Colombia's President Accused of Censoring University Students

Students at the University of Los Andes in Bogota accused Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos of brushing off their criticisms and attempting to censor them for daring to confront him.

Santos made an unannounced visit to the university Wednesday to speak about the ongoing peace process between his government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC rebels.

Upon his arrival, Santos was confronted by a small group of students at the university who wanted to speak to the president about his economic policies.

Although Santos did greet the students, in a video shared on Twitter by Carlos Acero, one of the students participating in the protest, the president brushes off the student's questions, saying only that he was entitled to his opinion.

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However, after the brief encounter, police and Santos' security detail prevented the students from entering the hall where he was speaking. In that same video, a security official can be seen attempting to take away the banner the students were carrying.

The commotion led to the creation of the hashtag #SantosRespeteLasUniversidades or “Santos Respect Universities.”

President Santos' own son, Martin, chimed in on his Twitter account, sharing photos of the president shaking hands with a student. However, what Martin Santos left out was that the pair only exchanged pleasantries and that the president quickly ended the encounter without answering any of Acero's questions.

Social media was inundated with denunciations of Santos' alleged censorship at the hands of his security detail. User Haider Ballen, @RalGobiernoXd, wrote, "They ordered a student silenced for expressing his ideas, and they're still convinced that the dictatorship is in Venezuela," while Sebastian Alarcon, @Selarcon, wrote, "If universities do not exist to criticize the country's model, then what are they for?"