Petro: Between double cross and democracy

This is not new, but all kinds of plots continue to be orchestrated to oust the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who is being attacked on multiple fronts, including violent death, admitted even by the diplomatic delegation of the United States in Bogotá.

The methods, I emphasize, are diverse: from the fabrication by the National Electoral Council of false irregularities during the previous electoral process, to the use of two dump trucks, one loaded with dynamite, to blow them up as he passes by.

Thus, the media also reveal that former guerrilla leaders want to take revenge for the president's attempts to remove obstacles to bring peace to Colombia, but what is known so far is that Colombian executives residing in Dubai who control the emerald business are also involved in the conspiracy against him.

In this regard, this Saturday 14th at the National University of Colombia, amidst the cheers of thousands of his followers, he said: “Every time I win, they want to get rid of me; they are bored with Petro, every time the people elect me, they want to overthrow me (…) They can no longer stand Petro in the Presidency.”

“They put the money in to see if Petro disappears before December, and I will tell you: with the money they put in they bought two dump trucks (…) and the idea they have is to fill it (one of them) with dynamite and explosives, and with inside information about my routines, blow up the dump truck as I pass by. That is the operation of death,” he denounced.

By the way, Jorge Arreaza, executive secretary of ALBA-TCP, denounced that the oligarchy is trying to corner the president to eliminate his project of seeking the peace and development that the Colombian nation requires.

PERSECUTION

It is obvious that Petro's party and his followers are being persecuted by the most important media outlets, by the oligarchy that fears the disappearance of privatizations; members of the current opposition and elements of former governments who are heavily involved in corruption and remain unpunished.

They cannot stand that, despite the obstacles they have placed in the way of the president, he has managed to lift 1.6 million people out of poverty, avoid economic collapse, control inflation, and reduce inequality.

However, his reforms have not advanced in Congress. "When we proposed a popular agreement (to the opposition), we were generous after winning the popular vote (...) they responded with a trick: present the projects that we will discuss, and they did not approve any of them," criticized the president.

Petro has frequently denounced that previous governments have used modern espionage methods purchased from Israel, addressing this issue at the aforementioned support event at the Bogotá university, where he said goodbye to the attendees amid cries of “People!”, wondering “if the treacherous stab wins or democracy wins in Colombia.”

UNITY IS A MUST

The Colombian left agrees that unity is the only way to successfully face the legislative and presidential elections at the beginning of 2026. That is why, for several months, President Gustavo Petro has insisted on the need to form a single political party, in which at least the 10 groups that make up the coalition by which he was elected, the Historic Pact (Pacto Histórico), come together.

The first left-wing president in the country's modern history has also proposed that this party lead a broad front, in which both political sectors of the center and the center-left, as well as social movements that are not in electoral politics, participate. His goal: to stop the possibility of far-right forces coming to power.

Petro's two ideas have been welcomed by most of the organizations that support him, but a route map defining the details of the eventual merger has not been agreed upon.

On the day that progressive senator Piedad Córdoba died, in January 2024, Petro made a public invitation to unity for the first time. This idea has echoes of the quantitative leap that the Colombian left made almost 20 years ago, when it created the Alternative Democratic Pole and left behind decades of internal fights and irreconcilable factions.

“I propose: a meeting of the 1,500 people elected in 2023: The progressive congress. Decision to form a single political party. Call to the broad front in each municipality, department and the nation with all the democratic forces that want to join,” he stressed.

Since then, Petro was clear that his purpose was “to win the 2026 elections and make the democratic transformation of Colombia irreversible.” A few weeks later, the representatives to the Chamber of the Historic Pact, the electoral and then legislative coalition that already brings together almost the entire left, issued a statement in which they supported the president.

For months, while dozens of possible presidential candidates began to emerge, the issue remained silent. Until last week, when the assembly of Colombia Humana, one of the parties that make up the Historic Pact and which gave its endorsement to several of the congressmen closest to the president, was held.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff