“I advise you not to spend the money on lawyers,” former President Santos responds to his cousin, Ambassador Francisco Santos

“I would give you some advice, as a cousin, do not go to waste money, lawyers are very expensive.” This is how the former presidents of the Republic Juan Manuel Santos responded, in dialogue with the journalist Yamid Amat, to the announcement of his cousin, the Colombian ambassador to the United States, Francisco Santos, who assured that he would sue the former president for insult and slander.

A few days ago, in a statement to the W Radio station, the former president assured that the Colombian ambassador in Washington, Francisco Santos, spoke with a Pentagon contractor to ask him how he could help the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who was he was campaigning for his reelection.

“There is a strategist, a Pentagon contractor, who has helped Colombia a lot in past governments. He worked with my government, he worked with the government of Uribe, of Pastrana and he has very good relations with the political parties in the United States. The ambassador called that person and asked him how he could help Trump, “said Juan Manuel Santos during the interview.

Before those statements, Ambassador Francisco Santos denied that he had campaigned for Trump’s re-election and announced, in an interview with journalists Vicky Dávila and Salud Hernández, a complaint for libel and slander against former President Santos.

“Faced with the accusations of the president, I am not going to say anything, but my lawyer, Iván Cancino, is currently filing a criminal complaint (…) as Juan Manuel is a common citizen right now, he will have to answer before a judge and the The judge will have to ask the corresponding questions, ”said the Colombian representative in Washington.

Questioned by the journalist Yamid Amat in this regard, Juan Manuel Santos assured that “it is a demand that has neither head nor tail”, and in the face of his cousin’s statements, he reiterated that “he knows perfectly well that what I said is totally true ”.

Santos Calderón affirmed that he considers that it is not necessary to take the case to court. “The facts are there, if Mr. Cancino or Pacho himself calls me, I will tell them exactly who was the person who gave me the information, in what terms he gave me that information, and it was not a complaint, it was rather a Warning, because the person who gave me that information did it trying to help the country and to help relations between the two countries, because he is a person who knows Colombia very well, knows the United States very well and greatly appreciates that bipartisan policy that we have been building with so much effort over the years. With a little call, as they say, through informal channels, I give them all the information so that they avoid the embarrassment of losing a lawsuit ”.

The former president also recommended that Francisco Santos withdraw from the Colombian embassy in the United States before January 21 (when the new president Joe Biden should take office) “So that you do not suddenly suffer some shameful event personally, which would have repercussions in the country and I know why I am telling you.”

According to the former Colombian governor, there is “some discomfort” in the environment of the president-elect of the United States with what happened “and I would not expose myself to some diplomatic snub, because that is not convenient for anyone, that is the humble advice that I give to the ambassador, my cousin Pacho ”, Juan Manuel Santos concluded.

You may also be interested in:

Ambassador Francisco Santos will denounce former President Juan Manuel Santos for slander and in