Polo Democratico vice presidential candidate Clara Lopez called on Antanas Mockus not to “join the smear campaign” against her party, after the Green candidate made remarks linking Polo to the FARC.
On Thursday Mockus told Caracol Radio that the election of Gustavo Petro as Polo Democratico leader “means a clear departure from the FARC,” which Polo leaders interpret as meaning that the party had links to the guerrilla group prior to Petro’s election.
Presidential candidate Gustavo Petro also rejected the statement, saying that his party was not “divided between good and bad.”
Clara Lopez said that it was “the third time” that Mockus had “stigmatized the Polo party in a public statement,” reports Radio Santa Fe.
“Here there is no apologist, as Mockus insinuates, for violence or armed struggle,” Lopez said.
Despite Mockus calling Petro a “good candidate” who also “focuses on the issues of inequality,” and saying that he would not rule out an alliance with another party in the second round of presidential elections, the Green Party candidate said Friday that his proposal had strong differences with the Polo party.
“I feel uneasy about such an interest in relations with the Polo,” Mockus said.
On Thursday Mockus admitted that his statement made last week, in which he said that the Polo’s “theories still, somehow, directly or indirectly, justify violence,” “could have hurt more than he intended.”