How was the controversial OAS statement on the situation in Colombia prepared?

A statement issued this Thursday afternoon by the General Secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS) in which this hemispheric entity referred to the political situation in Colombia.

The secretariat, it is worth clarifying, is the administrative body headed by the OAS based in Washington and whose head is the secretary general, Luis Almagro.

(Read here: The harsh letter that Humberto de la Calle sent to Luis Almagro, secretary of the OAS)

In other words, although the statement is attributed to the Secretariat as a whole, it is known that the person who writes and authorizes it is the Secretary himself. Almagro.

In the statement, Almagro “demands that attempts by different political actors to damage the democratic process in Colombia be abandoned,” calling it “essential” to guarantee that the President Gustavo Petro ends his mandate and expresses his “condemnation and repudiation of alleged threats to interrupt his constitutional mandate.” One paragraph below, The secretariat adds that it is vitally important that the attorney general be appointed in the country.

The statement, and this was what was most surprising, was published just when Petro's supporters had taken over the area around the Palace of Justice to pressure the Supreme Court of Justice to elect a Prosecutor.

This newspaper communicated with sources in this department and others close to the OAS to try to reconstruct the genesis of the pronouncement and its coincidence with the protests in Bogotá.

Also, on repeated occasions, he requested an interview with Almagro or with another official to delve into his words and allusion to a possible coup d'état in the country. The answer, until the closing of this edition, is that Almagro will not speak to the media and that on Thursday, in the afternoon, he published a tweet on his X account in which he asked to respect the independence of the judiciary.

According to sources, Almagro's statement was triggered after a conversation he had that same day in the morning with a delegation from the Historical Pact headed by the representative Alejandro Toro.

In that conversation, the delegation explained to the secretary their thesis that an institutional breakdown is taking place in the country – something that Petro has been denouncing – and a “soft coup d'état” is being orchestrated against Petro whose objective is to prevent him from governing.

According to representative Toro, after listing to the secretary the concerns that exist regarding the actions of the Prosecutor's Office, the Attorney General's Office and the Supreme Courthe was asked for an “urgent public statement,” and a visit to the country to find out about the situation.

After the exchange, where Almagro was accompanied by his advisors, the secretary decided to issue the controversial statement that took a bureaucratic process of several hours.

However, according to sources, when the text was finally published, the secretariat was not aware of what was happening in Bogotá with Petro's supporters. Hence the trill, an hour later, where the secretary asked to respect the independence of the Cortes.

Several, in any case, classified as “unfortunate” the moment that Almagro chose to speak and the words he used when suggesting that there is a plan in the country to overthrow the president.

Among them, the former governor of Meta, Juan Guillermo Zuluagawho was precisely in the city to report the opposite to the IACHR.

Zuluaga, who is scheduled to meet with Almagro this Saturday, told this newspaper that Almagro is “totally uninformed” and that he has been the victim of a very well-orchestrated international campaign by the left in the country, who present themselves as the victims when They are the perpetrators.

“If anyone is promoting an institutional rupture in the country, it is Petro and we saw that this Thursday. Nobody in the country who has a minimum of common sense is talking or thinking about overthrowing the president,” Zuluaga said.

According to the former governor, Almagro's statement left him “very surprised” and now he hopes that, after the meeting, he will issue a new one in which he clarifies his position.

“It was a hasty statement. Society is waiting for a correction. An organization like the OAS that represents all of us in the hemisphere has to act in a more calm manner, with balance, listening to all parties and not just one of them that does not represent reality,” added the former governor.

SERGIO GÓMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington