Former President Alvaro Uribe used his twitter page to launch another thinly-veiled attack on President Juan Manuel Santos.
Uribe tweeted “Many of us suffer from violence, others take advantage of it for their political gain,” on Friday evening when asked to respond to the implicit criticism by Santos earlier that day.
The comment came just hours after Santos stated “maybe [the population] will see me, after this responsibility that the Colombian people have given me, lecturing as an ex-president and not bothering the succeeding presidents,” in reference to Uribe’s public questioning of Santos’ policies.
Former peace commissioner and close friend of Uribe, Luis Carlos Restrepo also joined the debate, stating that “Uribe won the elections and lost the government.”
He continued on, saying Uribe followers should start talking now about the future successor to Santos because his government won’t make it past 2014.
Restrepo, who has been out of politics since the end of Uribe’s administration said, “while politicians are accustomed to lie, there are lies that are impossible to believe, such as there are no longer FARC guerrillas in Venezuela,” in reference to Santos’ recent claim that there are no longer FARC camps in Venezuela.
Santos was defense minister under Uribe and considered one of his most loyal political allies until the 2010 presidential elections after which he apparently took a more independent position.
Update (Saturday, 14:04)
President Santos tweets there is “no difference with [former] President Uribe” despite that “many want to.”