The head of the Colombian army, Eduardo Enrique Zapateiro, during a ceremony in Bogotá, in December 2019.LUISA GONZALEZ (Reuters)
The head of the Colombian Army has broken this Friday the neutrality that is presupposed to a State institution during the electoral campaign.
Eduardo Zapateiro, the most notable representative of the hard and conservative wing of the military, has harshly attacked Gustavo Petro through Twitter.
The surprise in the left-wing candidate's team has been capitalized because it is such an unusual event.
Petro has a tense relationship with the uniformed men due to his guerrilla past and for maintaining a very critical position with military operations such as the one a few weeks ago in Putumayo, in which civilians died in suspicious circumstances.
Two days ago, Zapateiro tweeted a heartfelt message for the death of six soldiers in an attack committed by the Gulf clan, a criminal organization dedicated to drug trafficking.
Petro used that message to say that some generals "are on the payroll" of the clan.
"The leadership is corrupted when drug trafficking politicians end up being promoted to generals," he added.
The general's response was long in coming, but it was forceful.
He accused Petro of taking advantage of the soldiers' deaths to campaign and reminded him that since 2001 more than 500 soldiers have been killed or wounded while carrying out missions.
And he invited him to denounce the corrupt generals to whom he referred to the prosecutor's office.
There is no one who is more hurt by the death of a soldier than those of us who wear camouflage and, of course, their families and the country itself, but their supreme sacrifice for the country should not be used in political campaign narratives.
(one)
– Gen. Eduardo Enrique Zapateiro Altamiranda (@COMANDANTE_EJC) April 22, 2022
The crossing of messages has perplexed public opinion.
Something like this had not happened since the presidency of Ernesto Samper (1994-1998).
Samper confronted Harold Bedoya, the head of the Armed Forces at the time, whom he ended up dismissing.
The putschist's paranoia skyrocketed at that moment.
Rumors circulated that the president could be deposed by a military coup at any time.
It didn't happen in the end.
Colombian democracy then learned to separate politics and the Army, something that had been united until 1991. Until that date, the defense ministers were always military.
The economist Rafael Pardo was the first civilian to hold that position.
In a country where one war has overlapped another for decades, with brief periods of peace, the power of the military is enormous.
His performance was widely questioned during last year's protests, in which more than 60 people were killed.
Zapateiro traveled on those dates to Cali, the epicenter of the revolts.
The general's methods were feared among the protesters.
The mayor of the city, Iván Ospina, was in theory in charge of security, but the reality is that he was in charge of Zapateiro.
Two years ago he was heavily criticized for the way he addressed the camera during a television news broadcast.
Within a minute he delivered an almost political speech in which he said he was speaking "to the people."
He ended the intervention with a shout, Ajua!, which was cause for jokes.
He fared no better when he mourned the cancer death of John Jairo Velasquez, Popeye, one of drug lord Pablo Escobar's henchmen.
Petro, visiting a region, avoided entering again to argue with the general.
He just asked why he was taking the hint.
Ernesto Samper has been more eloquent in the past, who in his day suffered this type of interference and has often argued with the general, to the point of asking for his dismissal: "For much less than the explosive statements of yesterday's loquacious Comandante Zapateiro several generals of the Republic were called to qualify services in other Governments.
The military cannot be deliberate in political matters, the Constitution says so, period”.
For much less than the explosive declarations of yesterday's loquacious Comandante Zapateiro, several Generals of the Republic were called to qualify services in other governments.
The military cannot be deliberate in political matters, the Constitution says so, period.
– Ernesto Samper P. (@ernestosamperp) February 20, 2021
In one of his last messages, the head of the Army said he had not seen any general on television having received "ill-gotten" money.
"Colombians have seen you receive money in garbage bags," he continued.
Indeed, that video existed and was investigated, but the Supreme Court of Justice filed the case because it had prescribed.
In any case, the Court assured that the origin of the money was lawful and did not come from a drug trafficker, as his political enemies said.
The case had been forgotten until Zapateiro has now revived it.
The Colombian left has also denounced interference in the campaign of President Iván Duque, who defeated Petro four years ago at the polls.
During the first week of March, a week before the Senate elections, Duque launched several veiled messages against his former adversary.
The main adversary on this occasion, Federico Gutiérrez, maintains an ambivalent position.
He has received the inheritance of the right and of the current president, although he tries not to refer to him too much in public due to his low popularity.
The entire campaign revolves around Petro, the favorite in the polls.
To the point that his opponents seem to have disappeared from public debate.
Holy Week was dedicated to discussing what his brother's intentions were when visiting a prison in Bogotá;
This week began with the expulsion of Piedad Córdoba, a historical ally, from her campaign due to the judicial scandals in which she may soon be seen.
Now Zapateiro has appeared with an interference that nobody expected.
The secondary characters change every day, but Petro continues to be at the center of all the discussions.
So one day after another.
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