The recent presidential election in Colombia was embroiled in controversy over claims of election fraud, capturing a small segment of the news cycle for a couple of days. Immediately after the election results were announced, Colombian President Gustavo Petro began alleging vote tampering. At issue is the private company, Thomas Greg & Sons, one of several companies tasked with handling, printing, and distributing election materials, handling the ballot pre-count forms, and managing the software that processes tally sheets into the final vote count.
Articles like this take a lot of work, and I offer them for free thanks to my paid subscribers. Sign up for free or become a sponsor today!
Thomas Greg & Sons has been the subject of much scrutiny in the past. Petro highlighted this by pointing to the 2014 and 2022 elections, in which hand recounts revealed massive differences from the digital totals distributed by the company. Leftist presidential candidate Iván Cepeda, who led polls by large margins before the recent primary election, initially had doubts about the results. He later backed off from those allegations after the election was declared transparent by outside institutions. While these allegations have shifted out of the spotlight, other cases of interference are much more obvious. Starting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Not only did Trump give far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella his “complete and total endorsement,” but he also declared that “The results of this Election are very important to the future of Colombia and its relationship to the United States.” A statement that follows Trump’s various policy changes regarding Colombia last year, including foreign assistance cuts and tariffs. The White House employed similar tactics in multiple Latin American elections in 2025, making future partnerships with the U.S. conditional, requiring the election of Trump’s preferred candidate. This raised many concerns, thus swaying voters.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) also dipped its toes in the influence campaign. A May 19 report showed precisely why the U.S. preferred anyone but Cepeda, who is largely viewed as Petro’s successor. After highlighting how popular Cepeda is and showing large leads in the polls before the May 31 primaries, the report’s closing reads like a corporate-friendly sales pitch for far-right candidate de la Espriella.
“De la Espriella has endorsed security policies such as El Salvador’s ‘state of exception’ policy, which has raised some human rights concerns in Congress,” reads the CRS report. “Cepeda could maintain Petro’s high corporate taxes and frequent regulatory changes, which have created uncertainty among investors, while his opponents reportedly could seek to attract U.S. businesses by rolling back investment restrictions and limiting regulations.”
Reports from the CRS inform lawmakers in Congress, who are often all too willing to jump in feet first to endorse anyone who promises to be another U.S. puppet. As is typical of far-right candidates in Latin America preferred by the U.S., de la Espriella made the rounds in Miami, Florida, political circles, where he lived for more than 10 years and became a U.S. citizen in 2023. Florida Republican Representative Maria Elvira Salazar highlighted the influence of both the CRS and de la Espriella during a recent subcommittee hearing when she suggested to Secretary of State Marco Rubio that it may be Petro who is trying to commit electoral fraud.
“Rep. Salazar raised concerns about allegations of electoral fraud surrounding Colombia’s presidential election and questioned what steps the United States would take if members of the Petro government were found to be involved in efforts to undermine the integrity of the electoral process,” reads a press release from Salazar’s office.
Salazar, a Cuban American hardliner who often talks of military aggression against leftist Latin American governments, later warned that any Colombian government officials or actors found attempting to manipulate the voting process could face “severe” U.S. repercussions. Many other questionable moves are being used to greatly influence Colombia’s election in favor of de la Espriella, as noted by the recent Hondurasgate leaks. The investigation exposed a far-right transnational plot to destabilize Latin America with organized, fake-news campaigns targeting regional leaders who may not be sycophantic enough for Trump.
Conclusion
No one can blame Petro or the many Colombians who keep speaking up and alleging outside interference. It’s obvious to anyone who’s paying attention or knows even the least bit of Latin American history. There’s a long record of U.S. meddling in Latin American elections. In just the last two decades, there have been multiple instances against Colombia alone, and even more across the region. It’s become exceedingly common since Trump started his second term, and he has his eyes on Brazil’s election next.
The Colombian presidential runoff election is on June 21, 2026.
Meanwhile, in Peru, far-right presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former hardline president Alberto Fujimori and Trump’s preferred candidate, and leftist Roberto Sanchez, wait as votes are counted in what has been a highly tense runoff election. The candidates are currently separated by fewer than one percentage point, with Fulimori leading 50.2 to 49.8 percent as of this writing. Fujimori has lost runoffs in 2011, 2016, and 2021. Win or lose, there’s no guarantee anyone will remain president of Peru for an extended period of time.
Peru, one of the most politically unstable countries in the hemisphere, is about to elect its ninth president in ten years.
Arturo is an independent freelance journalist. He has written hundreds of articles on policing, immigration, race, and Latin America. His work has been featured in outlets such as Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, and more. Arturo is also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support his work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.
I have been watching all of the blatant pressure campaigns and fear tactics being applied by members of our government and it is so disgusting and outrageous. It's been so helpful when you have articles like this one. I also really appreciate when you share work from journalists in these countries or have collaborative pieces. Do the voters in these countries know that most US voters are oblivious? Out of the people I talk to who have any awareness (and frequently that just means surviving the infodump from me) no one is supportive of this interference. What's craziest to me beyond the repetitive and exploitative nature of recent history is how the likely outcome of this will only lead to increased immigration. That's what happened in the past. So what is the end goal here beyond resource extraction and destabilization?
Seeing the students and teachers protesting makes me proud of their spirit but fear for their safety.
I might be terminally immature and idealistic, but I really didn't think a return to the bad old days of coups and dirty wars was a possibility so soon. Frankly the kidnapping of Maduro as well as the continuing and increasing blockade on Cuba feel more blatant than the quieter (but still US directed) toppling of Allende and Iran Contra.