- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
- Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)
(CNN Spanish) –– Faced with questions from the past few hours against her, the vice president of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez, acknowledged in a statement that her brother Bernardo Ramírez was involved in a drug trafficking investigation in 1997. He said that this meant a “Family tragedy”, and that he signed a guarantee, not a bond, to ensure that his brother would appear in court to answer the charges of conspiracy for drug trafficking.
"He paid a prison term of 4 and a half years, and 18 years ago he was released for serving his sentence," Ramírez wrote in the document published on his social networks.
In addition, the official affirmed to local media and in a virtual session with congressmen this Friday that she always informed her superiors about this case, referring to former presidents Andrés Pastrana, Álvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos and the current president Iván Duque, with whom he has worked as Minister of Foreign Trade, Minister of Defense, Ambassador and now as Vice President, respectively. In public statements, in their Twitter accounts and before local media, these politicians have ratified what was said in the statement by Ramírez.
22 years ago, I did not accept @ mlucíaramirez as an impediment to being minister to her brother's problems. Today, after a brilliant and clean career, I still support her #ApoyoAlaVice
- Andrés Pastrana A (@AndresPastrana_) June 12, 2020
Marta Lucía Ramírez, Vice President of Colombia pic.twitter.com/soVTJpXvT9
- Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) June 12, 2020
"I regret that my political enemies come to the base of these attacks against a woman who the only thing he has done is to work honestly and tirelessly," concludes the statement to the public opinion of the Colombian vice president.
I will continue to serve the country with all my strength and dedication until the last of my days. pic.twitter.com/97L4pszb3v
- Marta Lucía Ramírez (@mluciaramirez) June 11, 2020
Several sectors of the opposition, led by the senator and former presidential candidate of the Colombia Humana party, Gustavo Petro, the senator of the Democratic Pole, Iván Cepeda and congressmen of the FARC party, among others, have called for the resignation of Ramírez from his position. In a virtual debate held this Thursday in the plenary session of Congress, they argued that the official should have informed the country of this episode before running for public office.
In this record before the Senate of the Republic, I request the resignation of the Vice President of the Republic of Colombia, Martha Lucía Ramírez, for not having made public her family, business and labor relations with drug trafficking. pic.twitter.com/bDayUFDcoL
- Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 11, 2020
1. The vice president of Martha Lucía Ramírez concealed from the country that her brother was involved in drug trafficking, and that her husband had as a partner a drug trafficker and a paramilitary. What other issues have you silenced? It is clear that she has lost any credibility and must resign.
- Iván Cepeda Castro (@IvanCepedaCast) June 12, 2020
For their part, other political sectors such as the ruling Democratic Center party, the National Unity party and the Conservative Party, of which Ramírez is a part, have supported his management this Friday in interviews of their leaders with local media. They maintain that they do not have to resign for acts committed by a relative and add that in Colombia there is no crime of blood.
The “La Nueva Prensa” portal, which published the article about the vice president's brother's ties to drug trafficking in the past, is a digital medium that conducts research on various political and controversial issues in Colombia.
Marta Lucía RamírezVicepresident
