Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday said the FARC tried to stop him becoming president and warns the rebels will again try to influence the upcoming local elections in October.
Santos based his claims on emails found on computers found in the abandoned camp of the guerrillas’ number two, “Mono Jojoy,” after he was killed in an attack by the armed forces.
“The FARC have always wanted to participate, influence and sabotage elections. It is part of their strategy. Of the many emails we found on this subject, there are two that demonstrate that the FARC were concerned about the outcome of the election,” Santos said at a public meeting Saturday.
According to the President, one of the slogans used by the FARC was: “If you vote for Juan Manuel Santos, your son will be the next victim of false positives. Go for the better choice; don’t vote.”
Santos said that such warnings made people hesitant and some votes were lost in the second round. He added “I am grateful for this propaganda because it increased voter turn-out. It was an unprecedented result, a demonstration of Colombian democracy over the FARC criminals.” He added that in every corner of the country the electorate will be able to exercise their right to vote in the local elections.
According to the president, the FARC will try to find a way to intervene in October, but authorities will not allow violence to affect the results. Santos asked Colombians to report any act of intimidation or vote-buying.
“We are aware that we are coming up to an election which the FARC will try to influence … don’t remain silent, report every instance of danger or of people doing something to influence the elections,” said he.
In February 2009 then Defense Minister Santos had predicted that the FARC would try to influence the 2010 election results.