Colombia's Attorney General Francisco Barbosa interviewed by Vicky Dávila, director of far-right Semana Magazine. Photo: Juan Carlos Sierra/Semana.
Colombia’s Semana magazine published a fake news trying to incriminate Venezuela in an alleged plot orchestrated by the Colombian guerrilla organization National Liberation Army (ELN) to assassinate the attorney general of Colombia, Francisco Barbosa, who is linked to former President Álvaro Uribe.
For months, Semana has been carrying out media campaigns attempting to undermine the government of President Gustavo Petro, among them was the publication of the audios of former Colombian Ambassador to Venezuela Armando Benedetti.
This time, a few hours after the formal start of the ceasefire between the Colombian government and the ELN, Semana spread a fake news claiming that some ELN members had orchestrated a plan in Venezuela in order to assassinate Attorney General Barbosa.
Cómo no les funcionó lo de Nicolás Petro, ahora andan diciendo que el ELN está preparando un atentado al Fiscal más inepto en la historia de este país con francotiradores. Y la "primicia" la da la jefe de prensa del Fiscal Barbosa: Vicky Dávila.
— Físico Impuro (@FisicoImpuro) August 9, 2023
According to that fake news by the Colombian mainstream outlet with deep connections to former Colombian President Uribe, ELN members living in Venezuela had planned a terrorist attack against Attorney General Barbosa in July.
“Five commanders of the criminal group were in charge of organizing the plan and arranging all the personnel. In order to do so, they provided the personnel with training in drone handling and also looked for expert snipers,” Semana claimed.
Semana alleged that the mastermind behind the assassination plot was El Rolo, a member of an urban front of the ELN. The report also claimed that there are reports of transactions of over 3 billion Colombian pesos for the plan.
La semana pasada el Gobierno Nacional y el ELN pactaron el cese al fuego por 180 días bajo la supervisión de la ONU. Debió ser una de las noticias más importantes por su magnitud. Pero gracias el señor Nicolás Petro, la FISCALIA y la revista Semana no lo fue. @koskita pic.twitter.com/kv5sgKusQD
— Jhon Potosí Guzmán (@JhonPotosi) August 6, 2023
Others involved in the alleged plan to assassinate the attorney general were Jaime Galvis (alias Ariel), and alias Gonzalo Satélite, both from ELN’s Luis Enrique León Guerra front.
In response to these accusations, the ELN categorically denied the existence of any such plan.
#Atención 🧵👇
Es falsa la noticia que ha entregado el fiscal Barbosa. Con ella intenta un sabotaje al proceso de diálogo que se está desarrollando entre el Gobierno y el ELN. #FiscalíaMiente pic.twitter.com/2StY0zL6P2— Delegación ELN (@DelegacionEln) August 9, 2023
Through an official statement, the ELN dismissed the accusation and stressed that it is an attempt to sabotage the dialogue process that is currently going on between the organization and the Colombian government.
“It is no coincidence that on August 3, the day of the launch of the Participation of Society in the Peace Process and Ceasefire, the Attorney General’s Office has released the news about the president’s son,” the ELN statement read, referring to the arrest of Gustavo Petro’s eldest son for allegations of money laundering.
In recent days, after Petro’s son’s statements made before the Attorney General’s Office were made public, the Colombian president decried that Colombian mainstream media are trying to pave the way to overthrow his government through the usual parliamentary coup strategy used recently in Peru, as well as in many other countries around the world, with the “US destabilization guidebook.”
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
