{"id":367,"date":"2026-06-18T13:09:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=367"},"modified":"2026-06-18T13:09:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:09:48","slug":"the-man-who-could-keep-colombias-left-in-power-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=367","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who Could Keep Colombia\u2019s Left in Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Pink Tide that first pulled politics leftward throughout much of Latin America in the 2000s took a bit longer to reach Colombia. Dominated for decades by a right-wing ruling class that accepted massive US military aid to carry out bloody campaigns against armed left-wing rebels, coca farmers, and many, many civilians, Colombia remained what Venezuelan president Hugo Ch\u00e1vez once called the \u201cunsinkable aircraft carrier\u201d for US interests in Latin America at a time when many neighboring countries launched bids for national autonomy and progressive governance.<\/p>\n

Read more The Blatant Hypocrisy of the Congressional Black Caucus\u2019s Out of Bounds Boycott<\/a><\/p>\n

That changed four years ago, when former leftist guerrilla Gustavo Petro and his Pacto Hist\u00f3rico movement captured the presidency. Since then, Petro has led a pragmatic, social-democratic administration, raising the minimum wage, introducing pro-worker labor reforms, overseeing land redistribution, increasing spending on public education, and bringing down poverty rates. He has also taken principled stances against Israel\u2019s genocide in the Gaza Strip, breaking relations with Israel and drawing the ire of Donald Trump, who last year canceled Petro\u2019s visa to the United States after he attended a pro-Palestine rally in Manhattan. Just last week, a scheduled meeting in New York between Petro and Mayor Zohran Mamdani was spiked in the face of pressure from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

With Petro constitutionally barred from running again, Pacto Hist\u00f3rico has chosen Senator Iv\u00e1n Cepeda as its candidate in this year\u2019s presidential election. A longtime human rights advocate, Cepeda has spent much of his career seeking justice for victims of the state-sponsored extermination of thousands of leaders of the left-wing alliance Uni\u00f3n Patri\u00f3tica, including his father, Senator Manuel Cepeda, who was gunned down in 1994. He is pledging to continue the advances achieved under Petro and pursue peace negotiations with the country\u2019s various armed groups. A truck driver near Bogot\u00e1 summed up Cepeda\u2019s campaign to The New York Times<\/em>: \u201cHe wants to help the common people, so the rich aren\u2019t always calling the shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

On May 31, Cepeda came in second in the first round of presidential elections to far-right populist candidate Abelardo de la Espriella. The two will now face each other in a runoff on Sunday, June 21. At stake is whether the country will treat its turn to leftism as a fluke and revert to a violent and unequal status quo ante, or continue its path to a more equal, dignified, and independent future.<\/p>\n

In advance of the runoff, Micah Uetricht and Alex Caring-Lobel spoke with Cepeda about US meddling in Colombia\u2019s democratic process, his far-right opponent\u2019s narco-paramilitary ties, and how his government plans to fight neoliberal austerity with republican austerity.<\/p>\n

Alex Caring-Lobel: <\/em><\/span> You\u2019re heading a broad coalition against the far right. How does your leftist background inform your approach to coalition politics? And why is this political tradition more capable than the center in defeating reaction?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iv\u00e1n Cepeda: <\/em><\/span><\/strong> I come from a political tradition deeply rooted in our nation\u2019s history. What we are today, the Pacto Hist\u00f3rico, is the result of the historical evolution of the struggles\u2014social, political, and cultural\u2014that we\u2019ve waged during the last century, or even longer.<\/p>\n

So these are not improvised ideas. What we are defending is a historical accumulation. It\u2019s not merely the accumulated legacy of the left but of various political left-wing currents and social movements comprising a wide range of forces, peoples, communities, traditions, and forms of resistance. This political and popular resistance\u2014without wishing to draw smug comparisons to others on our continent\u2014is distinguished by its survival in the face of extremely intense criminal practices and persecution. We even maintain that Colombia has witnessed genocides in the plural\u2014not just one but several genocides against indigenous peoples, against political formations.<\/p>\n

And in this long, historic process, we\u2019ve come to acquire a cultural heritage, a way of seeing the world shaped by our political plurality. So the vision that we defend today is not the work of a single candidate or even our political leader, President Petro, but rather corresponds, as I said, to a long-standing tradition.<\/p>\n

Within this tradition, we have also developed a political vision of alliances\u2014party alliances, political movement alliances, but also class alliances, social alliances. And today we\u2019ve come to the end, or are coming to the end, of our first progressive administration, whose track record could certainly be examined from differing perspectives, but that has brought about historic changes in the country and that has served\u2014with challenges, which I\u2019m not unfamiliar with\u2014to govern alongside other political tendencies.<\/p>\n

So, to get right to the point [laughs<\/em>], we hold a worldview that emerges from that history, from those struggles, and that encompasses a vision of political alliances: their purpose, timing, scope, and necessity. And today we\u2019re confronting fascism\u2014fascism<\/em>\u2014in Colombia and around the world.<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s room for debate here\u2014neofascism, far right, ultraright, ultraconservativism, etc.\u2014but we\u2019re effectively facing a political axis with fascist features. And therefore we believe it is essential to have a broad, highly pluralistic alliance grounded in programmatic identities, or at least programmatic affinities.<\/p>\n

The center in Colombia has its history too. I\u2019m not going to expound on it here, but it has resulted from splinterings from the left as much as from establishment or right-wing parties. And it is subject to the same trends affecting the political center in many parts of the world.<\/p>\n

In the face of global problems of such scale and depth as we have today, the planetary crises we\u2019re confronting as consequences of neoliberalism, the center seeks solutions that are, to put it plainly, unfeasible, because these problems do not allow for intermediate or neutral positions but rather demand very clear responses addressed to the country, the people, the nation, and the world. One such case is the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

It is sometimes difficult to enter into these political plays, let\u2019s call them, which is not to say that we\u2019re not willing to make concessions, engage in dialogue, or reach pacts. Our party is called the Pacto Hist\u00f3rico, after all. That is why we believe our approach is the right one: not to rule out alliances with the political center, or even parts of the right, in order to move forward.<\/p>\n

Micah Uetricht: <\/em><\/span> Petro has struggled to pass some of his big reforms through a hostile Congress, and although Pacto Hist\u00f3rico expanded its seats in Congress in March, it still doesn\u2019t hold an outright majority. Are there reforms that your administration could pursue immediately upon taking office?<\/strong><\/p>\n

IC: <\/em><\/span><\/strong> Yes, there are decisions we can make without going to Congress, but there are others we cannot without passing laws or constitutional reforms.<\/p>\n

There has been a great deal of controversy in Colombia because the president has proposed a constituent assembly. For my part, as the Pacto Hist\u00f3rico candidate, I\u2019ve taken the position of seeking a national agreement. What does a national agreement mean? Well, like any agreement, it entails a process of dialogue, ideally one of consensus and respect for decisions that can be translated into laws, constitutional reforms, or simply executive decisions. But the initial phase of my administration will have to involve a national dialogue.<\/p>\n

There are many skeptical about the possibility of one. Some tell us: \u201cNo, the far right and the Colombian elite won\u2019t compromise. They never have.\u201d Well, I hold a different view. I come from a political tradition based in dialogue. So we\u2019re going to try, no?<\/p>\n

There are three urgent problems. These aren\u2019t merely issues to address in the future or with long-term programs. The crisis of Colombia\u2019s healthcare system cannot wait. The healthcare system is collapsing. Why? Because it was privatized, and corruption set in. Second, we are confronting a crisis caused by the El Ni\u00f1o phenomenon\u2014specifically, prolonged drought. This brings with it energy problems, because our electricity supply relies on large dams, and reservoir levels are already dropping. We haven\u2019t compromised on oil policy [Colombia halted the expansion of its oil industry], so that presents a problem\u2014a serious one.<\/p>\n

And we have a third problem: the fiscal deficit. The public finances our government inherited were seriously battered by the policies implemented by the right. They left us with an immense debt because they had to avoid the collection of a specific tax\u2014the gasoline tax\u2014to make their policy, supremely unfair to the population, tolerable. Our government settled the tax debt. So now we have an exorbitant fiscal situation, a grave fiscal crisis.<\/p>\n

We now have to face the challenge of dealing with the fiscal deficit and settling the issue of the state\u2019s financial solvency, all while managing the enormous public debt we have to pay. In sum, these three issues need to be resolved, or at least a path found to their resolution, in the first hundred days of the administration. That, then, is the first item we\u2019ll have to tackle.<\/p>\n

Read more The Banality of Peter Thiel\u2019s Evil<\/a><\/p>\n

MU: <\/em><\/span> Your opponent, Abelardo de la Espriella, has been a prominent lawyer for narco and paramilitary groups. On Thursday, your campaign filed a criminal complaint with the attorney general and the International Criminal Court against him for his alleged ties to narco-paramilitary groups. Could you tell us a bit about these charges?<\/strong><\/p>\n

IC: <\/em><\/span><\/strong> First, let me say that De la Espriella represents not only that political underworld but also something else. His law firm has for years been based in Miami. He is a man with very strong ties to the US far right. He\u2019s an associate of Mar\u00eda Elvira Salazar, a far-right Republican in Florida. He is a man very close to Marco Rubio and also to President Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

From that position, he has handled litigation in Miami linked to professional services for imprisoned drug traffickers that are either extradited to the United States or have ended up there under other circumstances. In other words, this is a man who maintains very close relationships with agencies like the DEA and, very likely, the CIA.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not revealing any secrets. He proclaims this himself. He says that if Colombia\u2019s problems don\u2019t have a solution, or if there\u2019s timidity in settling them, he\u2019s going to ask President Trump and the US government to solve our problems\u2014in matters of justice, drug trafficking, violence, and so on. To put it clearly, we\u2019re not talking about a man who has right-wing convictions and happens to practice law. We\u2019re talking about a clear representative of not just the mafioso, drug-trafficking Colombian far right. We\u2019re talking about someone deeply connected to the US far right.<\/p>\n

So [on Thursday] we began, in this final stretch of the electoral process, to demonstrate aspects of the professional and political life of Mr. De la Espriella. We have started with an early chapter of his life: his work as a lawyer, which was his direct link to narco-paramilitary structures at the beginning of this century.<\/p>\n

When he was still a young lawyer, fresh out of a right-leaning university, Sergio Arboleda University, he established an organization called the Fundaci\u00f3n Iniciativas por la Paz, which became a vehicle of the paramilitaries to capture financial resources and also to finance themselves\u2014that\u2019s to say, the organization was the funder and at the same time was funded by the paramilitaries to carry out the work of what you could call improving their public image.<\/p>\n

This is well-documented given the many justice and truth-telling processes in Colombia, like the Truth Commission, which was in session until recently and was the result of the 2016 peace accords with FARC; the Justice and Peace System, a legal framework created during the era of talks of paramilitary demobilization; and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, another tribunal established under the 2016 peace accords. In these forums, paramilitary leaders and individuals connected to paramilitary groups and drug trafficking presented numerous testimonies. Drawing on these sources and investigations by the ordinary justice system, [on Thursday] we compiled six major testimonies indicating that De la Espriella acted as a legal operative who may well have been part of that paramilitary or narco-paramilitary structure, and whose role essentially involved public relations and securing judicial favors, allegedly bribing politicians and judicial officials to benefit the paramilitary leaders.<\/p>\n

We also presented evidence of financial ties and specific tasks that De la Espriella carried out. Yet this only covers his time as a young lawyer. We\u2019re going to continue to reveal further details in the coming days. This is not the only criminal complaint we\u2019re filing. There will be others.<\/p>\n

ACL: <\/em><\/span> Speaking of the US right in Southern Florida and their political interventions, the Trump administration seems to have blocked a meeting planned between President Petro and New York\u2019s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Why do you think the right-wing opposition sees this meeting as such a threat as to intimidate the Colombian government in order to prevent it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

IC: <\/em><\/span><\/strong> Well, first of all, I reject such decisions because they violate autonomy and sovereignty\u2014in this case, of our country. Our president is our head of state and he can and should meet with whomever he deems necessary. The mayor of New York is a political figure, also a state leader, so they should have the freedom to meet.<\/p>\n

Second, as I mentioned, they are both outstanding political leaders. President Petro has been consistent and visionary in his stances on environmental defense, on the effects of the climate crisis, about the need for an energy transition that abandons an economy centered exclusively or primarily on oil as a source of energy, and in the defense of humanity\u2019s sanctuaries like the Amazon rain forest. Furthermore, he has maintained a very clear position regarding the genocide in Gaza and the government of Netanyahu. In general, he has come to the defense of the victims of aggression and genocide that we see being perpetrated today. And ultimately, he is a leader in the pursuit of peace.<\/p>\n

As for the mayor of New York, there\u2019s no need for me to introduce him. So I think that fear, if fear is indeed what promoted this arbitrary decision, could arise from the certainty that such a meeting would generate ideas and political purpose. These could be\u2014at least for us, if not for others\u2014highly productive and beneficial at this moment.<\/p>\n

In general, I believe the far right\u2014and here I\u2019m not referring to this specific decision but rather in general\u2014has built a strong international. That\u2019s to say, the far right acts with relative synchronization on a global scale. We see certain models, certain narratives, certain arguments being replicated everywhere, copied or adapted to each specific context.<\/p>\n

For instance, Mr. De la Espriella wants to adopt various schemes of Mr. Bukele, or of Mr. Milei in economic matters, in Colombia. The far right acts globally\u2014something that deserves observation and study\u2014while the progressive field, the left, finds it challenging to do so. It is slower; its processes are difficult. I think the far right perceives this clearly and wants the left to stay this way\u2014relatively isolated (relative because there are indeed instances of dialogue in the international progressive movement)\u2014so we fail to establish shared goals for shared problems.<\/p>\n

ACL: <\/em><\/span> The Pacto Hist\u00f3rico was swept to power amid a national revolt against neoliberalism and austerity. What conditions have changed so that austerity is back on the menu, now represented by another Uribista candidate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

IC: <\/em><\/span><\/strong> Well, I\u2019ll start by commenting on how conditions have changed. One positive shift is the level of mobilization, organization, and awareness among the Colombian people. This government has fostered the development of social organization and mobilization. Consequently, our government\u2019s popular base has grown in these years.<\/p>\n

This raises the question of what a new administration would look like. We\u2019re going to take things further. One of the changes we\u2019re going to introduce is to give a more prominent role to social movements, not just through government representation but, above all, through mechanisms for popular decision-making and the opportunity for these movements to engage directly with the state\u2014without, of course, losing their autonomy.<\/p>\n

Now, there are two issues that we must indeed address. One is the corruption that has occurred in our government. Corruption is not simply a moral problem. It is the result of the privatization of the state. Services have been privatized; bureaucratic machinery has become overly complex, and relations within the state are mediated by businesses. There exist apparatuses of corruption at all levels of the state. So a battle must be waged against corruption, which is not merely moral but political, and it is a battle to build a society that is more democratic, free, and just.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the issue of austerity. You have two concepts of austerity. There is neoliberal austerity, the austerity heralded by the far right, which, to put simply, means tightening the people\u2019s belts or imposing harsher conditions on them, while the government holds greater resources or possibilities. And this obviously entails doing away with the state, too, especially its social functions.<\/p>\n

We counter that concept of austerity with a different kind: republican austerity. It is a concept that Morena has developed in Mexico. And it\u2019s the idea that the state should be austere. Public spending on government officials must be kept as moderate as possible, and the savings that austerity produces should be for the people, for social spending. In other words, redirect funds away from waste, corruption, and all the absolutely unnecessary and detrimental expenditures of the state and government and toward social spending. That is the concept of austerity we\u2019re going to champion.<\/p>\n

Read more The Man Who Could Keep Colombia\u2019s Left in Power<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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