We have had little over a month of a president who is perhaps both the most authoritarian and inept that the country has seen. His authoritarian zeal can be seen in his declarations and his macabre press conference strutting around between corpses. His ineptitude can also be seen in his national and international political management and his economic proposals. Meanwhile the opposition limps along.
De la Espriella promised war and though there is some sleight of hand in the figures and results, it is true that he is trying to project an image of a strong warlike president and so he gave the order to bomb some camps knowing that there were a number of minors there who died in the attack. Duque did something similar provoking a fierce row about the use of violence, International Humanitarian Law and the question of the unlawful recruitment of minors. Back then the Left denounced the attacks. But later when Petro was in power he did the same and his government left a death toll of 65 minors killed in bombardments.[1] Petro defended the attacks and the murder of minors.[2] Now under De la Espriella they see they sacrificed any moral authority by placating their egocentric leader, Petro, who in turn wanted to placate Donald Trump. An opposition bereft of ethics and incapable of thinking beyond tomorrow.
What was unusual this time was the press conference called by the Narcos’ lawyer where he strutted around amongst corpses in branded green clothing, radio in hand to communicate with nobody as if he were leading a military operation. But the display of corpses is not new, it has always been done. All the previous governments have done so. What distinguishes De la Espriella from the other presidents is that they left the macabre scenes to the generals. Do a simple search on the internet and there will be no lack of photos of corpses in white bags alongside recovered weapons.
The greater the number of dead, the more publicity, though sometimes a single corpse is enough for the media spectacle as was the case of the ELN commander, alias Samuel, who was killed by a sniper in the last weeks of Santos’ government. Just one corpse, but many soldiers for the ceremony and the spectacle, which is at the end of the day a type of televised media spot for the state’s forces. These spots continued under the Petro government, though in some cases the media, including El Tiempo and El Espectador used pixellated images.[3]
De la Espriella knows that he doesn’t face serious opposition in Congress. One of the politicians whose image has suffered the most is Uribe. He is under investigation for his criminal responsibility in various bloody events such as the massacre of La Granja (1996) where five people were tortured and murdered, the massacre of El Aro (1997) in which 17 people were tortured and murdered and also the murder of human rights defender and lawyer Jésus María Valle (1998). The less than honourable members of Congress of the Historic Pact voted in favour of impunity in these cases. They will say it is not so, but everyone knows that the attempt to take the case out of the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office, where it should remain by law, and pass it over to the corrupt Accusations Commission in Congress, is an act of impunity. Amongst those who voted this way is María José Pizarro, the daughter of the murdered guerrilla Carlos Pizarro, in a way representing, at least symbolically, that ex-M-19 current, and also Gabriel Becerra from the Communist Party. Corruption is not the work of just one current in the HP but rather an underlying problem in that organisation. In the face of public reaction they walked it back in their public statements, but it was too late and now it is up to the Constitutional Court to set out whether the corrupt members of Congress judge Uribe, as Pizarro and others wanted or whether the Prosecutor’s office continues with the case as it has demanded.[4] This means that a Colombian prosecutor is more honest about impunity than the Historic Pact’s members of Congress!
Meanwhile the NGO, Indepaz, has published its report on the first 30 days of De la Espriella’s government and so far there have been 16 social leaders murdered, five demobilised members of the FARC and ten massacres with a death toll of at least 30 people murdered.
Death in all its arrogance stalks the country and the Left is fighting amongst itself to please Uribe and lacks any moral authority to criticise the violence of the new president. This is how low they have sunk, those who think politics is about unprincipled electoral agreements, nepotism, personal management of votes in Congress and also reaching political agreements with Uribe over the corpses of yesteryear, paving the way for the murderers of today.
References
[1] El País (03/07/2026) La crisis de reclutamiento infantil que le deja Petro a De la Espriella: un aumento del 300% y 65 menores asesinados en bombardeos. Juan Miguel Hernández Bonilla.
[2] Swiss Info (16/11/2025) Petro defiende bombardeo en el que murieron siete menores y rechaza comparaciones con Gaza.
[3] See.
[4] El Tiempo (28/08/2026) Nueva Crisis en el Pacto Histórico por congresistas que votaron para trasladar caso del expresidente Uribe a Comisión de Acusaciones: ‘Inaceptable’. Laura Juliana Castellanos Guevara.
[1] El País (03/07/2026) La crisis de reclutamiento infantil que le deja Petro a De la Espriella: un aumento del 300% y 65 menores asesinados en bombardeos. Juan Miguel Hernández Bonilla.
[2] Swiss Info (16/11/2025) Petro defiende bombardeo en el que murieron siete menores y rechaza comparaciones con Gaza.
[3] See.
[4] El Tiempo (28/08/2026) Nueva Crisis en el Pacto Histórico por congresistas que votaron para trasladar caso del expresidente Uribe a Comisión de Acusaciones: ‘Inaceptable’. Laura Juliana Castellanos Guevara.
⏩ Gearóid Ó Loingsigh is a political and human rights activist with extensive experience in Latin America.
No comments