Colombia’s coalition U Party called Thursday for a meeting between President Juan Manuel Santos and his predecessor Alvaro Uribe to appease tensions between the two.
In recent days, the divide between the two political figures has widened, with Uribe stating that the current government is “hypocrite” and “lacks popular support”.
The rift caused frictions within Santos’ “coalition of national unity” in the past days, when Uribe loyalists walked out of two consecutive plenary sessions of Colombia’s House of Representatives.
Senator Juan Carlos Velez, an Uribe loyalist, said the U party is seeking to establish a dialogue between Uribe and Santos, judging the current situation “negative for the country, for the government and for the U Party”.
The senator stated that the party was currently looking for someone close to both Santos and Uribe to act as a mediator. The search has not been successful so far, even though Velez mentioned the U Party president, Juan Lozano Ramirez, as a possible choice.
According to Velez, the tensions can be appeased, as he described the differences between Santos and Uribe to be “conceptual”.
However, former Uribe adviser Jose Obdulio Gaviria gave a different statement on Wednesday, dubbing the differences “fundamental”.