Colombian electoral authorities ignored allegations of fraud and, despite massive popular marches, confirmed the far-right candidate and Trump favorite, Abelardo De Espriella—who calls himself "The Tiger"—as the winner of the recent presidential elections in Colombia.

Popular outrage was swift, and massive marches across Colombia rejected the far-right's victory.

Under the cry of “Resistance!” With barricades burning in several streets of Bogotá and Cali, thousands of people demonstrated on Sunday against the 47-year-old millionaire lawyer with ties to organized crime, who praised and endorsed Milei's "chainsaw" policies and Bukele's anti-crime approach—mimicking the Salvadoran president's poses—and sought to dismantle social achievements of President Gustavo Petro.

The protests, organized by leftist groups, filled the streets of Bogotá and Cali, two of the main strongholds of outgoing President Gustavo Petro and his ally, Iván Cepeda, with slogans, honking horns, and music.

What began as a peaceful demonstration shifted into clashes between protesters and police, according to reports from AFP journalists. Protesters burned tires and US flags, the country that backed the victory of the far-right candidate, who has been criticized by his opponents for having legally represented criminals—such as paramilitaries and drug traffickers—and for having promised to repress protests during his term, which will extend until 2030.

“We are not going to settle for an aggressive government that wants to persecute and destroy us, just as he himself has predicted,” Isabella Giraldo, a 26-year-old entrepreneur, told EFE in the capital.

The images of clashes with security forces evoked the unprecedented social upheaval that, between 2019-2021, was led primarily by students during the administration of right-wing President Iván Duque, Petro's predecessor.

Meanwhile, Petro and the left have unsuccessfully challenged the results in thousands of polling stations. Cepeda, meanwhile, called on citizens to remain calm and channel their discontent through institutional means.

Abelardo de la Espriella, of the far-right movement Defenders of Homeland, will assume office on August 7, succeeding Gustavo Petro after narrowly defeating the government-backed candidate, Iván Cepeda. The final result gives him 12.9 million votes (49.66%), compared to the 12.7 million (48.70%) obtained by his rival, a difference of less than one percentage point.

His rise was meteoric. In just a few months, he managed to unify a large part of the conservative and Uribista movement around his candidacy, ultimately winning the presidency on his first attempt.

He is an avowed admirer of Donald Trump. A donor to the U.S. Republican Party, De la Espriella built much of his campaign around a hardline stance against crime, downsizing the state, and strengthening relations with Washington. Furthermore, during the campaign, he was accused by Iván Cepeda of maintaining alleged ties to former paramilitary groups due to his participation in the peace talks between the government of Álvaro Uribe and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

PETRO EXPOSES THE FRAUD

In a meticulous investigation, President Gustavo Petro has identified the electoral fraud perpetrated on May 31 against the Historical Pact and its candidate, Iván Cepeda, to favor the far-right, Trump-aligned Abelardo de la Espriella, a scheme orchestrated by Colombian political and business mafias and large technology corporations such as Palantir and Anthropic.

Thus, Petro has linked each of the events to this massive electoral fraud, very similar to the one recently orchestrated in Honduras to defeat the progressive bloc and impose the candidate of Honduran drug trafficker Orlando Hernández, pardoned by Trump (who didn't know him) and Rubio, who did.

Petro points out, first of all, that “the so-called transmitted count has no binding force; its data is not public record. As president, I do not accept the preliminary count results from the private firm owned by the Bautista brothers, because, despite the algorithms of the counting and tallying software being supposed to remain static, they were altered in the last week, adding 800,000 more voter registration cards belonging to people not on the official census.”

“The polling stations that have already been challenged demonstrate that hundreds of thousands of votes were added, even though there were no registered voters.” “Therefore, and in accordance with the law, the binding results that the president will consider and accept are those of the electoral commissions overseen by the judges of the Republic” (See https://x.com/i/status/2061494320062968120).

Petro says, “I am presenting the verified evidence of the possible fraud. I can deliver it to the competent authority. I said that I did not recognize the preliminary count data from the Bautista brothers' software because I have data. My commitment to my people and my love for my country, for which I have fought all my life, makes me risk everything by sharing this.

“The Registrar (linked to the political mafias of the U Party) consistently refused to hand over the source code, which was the basic requirement for electoral transparency. I did so because, in a 2018 plenary ruling by the Council of State, that software was declared vulnerable from both inside and outside the system.”

Petro adds that “when I reported that the software was modified on days when, by law, it should have remained dormant, the registrar said it was impossible. This only indicates that the Registrar's Office has no control over the software, as we already knew. The software was indeed modified, and twice, on May 26, 2026. The first modification occurred at 1:21:35 pm and the second at 7:21:13 pm.”

“The modification consisted of changing the electoral roll and the number of polling stations and voting tables. The newspaper El Tiempo only managed to uncover the modification of the voting tables. The amount of the modification is as follows: “Official census 41,421,973, this figure was changed in DIVIPOL using the Bautista brothers' software on May 26, 2026, five days before elections, to the following amount: 42,307,373.

“I can prove these facts before the competent authority. In the Bautista brothers' vote count, 5,300 voting tables appear with more than 300 votes on the day, which is the maximum number of votes allowed during election hours; many reach 700 votes. It’s in these tables that Abelardo's lead over Cepeda is located. I am providing the complete data for the 5,300 voting tables. They are trying to quickly close the vote count to avoid verifying my complaint.

“The vote count on the 5,300 atypical polling stations are not being counted. The votes were already cast at polling stations with standardized jurors, and the tally sheets contain the 885,400 ballots that were added illegally. On election day, many jurors were replaced. The vote count must verify if the voters are on the official census, which was closed two months before the election. If they are not, it’s because they are not actual voters.”

STRONG STANCE

This accusation by President Petro explains his strong and immediate political stance, stating: “Yesterday I was personally attacked by candidate Abelardo, and I must defend myself. I have not stolen a single peso from the public treasury nor committed any crime. I am being threatened with prison simply for my progressive political stance in favor of the people.” This is happening because the project behind Abelardo is the same one that was behind Uribe, whom he now supports: the mafia-like fascism that has already governed Colombia (today, techno-fascism).

“Every people has a moral obligation to humanity to defeat fascism. What fascism has left wherever it has ruled is a holocaust. A holocaust in Europe, a holocaust in China, a holocaust in Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina.

“A holocaust in Colombia, because fascism governed Colombia during the time of Laureano and Ospina, and later with the paramilitary regime that left 200,000 dead.

“I rose up against them with my public words and, without a weapon, I defeated them, and that is why I am president. And now they speak of revenge when they return to power. To dismantle progressivism and imprison—which in reality means assassinating—its leaders. I know how many votes they bought, hand over fist, for 150,000 and 200,000 pesos per vote. I know they are seeking a mass exodus and are preparing their knives and fangs.

“Abelardo was born in Córdoba, and so was I. He comes from a landowning family and is a supporter of paramilitarism, while I am the son of farmers and small-scale agricultural producers. Look at the election results: he was soundly defeated in his hometown of Sahagún. And he was soundly defeated throughout Córdoba, his department. He was defeated throughout the Colombian Caribbean. Why? Because in his hometown, people know him and they know what would happen if a fascist who supports paramilitarism came to power. So I have a moral obligation to humanity and to the history and life of Colombia to defeat this mafia-style fascism.

“I will make my own decisions. We have a task for Humanity and Life. If the heart of the world is taken over by the specters of death, as in the past, the world's hope dies. Colombia is the heart of the world and the land of beauty, and it must be the shining beacon of hope for the world; that is the mission of the Colombian people.”

“If tigers were to actually come to Colombia, they would kill the existing wildlife and human beings. Let's not be foolish; we don't need foreigners who don't live in the country, but in Miami and Italy, and who think only of revenge, like the Italian “squiphos,” and of self-indulgence,” he concluded.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff