00:00And to delve deeper into the topic, we welcome now David Lopez, an analyst and human rights
00:06specialist. Hello David and welcome to From the South. Thank you, thank you very much to open
00:16me this space and thank you so much to follow these important elections in Colombia. It's a pleasure
00:21to have you. So David, Colombia enters the 2026 elections with a deep political polarization
00:27after four years of Gustavo Petro's presidency. How would you describe the country's political
00:33mood today and what explains the level of division between the left and the right?
00:40So Colombia arrived today with a very big political tension, maybe social as well and geopolitical.
00:52This is not only a simple election as it happened in other elections. This is maybe
01:02a confrontation between two historical models. In one side, you have the possibility to continue the
01:13the process started by the by the President Petro. So a process much more
01:20democratic, more where he removed the territorial peace, the social justice, the human rights,
01:27the national sovereignty. And by another way, you have the restoration of a conservatory bloc
01:36who want to propose to come back in this politics of the national security, promoted and financed
01:46by the United States and sometimes by the European Union, where the social discipline and the militarization is
01:53maybe the structure of this side of the policy we have today in discussion during these elections.
02:05The dimension of this day, it's big because, as you mentioned before, you have 41 million
02:11Colombian people who can vote today with more than 13,700
02:21places to vote and 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.
02:41But at the same time, we have, as well, 400,000 effective of the police and the army who are
02:52deployed
02:52now the country with some risk, you know, that we can have because traditionally we know that the
03:02extreme right and the right try to buy the votes, manipulate the votes. And of course, the corruption,
03:10it's every time present like many other countries in Latin America. And more of that, we have, as well, the
03:19ignorance of foreign countries like the United States and Ecuador, we see on these last days, who are very
03:28important to take into account, because this is one of the ways of geopolitical contexts we have today,
03:36who show that the Colombian elections are very important, because we have to understand, as well,
03:42that Colombia is one of the most important countries for the United States overall, when we talk about the
03:51economical and geopolitical consequences and interests of Washington.
03:59So, David, presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda represents the continuity of Gustavo Petro's social model.
04:06What are the key electoral advantages and disadvantages of running on a platform of deepening reforms
04:13to health, pensions and labour?
04:17Yes. So, of course, Ivan Cepeda represents the the the candidature who is connected with the historical
04:30memory, human rights, the peace and defence of the victim. He is beyond a senator, he is a human
04:40right defender who was victim of the national conflict in Colombia. So his program is not a simple
04:49list of promise. He is the only candidate who has a program where you can count 400 pages, where he
04:57takes into account everybody. So the farmers, students, African descendants, indigenous people,
05:06entrepreneurs, but as well the Colombians who live outside of the country. And this is very important.
05:13The other biggest candidates like Abelardo de las Priella and Paloma Valencia, they don't have something
05:24proposed as a governmental plan. They never propose of taking account these people. If you see the actual
05:34plan, governmental plan, governmental plan of Abelardo de las Priella, you have only three pages. This is
05:40incredible. I think that nobody around the world who wants to be president has only three pages as
05:46a governmental proposal as well for Paloma Valencia, who has only 13 pages, and all what they present has not
05:59logical when you think how you want to implement what they propose. I think that the craft of the policy
06:11of
06:12Ivan Cepeda is that, of course, he doesn't represent this right or extreme right who wants to send and to
06:24sell as well
06:25a message of a spectacle or like a circus for the country. This is not an improvised candidature. He represents
06:38a
06:39long way building by the denunciation against the paramilitarism. He proposed policies in defense of the
06:50victims and the research of the truth and an issue, political issue to the armed conflict. And this is
06:58very important because many people criticize that the Colombian government, so the Petro government,
07:07don't make an out to stop the conflict and to fight the narcotraffiquants and others in the country. But
07:16this is the country who, in this century, fight the more the corruption, fight the more the
07:25narcotraffiquants. And at the same time, he could promote social policies. If we go back again to the policies
07:34applied by President Uribe, Santos and Duque, it will be very, very sad because we're going to go back again
07:43to the
07:45forced disparation, internal displacement, and many other policies who were denounced as well by the
07:54United Nations at the Human Rights Council and others. And, of course, it could be as well much more sad
08:01if we take into account the geopolitical context lived actually in Latin America.
