The truth about the election of Colombia’s new attorney general
ThePrisma.co.ukFeb 02
Colombia Appoints New Attorney General
The Facts
Colombia's top court elected Luz Adriana Camargo as the nation's new attorney general on Tuesday, concluding the monthslong process to select one of the three candidates proposed by Pres. Gustavo Petro.
Camargo reached the two-thirds majority threshold in the latest round of voting after the initial frontrunner, Amelia Pérez, withdrew her candidacy after her husband came into the spotlight for his criticism of Petro's eldest son's arrest and the Supreme Court's decisions.
The Spin
Narrative A
The threat of a soft coup to prevent any of the three nominees from being elected attorney general and let Martha Mancera illegitimately run the office has finally been thwarted now that Camargo has been selected. Yet, this process has revealed the clientelistic nature of the establishment in Colombia, one that has turned the attorney general's office into an entity to hinder investigations.
Narrative B
The process of electing a new attorney general has traditionally been lengthy in Colombia, so the actual threat to democracy was Petro calling his most radical supporters to criminally besiege the Supreme Court last month. It's outrageous that the president has supported riots and aggression to try to put pressure on judicial decisions and undermine the independence of courts and judges.
Nerd narrative
There's a 17% chance that Colombia will experience a civil war before 2036, according to the Metaculus prediction community.