Petro's Final Warning: ‘Colombia Will No Longer Belong to Colombia’

“This is a symbolic signaling that he's restarting the war against Colombians – against the civilian population, against the Indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations, against environmentalists, against trade unionists – that's literally what he's signaling with this.”

Los Angeles-based Colombian activist Javier Guerrero tells BT Live Trump’s pick for Colombia’s presidency Abelardo de la Espriella was hinting not-so-subtly at a return to state and paramilitary violence when he addressed crowds on Colombia’s Independence Day, as outgoing President Gustavo Petro meanwhile delivered his final address in office – declaring that as of inauguration day on August 7, Colombia would no longer be a sovereign country. Doubling down on demands that June’s presidential runoff vote be thrown out due to foreign interference and tallying irregularities, Petro vowed to fight de la Espriella’s incoming government, a “servant to the US leaders who helped elect him,” in the streets.

Meanwhile, de la Espriella has accused Petro of plotting a “coup” and commanded the country’s army to ignore their commander-in-chief, effectively inciting sedition as he promises a return to fumigations and bombings in Colombia’s “war on drugs.”

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