The Government proposed political reform to battle criminal and
paramilitary influence in Congress seeks to undo the 1989 peace treaty
between the government and rebel movement M-19, Polo Democrático
senator and former M-19 member Gustavo Petro told Congress Thursday.
According to the guerrilla turned politician, all those who signed the peace treaty will no longer be allowed to fulfill public duties.
“Article four of this political reform says that those who signed the peace deal of 1989 are permanently disabled to exercise any public function in Colombia,” the opposition senator said.
The senator, in a speech before Congress, repeatedly said he refuses to be considered a criminal, just because he rebeled against the 1886 constitution and reminded Colombian President Uribe that one of his own relatives revolted against the 1886 constitution.
“General Rafael Uribe Uribe took up arms against the 1886 constitution, he made war, made peace, was defeated and then killed (…) Does anyone here believe that general Uribe Uribe was a criminal? Because I did exactly what the general did. Like him, I did not accept the 1886 constitution, because i considered it a dictatorship and just like him I stood up against the 1886 constitution. Now a relative of general Uribe Uribe who is in the Presidency says I am a criminal,” the Senator told Congress.
According to Petro, the political reform is not about “removing the drug traffic from politics, but to find a way to perpetuate a mafia policy in the institutions protected by the 1991 constitution.”
The old constitution was abolished in 1991 when Colombian Congress adopted a new one.