Will President Maduro Attend Gustavo Petro's Inauguration?

A special guardianship provision recently admitted by Colombia’s Council of State could authorize the entry of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for the inauguration of President-elect Gustavo Petro on August 7.

Through this action, presented by Colombian citizen Juan Luis Castellanos, the statement by outgoing president, Iván Duque, in which he said that President Maduro would not be allowed to enter Colombia, will be subjected to legal analysis.

According to the outgoing president, because his government does not recognize the current Venezuelan head of state, he does not have the right to attend Petro’s inauguration.

Duque is leaving Colombia’s presidency with one of the lowest approval ratings of any Colombian president. During his rule, Duque drove the country into an acute economic crisis while presiding over a steep deterioration of security conditions at all levels. Drug-trafficking paramilitary forces extended their control over extensive parts of the country, and drug exports rose steadily, according to United Nations figures. All of this occurred with the support of the US, to whom Duque never learned how to say “no.”

In this context, Duque was one of the most important regional puppets in the US’ failed campaign to oust President Nicolás Maduro. From Colombia, overt and covert destabilization attempts and terrorist attacks were launched against Venezuela with the sole purpose of satisfying Duque’s fantasies of pleasing the masters in the White House.

“As long as I am the president of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro will not enter Colombian territory,” said Duque in a recent interview with Colombian right-wing magazine Semana.

“If the next president wants to have him here in Colombia, he will be able to do so once he has been sworn in as president,” added Duque.

According to Castellanos, this statement by Duque violated Castellanos’ fundamental rights to equality and the free development of democracy.

The special guardianship, as reported by Semana, will be examined by the magistrate of the third section of the Council of State, Jaime Enrique Rodríguez. The maximum time to respond is 10 days.

Petro had previously declared that he respected Duque’s decision, and said that “the presence of Maduro in his inauguration is not considered relevant.”

The president-elect also said that Venezuela and Colombia are currently undergoing “a process of rebuilding diplomatic relations that will take time and should not be rushed.”

“I respect the position of the current government,” said Petro, regarding Colombia. “It is their diplomatic policy, and society that will have to weigh in on whether it was positive or not. We have another way of understanding it.”

(La IguanaTV) with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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