Colombia’s ambassador in the United States sent a letter of protest to television network HBO over a joke made by popular comedian John Oliver about the country’s rampant corruption.
In a satirical piece about the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, Oliver compared corruption of Venezuela’s former President Hugo Chavez with that of Colombia.
[Chavez] oversaw a government that Transparency International found to be “the most corrupt country in Latin America.” And remember, Latin America has Colombia in it, a country where the only campaign finance law is: “please report all bribes consisting of more than 10 kilos of cocaine.”
John Oliver
Ambassador Camilo Reyes rejected the joke.
“The scourge of drugs is no laughing matter for us,” said the former foreign minister of Ernesto Samper, who became president in 1994 with the financial support of the now-defunct Cali Cartel.
“Colombia and Colombians have paid the highest price — the price of human lives — in the global fight against this scourge,” according to the ambassador.