On August 13, 2025, during the funeral service for Senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay in the Elliptical Hall of Congress, Gabriel Vallejo, director of the Democratic Center, read a speech written by former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who did not attend because he was under house arrest. In the speech, Uribe stated that the Patriotic Union "promoted kidnapping, participated in assassination orders," and "was permissive of illicit financing," contrasting this alleged conduct with Miguel Uribe's career.
The statements sparked immediate condemnation. President Gustavo Petro called them a mockery of justice, recalling that on January 30, 2023, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights held the Colombian State responsible for the political extermination of the UP, which left more than 6,000 victims between 1984 and 2002, including murders, forced disappearances, displacements, and systematic threats against its members.
In its 2023 ruling, the IACHR established that state agents participated in crimes against the UP, tolerated the actions of illegal armed groups, and failed to fulfill the duty to prevent and protect its members. It ordered comprehensive reparation measures, including public acknowledgment of responsibility, guarantees of non-repetition, and punishment of those materially and intellectually responsible.
Bogotá Councilwoman Heidy Sánchez Barreto and Senator Isabel Zuleta, both members of the Historic Pact, described the speech as "infamous" and "revictimizing." They expressed their solidarity with the victims and survivors of the UP, reiterating that the political extermination is documented and has been the subject of international condemnation.
Victims' groups and human rights organizations pointed out that these types of pronouncements not only ignore the judicially established truth, but also contribute to maintaining the stigma against a political group that suffered one of the most serious persecutions in the country's recent history.