Former M-19 guerrilla and current leader of the Polo Democratico, Gustavo Petro, may be unable to stand for the presidential election following a challenge to his murky past.
Councilman Orlando Diaz Parada has requested that the National Electoral Council examine whether the Polo Democratico’s presidential candidate can actually run for pesident.
Diaz Parada says that his request is justifed due to the modification made to the Constitution that states: “No person who has been convicted of being a member of a subversive organization or member of a paramilitary group or drug dealer can be elected to a corporation, a mayor, governor, or president of the republic.”
The councilman said, “here comes the first presidential candidate who belonged to an illegal armed group, Movimiento M-19 de Abril, and that same Senator Petro confirmed that he was sentenced to two years imprisonment by General Jesús Armando Cabrales, then commander of the 13th Brigade; … he was sentenced by military penal justice.”
He added that the Colombian Constitution supports the strengthening of sanctions for those who have participated in certain criminal acts.
The National Electoral Council will make a decision on the issue in 20 days, reports news source Terra.