The fear of an assassination continues to haunt the electoral campaign. This morning, President Gustavo Petro announced on his social media that the United States intelligence agency, the CIA, is aware of a “possible assassination attempt” against the left-wing presidential candidate, Senator Iván Cepeda. Only minutes later, former right-wing president Álvaro Uribe denounced on his social media that the ELN guerrilla group has a plan to attack his party’s candidate, Senator Paloma Valencia.
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The board of electoral alliances and support continues to be organized. The Cambio Radical party announced that it will free its militants to support the candidacy they prefer between Paloma Valencia’s and Abelardo de la Espriella’s. On Wednesday, the Conservative Party announced that it is joining the Uribista campaign. An identical decision had been made on Monday by the Party of the U, as well as by former Senate candidate María Paz Gaviria, from the Liberal Party. On the other hand, most of the congressmen from the Green Alliance Party have opted to support the official candidate, Iván Cepeda, with whom they began conversations. As a result, the party’s National Directorate approved the process of splitting the collectivity, the final step of deep internal divisions, impossible to hide. With this announcement, the political center becomes even more blurred in the electoral landscape, as it has not even managed to gather support around the candidates who represent it, Sergio Fajardo and Claudia López, born from the heart of the collectivity.
A court orders Abelardo de la Espriella to rectify false information about Juan Fernando Cristo
Former minister Juan Fernando Cristo has announced through his social media the decision made by the 18th Civil Circuit Court of Bogotá, which determined that presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella lied about information disseminated to the media regarding him, in which he was linked to the husband of fellow presidential candidate Sondra Macollins.
According to Cristo, who declined his presidential candidacy for the first round and later joined Iván Cepeda’s campaign, lawyer De la Espriella “lied in public statements.” According to the court’s decision, the rectification must be made through the same media outlets where the affirmation was made, or in a video addressed to public opinion.
Paloma Valencia and Sergio Fajardo ask Cepeda to speak out against Petro’s intervention in the elections
Two presidential candidates from the right and the political center, Paloma Valencia and Sergio Fajardo, responded to an announcement by the left-wing candidate, Iván Cepeda, in which he rejected the improper political intervention of a vice minister. “I celebrate that he rejects this fact,” Fajardo told him. “But the questions about his campaign are not only due to this particular case, but to the blatant way in which President Gustavo Petro and the government are campaigning for him,” he adds. “Will he speak out about this or remain silent?”
The right-wing candidate added a critical message in the same vein. “You fool no one, Senator Ivan Cepeda. You have the entire government, starting with the President of the Republic, at the service of your campaign.”
Former President Álvaro Uribe claims that the ELN guerrilla group threatened his candidate, Paloma Valencia
Amid fears of threats, former president Álvaro Uribe states that his protégé, presidential candidate Paloma Valencia, has received threats from the ELN guerrilla group. “The leaders Pablito Arauca and Antonio García are directly responsible for an assassination attempt against Paloma Valencia,” says Uribe. The former president also assures that in that guerrilla group “they give the order to vote for Iván Cepeda to impose him as president in the first round.”
So far, there has been no known active pressure from armed groups for a candidate. The ELN is a sensitive issue for Cepeda, as he was a negotiator in the failed dialogue table with that guerrilla group, in addition to being an architect of the Total Peace policy for dialogue with armed groups.
Cepeda demands information from authorities about the possible threat against him
The left-wing presidential candidate, Iván Cepeda, spoke out regarding President Gustavo Petro’s message on X: the president assures that the CIA knows of a possible plan to kill the candidate. “I am going to ask the authorities to inform me in detail about this circumstance,” he said. “But I also want to be supremely clear and peremptory about this: under no circumstances will I abandon my political work, much less the electoral campaign.” The candidate also stated that he has received threats before during his campaign, but has not made them public, “because I do not want to sow alarm or panic in public opinion.”
