The new Colombian president will be Abelardo De La Espriella, a friend of Israel
The statements came after the victory of conservative candidate Abelardo De La Espriella, 47 years old, who focused his campaign on promises to toughen the fight against crime, end negotiations with armed groups, and revitalize the Colombian oil and gas industry. The defeated candidate was Iván Cepeda, Petro's candidate.
De La Espriella made criticism of Petro's government one of the cornerstones of his candidacy, blaming the outgoing administration for the economic and security deterioration. Among his proposals is a significant reduction in the size of the state and a tax cut, although he promised to maintain some popular social measures implemented by his predecessor.
While Petro denounced an alleged international conspiracy, congratulations to the elected president began to arrive from abroad. The Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, celebrated De La Espriella's victory and expressed his desire to strengthen bilateral relations. In similar terms, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Washington looks forward to working closely with the new Colombian administration.
For now, Petro's accusations have not been accompanied by verifiable evidence. However, they once again place the outgoing president at the center of controversy, this time for a theory that attributes the outcome of a national election to an international operation of almost cinematic scope.
The outgoing president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, reacted to his party's defeat in the presidential elections with an accusation that quickly generated disbelief and controversy: he claimed that the State of Israel had manipulated the Colombian electoral system to alter the election results.
In a post on the social network X, Petro stated that there were vulnerabilities in the software used by the National Registry and recalled that, according to him, he had already warned about those risks previously. The president maintained that changes were detected in the IP addresses of servers linked to the electoral process and concluded that the system had been compromised.
Up to that point, his allegations resembled the usual post-election controversies that tend to arise in various countries. However, Petro went a step further by stating that “the only entity in the world capable of doing that is the State of Israel”, without presenting public evidence to support such a claim.
The president requested a complete audit of the electoral software, a recount of votes, and a review of the affected polling stations, while urging the public to remain calm and wait for a verification of the results. He also called for a “national dialogue” among the different political sectors of the country.