08:07So, David, looking ahead to the final results, what do you believe is truly at stake for Colombia in these
08:15elections?
08:17So, I hope that for these elections the people will be conscient about what we play today with the country.
08:34We have to take
08:37account what happened actually as well in Argentina, where many people are on the extreme poverty and they
08:44don't have something to eat. We have to take in account as well the threat existing against Cuba and, of
08:52course, the
08:52geopolitical position Colombian has actually in connection with the United States. We have to take
09:01in account that remember that Colombia has a very big military cooperation with Washington and they have
09:10military bases in Colombia. They have influence with many international corporations and, of course, lose Colombia
09:21or give the opportunity to a new government to be much more far off the interests of Washington and maybe
09:30put Colombia in a condition where they can be much more near to
09:35Beijing and maybe Moscow. We don't know what can happen in the next four years.
09:41Of course, it gives conditions and situations we have to take in account and I hope that the Colombian
09:50people could have in these conditions and these situations the opportunity to elect the people who can put
09:59the country on the way under development but put as well the country in a place where we
10:05can continue to respond with all the difficulties we have on the legislative powers to put
10:12the country on the interests of the poor people, on the farmers, on the students, as well on the army
10:18because this is the first time that a government like the Petro's government responds with dignity to
10:27the social interests and rights of the militaries who have to go to the territories, fight against the
10:37narcotraffiquants, fight against the paramilitaries and at the end they put their lives. And, of course,
10:44we need somebody who continues this policy with Gustavo Petro. We had the opportunity to inscribe Colombia
10:56as a member of the Human Rights Council. This is something that has never happened before because
11:01Colombia was never interested to promote policies in human rights. So, I hope that the people are consigning
11:10in that and they will choose the candidate who responds definitely to the interests of the majority of the
11:19Colombian people for the good of the continent as well. Final question, David. If you had to summarize
11:27the single greatest threat to Colombia's democratic stability in 2026, which one would it be?
11:46If I have to define the maybe the the policy we can we can take in
12:03account for this 26 from the Petro's government and what it has to continue is the policy of the
12:11response to the social policies who contain the right to the to the workers, the right to the farmers,
12:22the right to the to have a good quality of education. This is maybe the most important we have to
12:31continue
12:32and we have to take in account in this 2026. If we lose that, I think we're going to have
12:42very, very big problems. Maybe the problems live actually in Argentina will not be so big as we can.
12:50We could have in Colombia if we choose somebody who will orient the policy on the interests of the United
12:57States, because Colombia, of course, has many years of intern army conflict. And I think that if this
13:07if this continues, the policy of Uribe or heritage of Uribe continue in this new government, it will be
13:17very, very sad. So I think that for this 2026, we have to take in account the progress made by
13:23this
13:24government. It has to continue. And of course, put a stop to this radical new fascism who
13:32is implanted right now in Latin American, promoted as well by the United States.
13:37Thank you, David, for your time with us here in From the South.
13:43Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. I didn't I don't listen to you very good at the end,
13:48but I want
13:49just to leave a message to all the Colombian citizens. This is very important to gonna vote
13:55independently for the people they want you. They want to vote the most important that they gonna
14:01vote and they gonna vote with conscience because democracy is not only to have the freedom to vote,
14:07is to have the opportunity to have the conscience to vote for the person who gonna respond for for our
14:15interests and not only for the interests of the right and oligarchic people. Once again, thank you very
14:21most, David. It was a pleasure to have you in From the South. It was David Lopez. He was he
14:27is a human
14:28right specialist and an analyst. We continue with more Colombian President Gustavo Petro cast his vote
14:35vote in the 2026 presidential elections. The Colombian President, Carlos
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