Gustavo Petro Defends Killed Criminal and Sparks Controversy in Colombia
The death of Nain Andres Perez Toncel, alias ‘Bendito Menor’, leader of the criminal group calling itself the Conquering Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (ACSN), in a military operation in Riohacha, La Guajira, has sparked multiple reactions. But one of the ones that has drawn the most attention is that of former President Gustavo Petro.
Alias ‘Bendito Menor’ had five arrest warrants for aggravated homicide, kidnapping, extortion and conspiracy to commit crimes, in addition to a red notice from Interpol. He began his life in the criminal world as a simple hitman, at the age of 19, within the ACSN, an organization mainly dedicated to drug trafficking. For many, he was nothing more than a ruthless killer of the new times. One of his crimes was decapitating a teenager as a form of punishment.
He used to spread that type of content on his social media accounts to also establish himself as a criminal influencer: one day he would show a murder recorded live, but another, he would share a trip to the beach with his “Bebecita del alma”, with whom he was ultimately killed by the authorities last Friday.
Gustavo Petro questions operation against ‘Bendito Menor’
Former President Petro referred to that event in recent hours, raising the following on the social network X: “Let the National Police explain to me why, if there are four people in a house and it is completely surrounded by the National Police, why do the four people locked inside the house have to die? The Riohacha operation was not intended as a priority to capture the criminals but to kill them. Why? Does our constitution have the death penalty? Why was life not prioritized, and first of all that of the women at the scene of the events?”
That position immediately provoked all kinds of reactions, from the Government of Abelardo de la Espriella to content creators. For example, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Mauricio Gómez Amín, told the former president: “Mr. Petro, do not be so cynical and shameless. While President Abelardo De La Espriella, in less than a month, is decisively confronting criminality to restore the tranquility of Colombians, you had four years to do it and you did not, deliberately.”
“Instead of criticizing, answer a question that Colombia is still waiting for: was it negligence or complicity?” Gómez Amín asked the former president, regarding the way in which illegal armed groups grew in the country during the Petro administration.
On the other hand, the famous content creator Luis Fernando Villa Álvarez, known as Wetscol, also criticized former President Petro for his statements. The streamer, who had spoken with Petro this year before he left the presidency, during his campaign to secure the election of his candidate Iván Cepeda, spoke out in a live broadcast.
“More concerned about the criminal than about the soldiers”
“I was watching all that news and, in short, [the authorities] arrived in an operation, killed a guy who had extorted, who had killed, had robbed, had done everything for a whole lot of years,” Wetscol said. “He had the entire community of La Guajira fed up to here, and who knows how many more crimes he had… They kill him in an operation organized by the entire presidency of Abelardo and Petro comes out to defend” alias ‘Bendito Menor’.
For Westcol, it is clear that, under the current government, the decision to take down the criminal leader in a military operation was the right one, and he said that he truly does not understand how former President Petro can defend people like ‘Bendito Menor’.
“I, really, this is something I do talk about. Because, how are we going to get rid of these criminals? How do you get rid of a person so bad, who is capable of killing, murdering, stealing, doing anything for his own benefit? How? What other way?” the streamer asks. “So, it is like he [Petro] gives an explanation and said: ‘Why, if they are already surrounded, do they have to kill them anyway?’”
Finally, the famous Colombian streamer, in his own words, made it clear that he does not understand how former President Petro can defend those who were killed more than those who risked their lives in the mission. “[Petro] Is more concerned about the criminal they killed than about the well-being of the good soldiers who are going into the mission. If you are a soldier, you cannot wait for them to shoot at you.”
Until now, there had been no direct criticism of the operation in which alias ‘Bendito Menor’ was killed. The unfavorable comments had to do with the fact that the Government presents the bodies of criminals “as political trophies” or absolute victories instead of focusing on a comprehensive assessment of the war.
For others, the killing of a media-savvy “narcoinfluencer” like ‘Bendito Menor’ (who gained greater notoriety for challenging President De la Espriella on social media) was publicly blown out of proportion, since larger structures such as the Clan del Golfo, the ELN and the FARC dissidents remain intact in the Caribbean region.
In any case, as was to be expected, and as will continue to happen from now on, the deaths of criminals at the hands of the authorities will enter the political arena and will be used as an instrument to exercise opposition.