Humberto de la Calle criticized the alliance Ingrid Betancourt seeks with the Democratic Center

The congressmen elected by the Oxygen Green Party, Humberto de la Calle and Daniel Carvalho, were the electoral 'flirtation' of Ingrid Betancourt with the Democratic Center, a right-wing collective led by former President Álvaro Uribe.

In a letter published via Twitter the former peace negotiator search and now senator-elect asked Betancourt to consult with the members to make those decisions.

“As established in the statutes, I convened the internal and democratic organs of the party, of which the elected congressmen are part, before making one-person decisions and inconsultations as has happened on other occasions,” they indicated in the letter.

In addition, they expressed their rejection against this possible alliance sought by the candidate and formerly a symbol against kidnapping with Uribism.

“As congressmen elected by the Green Oxygen party, we express our surprise and total disagreement with the recent statements (...) regarding the interest of seeking agreements with Álvaro Uribe Vélez and the Democratic Center,” they said.

They also reminded the presidential candidate that her collective was part of the Green Hope Center Alliance coalition that was formed ahead of the congressional elections that took place in March.

“It is clearly incoherent to seek alliances with parties such as the Democratic Center. In this case, we are also emphatic in saying that former President Uribe's ideas deeply contradict our convictions and vision of the country,” they criticized.

This reproach adds to the call of the former peace negotiator for Betancourt to renounce his presidential aspiration and join that of Sergio Fajardo, from the center coalition, also to prevent De la Calle from engaging in double membership, as he seeks to support the former mayor of Medellín in the first round.

He reminded Betancourt that before he resigned from Centro Esperanza it had been agreed that: “Senate candidates, 'may freely and independently, without double membership, support candidates for the House or consultations for the presidency of the Republic who run for the elections of March 13, 2022, even though they belong to other political parties or movements. '”

In addition, several politicians also criticized after the candidate announced her departure from the center coalition because of the alliances that some of its members were establishing alliances with representatives of the country's 'political machinery'.

Among them was Alejandro Gaviria, who had already had a disagreement with her during one of the debates with presidential pre-candidates and told her again through Twitter: “Hypocrite and opportunist...”.

Betancourt responded to him through the same network with the following message: “This was the culture of violence and intolerance that leads to justifying accommodation with corruption. The machines, they don't have ideologies. Today with one, tomorrow with the other. Didn't you learn your lesson?”

Also, the internationalist Laura Gil pointed out that the Oxygen Green candidate considered former president Álvaro Uribe a luxury interlocutor, “let him go and ask the RCN journalist if this man has machinery. What a big damage it does with so little.”

For her part, the Senator of the Historical Pact, María José Pizarro, pointed out that for Betancourt the border was machinery, “all except those of Uribism”, which she considered regrettable and assured that they would defeat Uribism and “retrograde and corrupt hegemony”.

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