Colombian president posts video purporting to show 23 ‘neutralised’ guerrillas in body bags
Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella has faced widespread condemnation for posting a video showing himself walking among body bags of alleged guerrillas. Critics have labeled the act as 'necropolitics' and a performative display of violence.
Why it matters
The incident highlights growing tensions regarding human rights and the ethics of political communication in Latin American governance.
Still from video posted on social media by Abelardo De La Espriella (centre). Photograph: Abelardo De La Espriella Still from video posted on social media by Abelardo De La Espriella (centre). Photograph: Abelardo De La Espriella Colombia Colombian president posts video purporting to show 23 ‘neutralised’ guerrillas in body bags Footage provokes outrage as bellicose and performative far-right politics continue to spread across Americas
Prefer the Guardian on Google Colombia’s hardline president, Abelardo De La Espriella, has provoked outrage after posting a video on social media in which he strides through rows of white body bags that he says contained the corpses of 23 “neutralised” guerrillas.
De La Espriella took power last month vowing “all-out war” against illegal armed groups and he published the footage on Thursday in an apparent attempt to show he was fulfilling that pledge.
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