Iván Cepeda asks that no public servant campaign for him, such as the Vice Minister of Information Technologies
The left-wing candidate revealed that the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Information Technologies is intervening in the electoral campaign, despite the fact that it is prohibited in Colombia for officials to engage in politics from their positions. “My campaign has learned that in recent days, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies, Andrés López, allegedly participated in a WhatsApp group to promote my electoral campaign,” says Cepeda, who rejects this type of support. “I reiterate my position that no public servant should intervene in political proselytism, in general, and in the activities of my electoral campaign, in particular,” he adds.
However, the country’s most important official, President Gustavo Petro, has been accused by electoral observers of constantly intervening in the electoral campaign, both to make key party decisions and by speaking about the right-wing candidates competing against Cepeda.
Gustavo Petro: “The CIA already has real and concrete data on a possible assassination attempt against candidate Iván Cepeda”
President Gustavo Petro announced on his social media that the United States intelligence agency, the CIA, has information about “a possible assassination attempt against candidate Iván Cepeda.” The president is responding to a message from the White House in which Washington said that ‘terrible consequences’ await those who attempt to attack presidential candidates. It was the right-wing candidates, Paloma Valencia and Abelardo de la Espriella, who received death threats last Sunday, through their social media. The Minister of Interior, Armando Benedetti, expressed his rejection of these threats and announced measures to guarantee the safety of the candidates. The president did not mention the threats to Valencia or De La Espriella on his networks, and today revealed that it is his political party’s candidate, Cepeda, who is threatened by the “extreme right.” He said, without proof, that it is the same extreme right behind the assassination of influencer Charlie Kirk, and the attack suffered by Trump when he was a candidate in 2024.
“I thank President Donald Trump for his support for free elections. Remembering the origin of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the one Donald Trump himself received, they come from the same side: an extreme right that uses the state to kill and death to seek votes,” he said
Roy Barreras announces this will be his last electoral campaign
Former senator and presidential candidate for the La Fuerza party, Roy Barreras, has announced that this will be his last political electoral campaign. According to him, this does not mean he will withdraw from the race for the Presidency. “What I have said is that it is the last time: I will never again be a candidate for anything,” he announced through his social media. However, he assured that he has a “higher obligation,” which is to try to prevent the country’s division and ensure that the next government is one that generates trust and not fear. He added: “If we succeed, this candidacy will go until June 21,” the date on which the second presidential round is held, and which Barreras seeks to reach, despite the unfavorable poll numbers.
Paloma Valencia from the border with Ecuador: “The first call I’m going to make [in my Government] is to President Noboa”
From the Rumichaga international bridge, which connects Ecuador with Colombia, the Uribista candidate, Paloma Valencia, spoke alongside the former president and her mentor, Álvaro Uribe. They traveled to a community affected by the diplomatic crisis between the presidents of the two countries, Gustavo Petro and Daniel Noboa, which escalated to the point that Ecuador will impose 100% tariffs on Colombia on May 1st; a decision that could end cross-border trade. “It is unacceptable that the Government, when warned that if it does not combat drug trafficking they will impose tariffs, prefers to punish merchants and transporters, and the economy of southern Nariño, rather than combat criminality,” said the candidate. Noboa has argued that Petro has not fought illegal groups on the border, and therefore punishes with these new tariffs, which he calls a security fee. But experts warn that the tariffs he imposes may instead incentivize criminality on the border. While armed groups have strengthened during Petro’s mandate, tariffs harm legal trade on the border.
“I want to make an announcement: on the first day [of my government], we are going to militarize the Cali-Popayan-Pasto road, so that there is no more suffering,” Valencia promised a crowd, if she wins the presidency in the middle of the year. “That same day, the first call I am going to make is to President Noboa, to say that here there is someone to fight narcoterrorism, and to immediately remove the tariffs to reactivate trade.” She promised a customs office that would streamline traffic, criticized Petro for promoting trade with Venezuela. “We don’t want to be intergalactic leaders, we want to be presidents of Colombia to serve Colombians,” she added.
Above all, she promised to work with the Governor of the border department of Nariño, who is aligned with the Government and has defended Petro’s total peace. Nariño is usually an area that votes left or progressive, but the new crisis with Ecuador has been an opportunity for the right competing for votes. In the afternoon, Abelardo de La Espriella will also speak from the department’s capital, Pasto.
