John Milton Rodriguez called Gustavo Petro “hypocrite” and asked him to resign his candidacy

The presidential candidate for the Colombia Justa Libres party, John Milton Rodriguez, asked fellow aspiring head of state Gustavo Petro to renounce his government claim because of the scandals in which he has been involved in recent days. He was questioned not only because of his proposal for a 'social forgiveness' and the visit of his brother, Juan Fernando, to La Picota prison, but also because he accepted politicians such as Piedad Córdoba, Roy Barreras and Armando Benedetti into his campaign.

“Winning anyway disfigures anyone. Mr. Gustavo Petro, you began this crazy race of winning anyway by inviting to your group renowned practitioners of political promiscuity in Colombia such as Mr. Roy Barreras, Mr. Armando Benedetti, Mrs. Piedad Córdoba, among others,” said Rodríguez who, after these accusations, referred to Petro as a hypocrite.

“In conclusion, you ended up being a hypocrite with your own followers, your candidacy, therefore, is unsustainable, because the Colombian people are respected, resign immediately,” Rodríguez added amid his claims to the also former mayor of Bogotá. Rodríguez was not the only one to lash out against Gustavo Petro, on the contrary, he was joined by Enrique Gómez, from the National Salvation movement. The politician, like his peer, believes that Petro should depart from the race for the Colombian presidency.

“This is not a mistake, it is something premeditated and it is part of a corruption. If this had happened with me or another candidate, we would be burned in Plaza de Bolivar. Let us remember the episode with silver in bags, he accepted it and that is very serious”, he said, for his part. “What happened in La Picota with the Moreno (Ivan and Samuel) should not have Social Forgiveness of any kind. The petrists should be able to recognize that the campaign carried out by the Lord of the Bolsas does not meet the minimum morale for the position to which he is running,” Enrique Gómez added on his Twitter account.

“Petro is a corrupt race, you can't forget: Garbage trucks, ghost foundations, tapahuecos machine, the pedestrian of the Seventh Race. What will that gentleman's cabinet be like? What are they going to give to the Morenos? It is the cave of Ali Baba (...) We cannot allow Petro to shake up the matter: they caught him red-handed, buying votes from chiefs convicted of corruption. He wants power at any cost,” Enrique Gomez continued.

On the morning of this Monday, April 18, for W Radio, Franklin Germán Chaparro, former mayor of Villavicencio, sentenced to 39 years in prison for the murder of his predecessor Omar López Robayo, explained that it was 'false of all falsehood' that Gustavo Petro's brother went to La Picota prison to offer penalty cuts or reforms. On the contrary, says the detainee, Juan Fernando Petro went to that prison as a guest to talk about humanitarian law and that, although there was talk {or about peace and reconciliation, there was never talk about what is being denounced.

“They had already heard it in prisons and asked me what the concept of social forgiveness meant. That was part of the conversation and the central focus of the human rights conversation. And of course, that is a topic that interests them, because the two words are signifying a second chance, of peaceful reconciliation between all Colombians. That's what the topic is about, Gustavo will talk about it more broadly,” said Juan Fernando Petro in an interview with Semana magazine.

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