Colombian President Gustavo Petro exposes right-wing plot to link him and Senator Iván Cepeda to the assassination attempt against opposition figure Miguel Uribe Turbay, amid escalating political warfare.

Related:

Colombia Deploys Security Forces to Protect 2026 Election Candidates

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has publicly denounced a coordinated smear campaign attempting to implicate him and Senator Iván Cepeda in the June 7 assassination attempt against right-wing presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay.

In a June 25 statement on social media platform X, Petro revealed, “There is an attempt to point me out in the media as responsible for the attack on Senator Uribe by the lawyer who comes from the same political sector as Iván Cepeda’s slanderers.” The president announced he would file a criminal slander complaint against those orchestrating the operation.

The campaign employs false testimony and manufactured evidence to link Petro’s allies to drug trafficking networks while simultaneously accusing the government of orchestrating the attack on Uribe Turbay.

Senator Cepeda,a key prosecutor in the landmark case against former President Álvaro Uribe,and lawyer Miguel Ángel del Río issued a joint statement exposing the plot, noting it aims to “damage their image through false testimony” and derail Cepeda’s legal work. The timing coincides with the final phase of Álvaro Uribe’s trial, where prosecutors seek his conviction for procedural fraud and bribery.

This incident unfolds against Colombia’s legacy of political violence targeting progressive figures. Petro emphasized that the smear campaign mirrors tactics historically used by right-wing factions to silence opposition, citing over 17 assassination attempts against him since taking office.

Hay una operación que intenta vincular a Iván Cepeda al narcotráfico, que viene de acusados por el senador. y hay un intento de señalarme mediaticamente como responsable del atentado al senador Uribe, por el abogado que viene del mismo sector político que los calumniadores de… https://t.co/rZrJB7sCmc

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 25, 2025

The text reads: There is an operation trying to link Iván Cepeda to drug trafficking, coming from those accused by the senator. And there is an attempt to publicly accuse me of being responsible for the attack on Senator Uribe, by a lawyer who comes from the same political sector as Iván Cepeda’s slanderers.

I have decided to file a slander complaint against those who slander me.

The attack on Uribe Turbay,grandson of former President Julio César Turbay Ayala,occurred days after Petro’s reforms were blocked in Congress, fueling suspicions of staged crises to delegitimize the government.

The operation forms part of a systematic effort to criminalize left-wing movements in Colombia. By fabricating ties between Petro’s allies and drug cartels, right-wing actors seek to undermine judicial proceedings against Álvaro Uribe while destabilizing the government. Petro condemned the strategy as “a criminal operation” designed to sabotage democratic processes and protect entrenched power structures.

IN THIS ARTICLE