Despite the security logistics President Juan Manuel Santos defended at the time [es] for the regional elections last October 30, 2011, diverse irregularities have been reported in different parts of Colombia. The inhabitants of the smallest municipality in the country, Sabaneta, Antioquia, are peacefully opposing the mayoral election results and have called for an investigation into electoral anomalies.
Citizens of Sabaneta are demonstrating through sit-ins, peaceful marches, Twitter (#sabanetaindignada) [es], Facebook [es], blogs [es], digital media [es], YouTube [es] and letters to traditional media expressing their outrage.
In this letter, [es] also published on Facebook, citizens name several irregularities, including transfer voting – voters from other municipalities voting in Sabaneta- and the influence of outgoing Mayor Guillermo León Montoya in favor of Luz Estela Giraldo. They also report a power outage in the school Rafael J. Mejía at 6:15 PM, just when Iván Montoya and Gloria Díaz were leading the polls above Luz Estela Giraldo, who after this event got ahead with just 77 votes [es].
Anonymous Colombia supported the citizens’ cause by blocking the official website of the municipality, as they announced [es] on Facebook:
Se a dado down a la pagina de la Alcaldía de Sabaneta por fraude en elecciones durante tres periodos seguidos
Ana María (@ana_serna), like other netizens, published photos [es] on Twitter that prove that some votes were ripped [es] and others burned. She also refers [es] to the death of FARC top leader Alfonso Cano as a distraction for the media to evade the issue of #SabanetaIndignado (#Sabanetaoutraged):
Con lo de Alfonso Cano Ahora si que menos será importante lo del #FraudeElectoral en el país #SabanetaIndignado
Manu Valencia (@ValeFeerica), shows his indignation [es] and encourages ending corruption:
#SabanetaIndignado Es momento de organizarnos y hacer escuchar nuestra voz en defensa de la democracia. Basta ya de corrupción.
Kleper (@kleper) and @internautismo agree [es] that elections should be repeated, while Maritza Rendon (@Maritzaren) links to an article [es] by Caracol Radio [es] and asks to take into account the votes that were found in the trash:
Reanudan conteo votos #sabanetaindignado Persisten plantones – http://bit.ly/tZBqyY Que cuenten los de la basura.
José Iglesias (@joseiglesiasb) complains [es] that traditional media are not paying attention to this issue because the claims from Sabaneta are peaceful
Ni medios locales se han pronunciado con #SabanetaIndignado. Necesitan asonadas, registradurías quemadas y muertos para liderar en el rating
Diego Ángulo (@diegoanguloinez), refers to [es] a pronouncement made by the OAS (Organization of American States) [es], warning that in these elections there was the possibility of facilitating fraud:
Estas elecciones han sido las más corruptas de la historia, sin firma, ni huella un jurado podía hacer lo que quería
The flowing video shows one of the peaceful marches accompanied by the militarization of the municipality; also, a witness recounts his experience at the school Rafael J. Mejia.
2 comments
Colombia es una verguenza internacional donde hay corrupciòn exagerada, donde hay matanzas y ajusticiamientos cuando hay una ley que debe juzgar a las personas que han cometido una falta a la ley.
Sabaneta està indignada!
Yo denomino esto: corrupción, uno de los protagonistas en Colombia y en las elecciones no estuvo ausente sino muy muy presente.