Senator Ivan Cepeda officially declined attorney James Restrepo’s challenge to a duel on Monday, saying that he does not believe in violence.
On his Twitter account, the lawyer for the Democratic Center Party challenged Cepeda, Colombia’s spokesman for the Movement of Victims of State Crime, to a duel after the senator had accused him of having ties with the demobilized paramilitary group AUC.
“Do not defame me anymore you disgusting guerrilla. Tell me where and when and let’s set it up. Choose your weapon. I await your answer,” said Restrepo on his Twitter page.
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Restrepo’s proposed duel comes after Cepeda had attacked him on his own Twitter account saying that Restrepo was actually alias “Samuel” of the Magdalena Medio Bloc of the AUC. Cepeda’s attack came in retaliation from another Tweet from Restrepo that said, “If Piedad Cordoba and Ivan Cepeda represent the victims of the FARC drug traffickers, I am Mother Teresea of Calcutta.”
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The bickering continued last week until Senator Cepeda posted on his Twitter account on Monday that he would not accept the proposed duel by the lawyer of the Democratic Center Party on the grounds that he did not believe in violence.
“I have never used a gun. I dread the thought of causing pain to anyone. I have never employed violence and I will not employ it. It will be waiting,” tweeted Cepeda.
According to Colombia’s El Espectador newspaper, Restrepo said that had Cepeda accepted the duel, the weapon that the lawyer would have chosen would be his fists. “I’m as good with the fists like a good paisa [person from the state of Antioquia].”
Restrepo is a lawyer for the party of former president and current Senator Alvaro Uribe, who has been under scrutiny for many years regarding his alleged ties with paramilitaries.
A debate proposed by Senator Cepeda over Uribe’s alleged paramilitary connections was shot down last week by Colombia’s Senate.
MORE: Debate over Uribe’s alleged paramilitary past shot down in Senate
Senator Cepeda, is the son of Senator Manuel Cepeda, who was gunned-down in Bogota in 1994 by unknown assassins. Ivan Cepeda is the official spokesman of the Movement of Victims of State Crimes that was founded in 2003.
Sources
- Ivan Cepeda no acepta el duelo propuesto por Jaime Restrepo R (El Espectador)