Cambio Radical frees its militants to join Valencia or De la Espriella
The Cambio Radical party decided, after the meeting of its legislative caucus, to free its militants to support any of the right-wing presidential candidacies, either Paloma Valencia’s or Abelardo de la Espriella’s. The conservative formation also imposed a veto on supporting the aspiration of the official candidate, Iván Cepeda. Within Cambio Radical, a party where several powerful clans from different regions of the country converge, there are tendencies with affinities both towards the Uribista candidacy and towards that of the far-right lawyer. In this way, it separates itself from parties like the Conservative and the Party of the U, which this same week unanimously decided to join Valencia’s campaign, in an attempt to get closer to the favorable poll numbers that favor Iván Cepeda, who has been leading in surveys for months.
The Conservative Party joins Paloma Valencia’s campaign
The Conservative Party announced this Wednesday that it will join the presidential campaign of the Democratic Center candidate, Paloma Valencia. The party’s president, Efraín Cepeda, explained that the decision was made “unanimously.” “From this moment on, the Conservative Party has an official candidate, and from here we express to our militants that this decision of the directorate is law for our militants and we must put ourselves at the service of candidate Paloma Valencia,” said Cepeda. In this way, the Conservative Party, one of Colombia’s two historical parties, joins the Party of the U, which last Monday adhered to the Uribismo campaign, one of the two right-wing aspirations seeking to dispute the Presidency against the official candidate, Iván Cepeda, who has been leading in all polls and surveys for several months.
María Paz Gaviria adheres to Paloma Valencia’s candidacy
Former Liberal Party Senate candidate and daughter of former president César Gaviria, María Paz Gaviria, adhered to the campaign of Paloma Valencia and Juan Daniel Oviedo. A photo circulating on social media, in which she appears embracing the Democratic Center candidate, shows her support, as well as clues about her party’s decision, which will announce whom it will support in the upcoming elections at the end of this month.
Most Green congressmen opt for Iván Cepeda
Political differences within the Green Alliance Party became irreconcilable. The party’s National Directorate approved, with 32 votes in favor, the request for the collectivity’s split, presented this Monday by Senator Jonathan Ferney Pulido Hernández, known as Jota Pe Hernández. “I thank you for allowing me to start my political career in this house, I will remain firm in serving Colombia,” said the senator, one of the most critical of Gustavo Petro’s Government, in a farewell-toned message.
For years, the center party had been showing signs of wear. In its ranks, senators who became almost opponents of the current administration, such as Katherine Miranda or Catherine Juvinao, shared positions with others who supported most of its initiatives, such as Ariel Ávila, Olga Lucía Velásquez, or Liliana Rodríguez. The fissures, which became evident during this legislature, have once again become evident during this presidential campaign, in which support is divided. However, most Green congressmen are opting for Iván Cepeda.
This Monday, Representative Jaime Raúl Salamanca Torres announced that the party had decided to form a commission tasked with building a programmatic agreement with the left-wing candidate’s campaign. However, Miranda says she is unaware of the decision. For her, it is more coherent “with the defense of the Constitution and the independence of powers” to support Paloma Valencia and Juan Daniel Oviedo, the right-wing ticket. None, paradoxically, speak of supporting the center candidates, Sergio Fajardo or Claudia López, born from the heart of the collectivity.
“Today the Green Alliance party decided to prohibit, to prevent, us from supporting Claudia López and Sergio Fajardo. They have been leaders of the Green Alliance Party. It is an undemocratic decision very much in line and in tune with the temperament of President Gustavo Petro,” questioned Senator Angélica Lozano, after the decision to start negotiating with the official candidate became known. “It is a final and sad closing stage for the party,” she concluded.
The Green Party creates a commission to build an agreement and support Iván Cepeda
Amidst the ongoing weaving of support and alliances in the Colombian presidential race, it has become known that the center-left Green Alliance party has decided to form a commission tasked with building a programmatic agreement with the campaign of the left-wing candidate, Iván Cepeda. “Said agreement implies that the Green Party’s proposals and priorities are recognized in the Government program of the Alliance for Life; as well as that the Green Party’s militancy joins the presidential campaign of Cepeda-Quilqué,” states a handwritten text disseminated by the party’s Representative to the House, Jaime Raúl Salamanca Torres.
