Gustavo Petro ended up recognizing, like Iván Cepeda, the leftist candidate who aspired to succeed him, the electoral victory of the far-right Abelardo de la Espriella by about 250,000 votes difference. The first president of the left in Colombian history, however, left a striking phrase in his interventions in X: the elections in his country had been “Peruvianized”. Petro not only referred to the short distance between competitors but to the supposed anomalies that basically explained the defeat. At the same time, Roberto Sánchez, the standard bearer of the Peruvian center-left, threatened to not recognizing the legitimacy of Keiko Fujimori as the new president due to alleged irregularities in the voting of migrants in ten cities in Europe, Latin America and the United States, which were decisive. Fujimori should take office on July 28, while De la Espriella will do so on August 7. The replacements do not seem to put an end to the tensions from both countries.
Cepeda accepted the final scrutiny and announced that he will exercise a “democratic, vigilant and constructive” opposition as senator. If necessary, will call for “resistance and peaceful civil disobedience“. For the candidate of the Historical Pact the results are partly explained by the role played by the United States. “We denounce the open and improper foreign interference in the internal affairs of Colombiaparticularly the interventions of President Donald Trump.” Petro not only repeated the same statement, but also involved Israel in computer manipulation actions that favored the extreme right. “It is the only one with the capacity to do that in the world,” he said, without offering conclusive evidence.
The admission of the victory of the current opposition has not prevented the current president from renouncing that same conspiracy hypothesis. “In Romania, simple foreign interference empowered the European Court to annul the elections. Who is being asked to annul the elections in Colombia that had clear and admitted foreign intervention? Which judge will accept the public confession of the president of the United States?a foreigner in Colombia, and Colombia being a sovereign Republic with a constitution that prohibits foreign interference and their money, that the elections in Colombia be declared null?” are they pronounced? By what right does Western Europe annul an election due to foreign intervention and why not Colombia, yes unlike Romania “Is the act of intervention public and confessed?”
Colombia’s problems, Petro suggested, do not end with the formal proclamation of De la Espriella as the winner in the second round. “The connection (with the new authorities) and my withdrawal will begin, and perhaps peaceful resistance.” The conflict will be in a latent state if “the social reforms that we achieved for the people are repealed.” The incoming president has promised a strong adjustment in State spending. The right, in its different aspects, has not delayed in criticizing these comments. Petro insisted on predicting storms. He also said that the horizon is disturbing. “I look at the divided people on the verge of killing each other like two centuries agowe are split in half and it is time to recognize each other, respect each other and agree.”
The Peruvian case
The deep division is also the sign of the Peruvian political scene. Sánchez, unlike Petro and Cepeda, has not targeted Washington time to explain the almost 45,000 votes difference in favor of Fujimori. The manipulation, he said, was only internal, and he especially targeted the Foreign Ministry.
The National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) said this Wednesday that the final verdict of the second round of June 7 will be known in the next few hours when the Special Electoral Juries (JEE) rule “on the minutes observed.” According to Sánchez, a sort of “fraud” because “the legal security of the voting system” abroad was reduced. By eliminating the obligation to digitize and immediately scan records at the end of the electoral act, as happened in the first round, something has happened that favored Fujimori. ““Transparency has been seriously affected.”he added. Both the former autocrat’s daughter’s party, Fuerza Popular, and the media criticized him for his change of opinions. On the day of the fight he had expressed his willingness to recognize the result, without extenuating circumstances.
“The maneuver has a known script. Pedro Castillo also invoked democracy when it suited him and ended up carrying out a coup d’état that landed him in jail. Sánchez was his minister, his candidate, he inherited his hat and, apparently, he also inherited his crisis manual: deny reality, accuse the institutions and take the dispute to the streets. False democrat, just like his mentor.” The newspaper noted The Commerce in his editorial. “Sánchez asks to annul the votes of nearly 300,000 Peruvians who voted legally from abroad, where Keiko Fujimori won by a landslide. He does not present adulterated records, he does not present expert opinions, he does not cite any international observer who has endorsed his complaint.”
The cases of Colombia and Peru predict a scene of possible similar characteristics in Brazil. The elections are in October. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has a slight advantage over Flávio Bolsonaro in the polls. Trump has given signs of his preferences in recent weeks and there is no shortage of analysts who warn about the eventual “Colombianization” of a race that appears to be close and with greater loquacity from the Republican billionaire as the moment of the vote approaches. Brazil is for now the great wayward country in a South America turned towards Washington.
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