sizes in the South American nation.
Although this is the first time that Gustavo Petro has launched such accusations against Spanish businessmen, his insistence that traditional parties, the oligarchy, the media or another Colombian social sector intend to end his government prematurely is redundant.
In recent times he usually baptizes the attempt a “soft coup”, but during the electoral campaign he was referring to a violent coup and that they would kill him to prevent a leftist candidate from reaching the Nariño Palace.
In the last weeks of the campaign, shortly before the elections, he denounced at a rally, held on a Saturday, that the following Tuesday the then president, Iván Duque, would block the way with a kind of blow. The former president denied it and, as was foreseeable, nothing happened and they never provided any evidence.
On another occasion, he spoke of a gang called “La Cordillera de Pereira” attempting to kill him as an excuse for not attending an electoral activity, although the Police ruled out that there was any plan by said criminal gang.
Petro has always had a robust security scheme that was reinforced during the campaign, just like Álvaro Uribe, his greatest rival, who arouses hatred and love like him. They are the two most controversial and threatened people in the country.
