00:00To delve deeper into the topic, we welcome now David López, an analyst and human rights specialist.
00:06Hello David and welcome to From the South.
00:13Thank you, thank you very much to open me this space and thank you so much to follow these important
00:18elections in Colombia.
00:19It's a pleasure to have you.
00:21So David, Colombia enters the 2026 elections with a deep political polarization after four years of Gustavo Petro's presidency.
00:30How would you describe the country's political mood today, and what explains the level of division between the left and
00:37the right?
00:40So Colombia arrived today with a very big political tension, maybe social as well and geopolitical.
00:51This is not only a simple election as it happened in other elections.
00:58This is maybe a confrontation between two historical models.
01:06On one side, you have the possibility to continue the process started by the president Petro.
01:17So a process much more democratic, where he promoted the territorial peace, the social justice, the human rights, the national
01:27sovereignty.
01:27By another way, you have the restoration of conservatory bloc, who want to propose to come back in this politic
01:40of the national security,
01:43promoted and financed by the United States and sometimes by the European Union,
01:48where the social discipline and the militarization is maybe the structure of this side of the policy we have today
02:01in discussion during these elections.
02:04The dimension of this day is big because, as you mentioned before, you have 41 million Colombian people who can
02:13vote today with more than 13,700 places to vote
02:22and more than 122,000 tables where the people can go as well to elect the candidate.
02:31And that shows the biggest and important institutional process we have today to elect the new president.
02:40But at the same time, we have, as well, 400,000 effective of the police and the army who are
02:51deployed in other countries with some risk, you know, that we can have.
02:59Because traditionally, we know that the extreme right and the right try to avoid the votes, manipulate the votes.
03:07And, of course, the corruption, it's every time present, like many other countries in Latin America.
03:13And more of that, we have, as well, the ignorance of foreign countries like the United States and Ecuador, we
03:23see on these last days,
03:25who are very important to take into account, because this is one of the ways of the geopolitical context we
03:34have today,
03:35who show that the Colombian elections are very important, because we have to understand as well that Colombia is one
03:43of the most important countries for the United States.
03:47Overall, when we talk about the economical and geopolitical consequences and interests of Washington.
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