With surprise I read a completely false statement in an article mistakenly titled “Colombian ambassador brands president ‘disappointing’ ”, written by René Lavanchy (Tribune June 4). In a paragraph of this article it says that the source of this comment is Labour MP Jim Sheridan. To Jim Sheridan, René Lavanchy and to all the readers of your publication, I ratify that these declarations are absolutely false.
When René Lavanchy requested that the Embassy comment on this alleged position of mine, I sent a statement reiterating what I had said in the meeting attended by Jim Sheridan: “The judicial system in Colombia is completely independent of the executive branch and I fully trust that judges in my country will decide based exclusively on legal considerations”.
Despite my response by email to René Lavanchy only a couple of hours after his request, he answered that he could not include my statement as the edition had already been closed. I find this conduct very unprofessional and biased.
— Mauricio Rodríguez Múnera, Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Editor’s response: I am perfectly satisfied that René Lavanchy acted with professional diligence throughout, contacting the Embassy as soon as he received relevant information and advising of the deadline. We are grateful for the efforts made to meet this deadline with the comment included above – which does not amount to a denial – but it did indeed arrive too late for publication.
