Interview | Colombia stands firm in defending its sovereignty - video Dailymotion

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In the context of the diplomatic tensions between Colombia and the United States, we invite David Lopez, Human Rights Expert to offer his insightful analysis to this situation. teleSUR

Transcript

00:00And in the context of the diplomatic tensions between Colombia and the United States, we invite

00:05now to our studios David Lopez, human rights expert. Hello David and welcome to From the South.

00:12Yeah, hello, good evening from Geneva and thank you very much for the invitation.

00:16David, President Gustavo Petro, as we know, has reacted to the actions of the United States

00:21in the Caribbean and its attempts as well to destabilize Venezuela. For this reason,

00:25the US government has decided to increase its hostilities towards Colombia. How do you evaluate

00:31in this context Gustavo Petro's leadership and also what's the stance of the international community

00:36in this matter? Yeah, so what we are witnessing between Washington and Bogota is not just a war

00:44of war, it's such a political realignment in the Caribbean region. Colombia is actually defending

00:51three principles. So the principle of sovereignty, human security, the agrarian reform,

00:58and the substitution of illicit crops. And the core principle of the United Nations Charter,

01:06the prohibition of the threat or use of force on this context. It's clear on the principle of the

01:13UN Charter. This is one of the things we defended by the Colombian states. And in this context,

01:20the President Trump's public threats and the recent lethal strikes in the Caribbean

01:26raised serious question of international legality and political legitimacy.

01:32And the presence also of US warships in the Caribbean has resulted as well in dozens of deaths,

01:40including Colombians, without, of course, any evidence that they are actually linked to drug

01:45trafficking. In the face of this threat, how can Colombia defend its internal interests without

01:50yielding to pressures from the White House?

01:52Yeah, so on the international legality, we have some legal basis. Article 2.4 of the UN Charter,

02:04who forbids any threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence

02:12of any states. UN experts, it's important to mention that, have warned that drone operations and military threats

02:21toward Venezuela violate international law and cannot be justified under the self-defense. And it's the

02:27same for Colombia. You know, Colombia has the same situation right now. Even allegations related to drug traffic

02:35do not justify extrajudicial killings at sea. And recently, the facts in Colombia

02:42are very important to take into account because Bogota has announced drone attacks in the Caribbean that

02:48killed civilians, local fishermen, prompting the government to demand UN actions and accountability.

02:54So, one of the mechanisms that can have actually Colombiates to use the international law and, of course, use the UN

03:03Charter to defend on the legality, the interests of the country.

03:08Thank you, David, very much for your time here from the South.

03:12Yeah, thank you too. And, of course, again, this is a call we have to make to all Latin America.

03:20All the problems happen right now on the Latin America. It's not only a problem of Venezuela.

03:26It's not only a problem of Colombia. It's a problem who can touch all the interests of Latin America.

03:31And we have to be warning with that. Yes, indeed. We were speaking to David Lopez,

03:36human rights expert in the context of the diplomatic tensions between Colombia and the United States.

Interview | Colombia stands firm in defending its sovereignty

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