The decision room of the Superior Court of Cali agreed with a citizen that asked for the protection of their rights, affected by a trill made from the account of President Iván Duque.
Citizen Víctor David Aucenon asked that the rights to secularism of the State, freedom of worship and the principle of separation between the State and Religion be protected. These, according to citizen, they were affected by a trill made on July 9.
“Respecting the religious liberties of our country and in clear expression of my faith, today we celebrate 101 years of recognition of our Virgin of Chiquinquirá as patron saint of Colombia. Every day in deep prayer I thank you and ask you for our country“Says the trill of the head of state who has repeatedly made public references to his devotion to the virgin.
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The guardian argued that the message was discriminatory and that although it was done from the personal account and not from the Presidency, “through that channel he finds out the official information, since orders and mandates are issued” and that in addition lhe personal accounts of public servants lose such connotation.
He asked the Court to order the trill to be erased and the Presidency to be reminded that “it must refrain from making this type of allegory to particular cults, from social networks.”
The Chamber with a presentation by Judge Germán Darío Gómez ruled and gave 48 hours for the trill to be removed and also “warns” President Duque “so that, henceforth, he refrains from engaging in the conduct that gave rise to this protection.”
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The Presidency during the process indicated that “there is no specific regulation on what the State, through its public entities can or cannot do in religious matters, to avoid violating the neutrality and secularism with which it must act, since the pronouncements on the subject have been jurisprudential; Furthermore, this tweet is not enforceable, nor does it constitute an official act. ”
However, the magistrates pointed out that on the contrary there is a regulation on the subject from the Constitution itself, which has been developed through laws on the Right to Religious and Religious Freedom.
They acknowledge that the trill was made of Duque’s personal account and speaks of his faith and the Virgin, “which constitutes an evident externalization of belief” that does not exempt him from political and legal control.
The decision reads that Duque should have been careful “not to disregard other people’s fundamental rights, given the impact that declaration generates on citizens as it comes from the president, from whom a high degree of credibility is preached.”
They add that “although the opinion was announced in a personal account, the truth is that the content that is published in it leaves the community feeling and confusion of not being it, because it accounts for all the actions that the government, more than appreciations or situations of a personal nature of the ruler ”.
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The decision also indicates that with his words, devotees of the congregation of the virgin are encouraged and those who are not are excluded, “That in this particular case, corresponds to minorities, since the religious practice of commemoration of the Virgin is mostly Catholic.”
Finally, in the decision, in which one of the three magistrates saved his vote, it is stated: “For this corporation, the message issued by the President does not meet the minimum justification and reasonableness, as it is a clear speech on religious matters whose disclosure it is forbidden it implies ignorance of the right to freedom of worship, and the duty of neutrality of the State, and consequently, it is in violation of the principle of secularism of the State”.
The guardianship can be contested and in any case it will be sent to the Constitutional Court that could select it for its analysis.
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