Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro Urrego addresses the 78th session of the United Nations Basic Meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. Credit score: AP/Richard Drew
Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, addresses the 78th session of the United Nations Basic Meeting at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. Credit score: AP/Seth Wenig
MEXICO CITY — The Colombian authorities manipulated a video to change the applause obtained by President Gustavo Petro throughout his speech on the United Nations Basic Meeting in New York.
The Related Press reviewed the video and was capable of confirm that it was altered. The recording launched by the presidential workplace integrated applause for U.S. President Joe Biden, who spoke moments earlier than Petro, making it seem the applause was directed on the Colombian chief.
The manipulation was first reported by the Colombian web site La Silla Vacía.
The presidential workplace was requested for remark by AP however had not responded by late Friday afternoon.
Though Petro did obtain applause, the ultimate clip of the video posted Thursday on the federal government’s YouTube channel doesn’t correspond to what was broadcast within the U.N. video. It incorporates a special shot to the unique broadcast and to what was broadcast within the media, making it appear that many extra attendees applauded Petro on the finish of his speech.
The recording raised doubts amongst social media customers and the media, given that there have been a number of empty seats within the Basic Meeting throughout Petro’s speech.
At 1:52:39 of the official U.N. broadcast, the identical applause that the Colombian authorities video reveals going to Petro is heard however it’s on the finish of Biden’s his handle.
Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, addresses the 78th session of the United Nations Basic Meeting at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. Credit score: AP/Seth Wenig
The U.N. video additionally reveals that three males within the seventh row get up on the identical time and {that a} lady walks in direction of the rostrum between the seats, the identical scene that seems within the video launched by Colombia’s presidential workplace.
AP photographer Richard Drew captured the second of Petro’s speech in a photograph and reveals that within the seventh row there have been solely individuals sitting in three of the 12 seats. Within the edited video launched by the Colombian authorities, all these seats look to be occupied.
This 12 months’s annual assembly of the U.N. Basic Meeting introduced collectively heads of state and authorities from at the very least 145 international locations, together with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy