The totalitarian regime of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro has buried the Barbados Accord that would have guaranteed some degree of electoral transparency in the 2024 presidential elections, the release of political prisoners, and candidacy of the opposition candidate María Corina Machado. Colombian President Gustavo Petro was among the most vocal supporters of the accords, and a leftist regional figure that could have facilitated a historic return to free and fair elections in the neighboring country.
Instead of assuming a leadership role with one of his close political allies, Petro has dedicated most of the last several months in office to criticizing Israel’s human rights abuses in occupied Gaza, President Nayib Bukele’s tackling organized crime in El Salvador, and attempts to undermine the election in Guatemala of the progressive candidate Bernardo Arevalo. But on the Venezuelan regime’s assault on María Corina Machado, Petro is tight-lipped.
Recent decisions by the Chavista-run National Electoral Council (CNE) to curtail any attempts by legitimate opposition parties to inscribe candidates, including the coalition Unitary Platform with the 80-year-old academic Corina Yoris, have been accompanied by the persecution of María Corina Machado, winner of the primaries last October. Machado is widely considered as the only candidate who could defeat Maduro at the polls on July 28 but has been banned by the regime from running in these elections and barred from any public office until 2036.
On Tuesday, Petro, instead of condemning the breakdown of Venezuela’s electoral process, Colombia’s leader yet again issued the following warning on the social media platform “X,” which received harsh condemnation from the Government of Israel. “If Israel does not comply with the United Nations Ceasefire Resolution, we will break diplomatic relations with Israel,” wrote Petro.
Israel’s reaction to the Colombian leader’s ultimatum has been decisive. “The President of Colombia Gustavo Petro’s support of the Hamas terrorists who massacred and committed horrific sexual crimes against babies, women, and adults is a disgrace to the Colombian people,” reads the statement from the Israel Foreign Ministry. “Israel will continue to protect its citizens and will not give in to any pressure and threats,” concludes the MFA.
The outrage from Israel over Petro’s repeated anti-Semitic remarks, as well as the impossibility for Corina Yoris to register her candidacy with the registration deadline set by the National Electoral Council (CNE), has sharpened the political affinities between the Petro Government and Venezuelan dictatorship. The U.S response to Petro’s continued accusations on social media that Israel commits “genocide” in Gaza is also tight-lipped.
Another critical moment came after Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro officially declared his candidacy for the upcoming elections, while the opposition represented by Machado and Yoris has essentially been disqualified from an election that now appears to be a one-man race: Maduro or Maduro.
The disqualification of Yoris has drawn condemnation from numerous Colombian politicians and well-known opinion leaders, among them, former President Iván Duque, who in a post on “X,” described the developments in Venezuela as “the chronicle of a robbery foretold.” In addition to Duque’s remarks, former presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo adds: “Colombia maintains an ethereal mediation that sounds like subtle complacency with the Venezuelan government, which, when the mask is removed, is a crude dictatorship.”
Political analyst Nicolás Gómez Arenas highlights a perceived silence from Gustavo Petro, noting that the Colombian President not only “agrees with Maduro’s actions,” but that “solidarities exist between bandits.” This sentiment is mirrored by prominent politician Germán Vargas Lleras, who warns of potential consequences: “If a Constituent Assembly were elected today, 70% of Colombians would vote against the Petro government. That is why I fear that the model they want to impose on us is that of Maduro in Venezuela, where the constituents were appointed by hand.”
Further intensifying the condemnation, writer Emmanuel Rincón points to perceived inconsistencies in Petro’s stance, asserting, “Petro really won’t say anything; in days he will travel to Caracas to hug Maduro, and nothing happened. Everything has been coordinated.”
Journalist María Andrea Nieto challenges Petro directly, asking, “Is Petro going to remain complicit in silence with the atrocities that Nicolás Maduro’s dictator is committing against María Corina’s team, who are being kidnapped for carrying out a political campaign?” She presses further, urging Petro to reveal his true stance, stating, “Uncover your cards Petro, or at least admit that you are not capable of rejecting the persecution, torture, and violation of human rights that occur in Venezuela!”
As the slate of condemnation against Petro’s silence on Venezuela grows, intensified by the stark and direct affirmation from Israel on Tuesday that Petro supports Hamas, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry and the reputation of the nation in the international community has been damaged almost beyond repair. “The Nicolás Maduro regime, a partner of President Gustavo Petro, was satisfied with removing Maria Corina Machado from the path, and now has left Corina Yoris out. Incredible the silence of our “democratic” Chancellor Luis Gilberto Murillo,” wrote Bogotá Councilor Daniel Briceño.
Former Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa also warned that “Petro’s silence” is a direct warning of what could happen in Colombia, and called on “all large and small businessmen must organize now for an indefinite strike in case Petro tries to remain in power by any undemocratic means”.
