Fernando Londoño, a close ally of former President Alvaro Uribe and a minister during his first administration, on Monday joined a group of politicians calling for former presidential adviser Jose Obdulio Gaviria to end his candidature for the Senate.
Jose Obdulio Gaviria, a cousin of slain drug lord Pablo Escobar, is presently on the “Uribista” electoral list for the Senate but fellow candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga has begun a campaign to have him removed due to offensive remarks that Gaviria made on his twitter account.
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Londoño — barred from holding public office over corruption — backed Zuluaga’s position in a newspaper column in which he wrote that”a person who refers to his opponents in those terms cannot go to the Senate of the Republic.”
The presidential candidate took position after Gaviria called political opponents “enemies” and attacked former President Andres Pastrana after the latter’s brother published a photo of Escobar with a person resembling Gaviria.
@jcpastrana ¿Quién me lo pregunta? ¿El violador, el castrado, el consueta de un hermano q es un homúnculo intelectual? ¡Cambio y fuera!
— Jose Obdulio Gaviria (@JOSEOBDULIO) September 22, 2013
Zuluaga, an economist by training, co-founded Colombia’s ruling U Party, served as Minister of Finance during the second term of former president Uribe and is currently a candidate for the presidency at the next election.
Gaviria responded by saying that he intends to continue standing for election to the Senate and that his priority is to support and defend the policies of Uribe. He added that he hopes to meet with Zuluaga to discuss his concerns.
