Vélez in the morning | Former Supreme Court President Jaime Arrubla: 'Álvaro Uribe cannot be president again'

In an interview with journalist Luis Carlos Vélez on the program Vélez por la mañana, Jaime Arrubla, former president of the Supreme Court, spoke about the second decree issued by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, stating that he will not be tried by the Council of State, but rather by other government entities, according to Jaime, due to "the president's discomfort with the Council."

" Because they've hit many of those presidential decrees very hard via legal protection, they found a way, rather, to fish in troubled waters and go to the circuit, to see if it yields better dividends among so many circuit judges and not before the Council of State, which is a high court that already has very clear guidelines in its jurisprudence," Jaime stated.

Jaime Arrubla explained that Gustavo Petro has fared poorly in the Council of State in "many decrees, even through tutela" and added, "He is a man who ignores tradition and proportionality, since he simply does not care , and yet, he demonstrated to the Council of State that he has power and stripped it of its knowledge of a distribution that, obviously, leaves it aside."

He also stated that the president is controlled by the circuit judge, when asked if this is the first administration to change the referee. "They compiled the rules in 2015, but the original spirit had been maintained, that is, high dignitaries, high courts, lower governors, tribunals, lower mayors, circuit judges, which is logical. And here they realized that the president is controlled by the circuit judge."

"It doesn't make any sense," he adds.

Luis Carlos Vélez questioned the former Supreme Court president about Álvaro Uribe's desire to become vice president of the republic, to which Jaime responded with a forceful explanation about the existence of two theses on this controversial issue.

"The first argument is based on the fact that Article 197 of the Constitution states that anyone who has served as president cannot serve again. Reelection is not permitted. Article 202 of the Constitution establishes the purpose of replacing the president in his or her temporary or permanent absence," Jaime said.

Regarding the second thesis, he is specific in stating that the former president can be vice president because "first, the Constitution does not expressly prohibit it, and second, because the vice president-elect has the vocation to become president, but in principle, he will not exercise it, because he will only do so if the president is absent."

"So he could be appointed minister or hold any other position, and the day the president is gone, he won't be able to take office. He'll have to resign so Congress can elect another vice president," he suggested.

He concluded by leaving the question of whether it is worth "wearing down such an important personality, anyone who has been president of the Republic (...) to make it appear as if he were engaging in some kind of opportunism."

These statements, according to him, are due to the fact that it is already known that Álvaro Uribe cannot be president again and suddenly "he is lending himself to pull someone else in and perhaps divert the institutions from their purpose."

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