Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos tweeted compliments to his predecessor Alvaro Uribe, after the newest exchange of snide remarks between the two heads of state, regarding classification of the country’s conflict.
“For President Alvaro Uribe I only have feelings of gratitude, admiration and respect,” Santos said via Twitter, who appears to be trying to defuse the tension.
The message came after a weekend fight with Uribe, in which Santos strongly reiterated his position that the terms “internal armed conflict” must be included in the Victims Law, and stated that if Colombia wasn’t involved in an armed conflict, he, Uribe and the military leadership would be facing prison sentences.
In response, Uribe stated that, “The armed forces don’t need to recognize the conflict with the terrorists in order to operate in conformity with the principles of International Humanitarian Law.”
The interchange was the latest in a number of impassioned words between the current and the former president in the disagreement over the categorization.
Santos recently said Colombia is facing an “armed conflict” rather than a “terrorist threat,” provoking a strong reaction from Uribe, who has accused Santos of moving towards accepting groups like the FARC and ELN as belligerent forces rather than terrorist groups.