The representative for Florida, Maria Elvira Salazar, has received a letter from the Colombian Embassy in Washington asking her to moderate her comments toward Colombian President Gustavo Petro. The communication reached the congresswoman's office after she stated that the president is a "danger for Colombia" and pointed out that, like Fidel and Chávez, Petro has taken the "side of terror."
After the massacre committed in Israel by the terrorist group Hamas, the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has published more than 100 tweets expressing his clear position against Israel and making comments that have outraged the international community. In a tweet, the Colombian president even dared to compare Gaza with the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Tal como lo hicieron Fidel y Chávez, Petro se pone del lado del terror y no le importa romper relaciones con Israel, la única democracia en Medio Oriente.
Lo advertí muchas veces. Petro sigue siendo un peligro para Colombia por marxista, ladrón y terrorista, y ahora antisemita.
— María Elvira Salazar 🇺🇸 (@MaElviraSalazar) October 15, 2023
When asked for her reaction to the message from the Colombian Embassy, Congresswoman Salazar told us the following: "Petro's government sent me a letter berating me for not engaging in 'respectful and courteous dialogue.' What is disrespectful is your comparison of Israel to Nazi Germany. It's this rhetoric that's been used by Hamas as they attack innocent Israeli civilians."
The representative also told Voz Media there is no reason to apologize: "Miami is home to a large Jewish community, many of whom have family in Israel. I could not sit quiet as a former Marxist guerilla-turned-politician insulted them and the memory of those who lost their lives in the Holocaust. I have nothing to apologize for."
"On behalf of the Embassy of Colombia, I am penning this communication to address certain remarks you articulated recently regarding President Gustavo Petro's character and political ideology," reads the first lines of the letter. Ambassador Luis Gilberto Murillo Urrutia, who signs the statement, says the representative's comments should be made with "the standards held by both of our countries governing respectful and courteous discourse among friendly nations."
Furthermore, the embassy considers Salazar's language insulting and full of emotions: "The depth and breadth of our relationship should be sufficient to rise above insulting and emotionally charged language that compromises the dignity of the Office of the President of Colombia and of President Petro himself."
In closing, the embassy insists that the representative is disrespecting the president of Colombia: "[I] must also respectfully insist that public discourse on these topics should, at minimum, be conducted with the appropriate deference and care afforded to any important bilateral partner."
