Uscátegui condemned alleged “retaliation” by the government for its political control: “I’m a false positive with my family”
In a heated debate in the House of Representatives, José Jaime Uscátegui, a congressman from the Democratic Center, condemned what he sees as the persecution of him and his family by Defense Minister Iván Velásquez. And all this after the decision of the Conciliation and Defense Committee of this portfolio, which ordered that Uscátegui’s father, General (r) Jaime Humberto Uscátegui, must answer for the payment to the two victims of the Mapiripán massacre.
During his speech at the plenary session, the congressman emphasized that his father had no military obligations on that date. “When the events of May 4, 1998 occurred“My father did not serve as the commander of the Seventh Brigade of the National Army,” said the congressman, so it is not fair for him to assume a financial responsibility that does not correspond to the city of Puerto Alvira after the acquittal of justice in this event.
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Likewise, Uscátegui, defender of the rights of the kidnapped and critical of the government’s negotiation processes with structures such as the National Liberation Army (ELN) and others such as the FARC dissidents, both from the former Central General Staff (EMC) and from the latter Marquetarevealed that he had recently been informed of the dismissal of the vice mayor in charge of his security system: another reason why he targeted Velásquez.
“I was informed that the deputy mayor, head of my security system, temporarily ended as a member of the protection system” said the representative of Uribista, who did not hesitate to point out the Minister of Defense as the person responsible for this designation as a form of retaliation. “This is a set of actions that the defense minister is taking against opposition actors,” added the congressman close to former president Álvaro Uribe.
The situation escalated even more when Congressman Uscátegui sent a message to one of President Gustavo Petro’s trusted men. “This message is for Defense Minister Iván Velásquez to ask him to stop the persecution of me and my family once and for all”stressed the congressman, who even sent a letter to the official in which he revealed what kind of persecution he thought it would be.
In fact, the representative suggested that the harassment would be in response to the department’s dissatisfaction with the policy oversight that its congressional bench has been conducting, regarding the lack of an effective security policy under the current mandate administration. “We condemn the crimes that are committed due to the absence of a security policy that it does not exist in Colombia today with Minister Velásquez and the Petro government,” he added.
In addition to his appearance in the Chamber, Uscátegui shared a statement he called “With my family, I am a ‘false positive’ for Iván Velásquez”in which he reaffirmed his postulates against the minister and asked for an end to what he calls attacks due to his strong political position.
As for the order of the Ministry’s Conciliation and Defense Committee, for which General (r) Uscátegui is responsible, it is based on the events related to the paramilitary massacre in Mapiripán, although Petro himself stated At the time, in July 2017, he indicated that he had nothing to do with the horrific event in common. “They condemned General Uscátegui as the author of the Mapiripán massacre, which he was notto save General Rito Alejo who was,” he stated.
