Alberto Salcedo Ramos.
Colombian writer Alberto Salcedo responded with a statement to the complaints of two women who say they have been sexually harassed by him.
Almost a week after Angie Castellanos and Alejandra Omaña made their cases public through
Las Igualadas
, a YouTube space of the newspaper
El Espectador
, the chronicler and writer assures that he waited to pronounce on the accusations because he wanted to evaluate if he had hurt him to women who point it out.
In the document, he affirms that he had “adult relationships” with the complainants and that he has proof of his innocence.
"There was never a subordination link or a position of power that represented a threat to them," reads the four-page document that he posted on his Twitter account.
According to the complaint, the events occurred in 2011 and 2013, when Castellanos and Omaña were students and Salcedo was a renowned chronicler, he had already won several years of the Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize, the most important in Colombia, and the International Prize for King of Spain Journalism.
The testimonies about the condition of university students and the way in which, according to their stories, the writer harassed them coincide with other accusations revealed in
Las Igualadas
by other women who decided not to give their identity.
In his statement, the chronicler indicates that he hired a criminal law firm to represent him and says that given the strength of the evidence in his favor, he does not rule out later filing criminal and civil proceedings against
Las Igualadas
and the newspaper
El Espectador
.
Salcedo questions the way in which the journalistic space carried out the investigation and assures that Viviana Bohórquez, who sought him out to find out his statements about what they would publish, did not warn him that “in addition to being a journalist for Las Igualadas, he is part of the legal team that accompanies the complainants in the process ”.
For this affirmation, the chronicler cites a note from EL PAÍS published on September 11 about the criminal complaint filed against him.
In the news, Bohórquez is mentioned as one of the lawyers accompanying them in the process.
Bohórquez has clarified that he is not their legal representative in the case and that his accompaniment to the victims consists of "listening to them, making their complaints public from the
Las Igualadas
channel
and building bridges so that they have legal advice," he says.
Bohórquez affirms that the two women who brought their complaints to the Prosecutor's Office did so on their own behalf and do not have, at least for now, a criminal lawyer to represent them.
Salcedo, as confirmed in his statement and told EL PAÍS when he sought him out for his statement a week ago, has put the matter in the hands of lawyers.
"I reiterate that by placing myself at the orders of the competent authorities to clarify these complaints, I do so with one eye on my legitimate right to defense and the other on the commitment to support their struggles," he writes in one of the sections of his statement. , in which he dedicates a large part of the text to the way in which he approached
Las Igualadas
, which according to him "violates the protocols of any journalistic manual."
On the bottom, the complaints of the two women, did not make further mention.
Statement to public opinion pic.twitter.com/XNteWjiQ9Y
- Alberto Salcedo R (@SalcedoRamos) September 16, 2020