Colombia’s defense minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo defied all logic on Thursday, claiming he complied with a Supreme Court order to ask forgiveness for police brutality before it was issued.
In one of his most absurd statements to date, Trujillo said that he complied with Tuesday’s court order on September 11 already.
In compliance with the writ sentence STC7641 of September 22, 2020, with file number 11001-22-03-000-2019-02527-02, the ministry of defense would like to reiterate to the public opinion that on September 11, 2020, the defense minister — in a spontaneous, sincere, transparent and respectful act that was broadly emitted — stated that the National Police asked forgiveness for any breaking of the law or ignorance of regulations any of its members may incurred in.
Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo
According to the defense ministry, Trujillo’s apology “in relation to the death of Javier Humberto Ordoñez” on September 9 was in fact “a spontaneous act” that “referred to any violation of the law anytime.”
The Supreme Court ordered Trujillo to apologize for the violent cracking down of peaceful protests in November last year and initiate reforms that would prevent abuse of police force.
The defense minister’s nonsensical statement followed increased calls for Trujillo’s resignation to resign after the minister implied he had no intention of complying with the court order, putting him at risk of arrest for being in contempt of court.
Hours after Trujillo’s self-proclaimed compliance with the court order, police in the city of Popayan violently cracked down on protests over the murder of a woman north of the capital of the Cauca province earlier that day.
“Glory to the soldier!” the defense ministry tweeted after the sister of the victim published a video in which “we ask the National Police and the army ‘no more, please stop’.”
The congressional opposition reiterated calls for the minister’s resignation.