Colombian President Accuses Israeli Intelligence of Election Interference
According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, Colombian President Gustavo Petro has leveled accusations against Israeli intelligence services, claiming they interfered with the results of his country’s presidential election. Petro stated that an Israeli computer program, financed with funds derived from the cocaine trade and special Israeli intelligence budgets, replaced the actual votes of Colombian citizens, leading to a changed outcome and the victory of Rodolfo Hernández Suárez.
Petro asserted that the program, installed in private companies overseeing vote counting before the election, manipulated approximately 1.8 million votes. He added that based on the votes cast, Iván Cepeda was the true winner, but a different result was declared. Petro emphasized that this Israeli software, which he described as having violated Colombian national sovereignty, tampered with a significant portion of the votes.
Petro characterized the current situation as electoral fraud, managed through pre-prepared computer programs designed to alter the public’s decision. He deemed it “one of the greatest insults to democracy in the global system.”
He further accused “Israeli criminals” of stealing the Colombian election, stating that the newly elected president lacks the legitimacy of popular votes and that the events have returned Colombia to a “colonial era.”
Petro stressed that the people of Colombia have sworn allegiance to the sword of Simón Bolívar that the sovereignty of the people would be the basis for determining citizens’ rights, freedoms, and duties. He underscored that Colombia will never return to colonialism unless its people desire it.
While calling on the Colombian people to fight for national freedom and independence, he emphasized that Colombians are “not a servant or slave people, but an authentic people with a history who have always fought for freedom and life.”
Rodolfo Hernández Suárez, the far-right candidate, won the runoff presidential election last month by a margin of less than one percent. He announced his intention to intensify the confrontation with armed groups in Colombia and strengthen military cooperation with the United States and Israel. The new president is set to assume office in August. Among his initial actions, he plans to resume diplomatic relations between Colombia and Israel. In 2024, Colombian President Gustavo Petro had severed diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv in protest of Israeli aggressions against the Gaza Strip. He also supported the lawsuit filed against Israel at the International Court of Justice and decided to suspend coal exports to the occupied territories, as well as arms imports from them.