However, Salamanca clarifies in a tweet that no official agreement has been reached yet. “Until there is a programmatic agreement with the Alliance for Life coalition, there will be no support for the presidential campaign,” he wrote on X.
Vicky Dávila, former presidential candidate, tries to return to journalism with Semana
Vicky Dávila jumped from journalism to politics ten months ago but now wants to return. The former director of Semana magazine until last year, she decided to run for president in June as an ‘outsider’ candidate, and initially seemed to have options to capture the anti-Petrista right-wing vote. But another ‘outsider’ crossed her path, the far-right lawyer Abelardo de La Espriella, who now appears as the second favorite in the polls. Dávila publicly clashed with the criminal lawyer several times, alleging he had too many shadows in his past – especially as a defender of Nicolás Maduro’s frontman, Alex Saab. She then sought an alliance with right-wing candidates, making it clear that she would never be an ally of De La Espriella. Dávila lost the right-wing pre-candidate consultation in March, and then jumped to support the winner, the Uribista Paloma Valencia. The agreement between them was that the losers would join in supporting the winner, and some, like former minister Mauricio Cárdenas, former mayor Enrique Peñalosa, and former senator David Luna, are campaigning this way.
Dávila, instead, reactivated her YouTube channel, but not to campaign for Paloma Valencia (like the other right-wing pre-candidates) but to resume conducting interviews. Last week, she sat down with former president Álvaro Uribe. “You know that my journalist’s heart itches,” she told him.
More surprisingly, she then sat down, this Sunday, with Abelardo de La Espriella, in an interview that this time was reproduced on Semana’s digital channels. “I want to tell you that I am not representing any political project here today for this conversation, I am not coming as a spokesperson for any candidate,” she said at the beginning. Alex Saab appeared tangentially. “There are people who believe that Abelardo de La Espriella has financed his campaign with money from Alex Saab.” An accusation that the candidate denied: “I haven’t spoken to Alex in seven years.” Past differences regarding the consultation also emerged. “Remember that I am no longer a candidate, don’t get me into those messes,” she asked him about his decision not to join the consultation. “No, I have to include you because you were there, the past doesn’t forgive,” he replied.
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The Party of the U adheres to Paloma Valencia’s campaign
The Party of the U announced this Monday its adherence to the campaign of Paloma Valencia, the presidential candidate of the Uribista Democratic Center party. As announced by the formation, both its collegiate leadership and its elected and incumbent congressmen have “majority” decided to join Valencia’s aspiration. “This decision responds to our responsibility to Colombians to support an option that guarantees the institutional stability of the State,” said the Party of the U in a brief statement emphasizing the need to strengthen security and the quality of life of the population.
“Don’t expect statements against peace from me”: Cepeda on party in Itagüí prison
The left-wing presidential candidate, Senator Iván Cepeda, spoke for the first time about the vallenato party reported in Itagüí prison, Antioquia, which was attended by leaders of criminal gangs who have been in dialogue with the Government for the past three years.
“I believe that should be handled by the prison authorities, of course,” he told reporters from several media outlets when asked about it. “But don’t expect statements against peace from me.”
The videos of the party were revealed by Claudia Carrasquilla, a councilwoman from the Democratic Center party, just one week after the National Government announced it was canceling the arrest warrants for spokespersons of the High Impact Criminal Structures (EAOCAI) of Medellín and the Aburrá Valley. After the controversy, the dialogue table with the leaders was temporarily suspended.
Cepeda’s terse words drew criticism from several politicians, especially other presidential candidates. Through her X account, Paloma Valencia, from the Democratic Center, reproached Cepeda for remaining silent. “[Cepeda] is not going to speak ‘against peace.’ But what peace is he talking about? The same one with which criminals have benefited while the country faces high levels of violence.”
Sergio Fajardo, who had already spoken out about Cepeda’s silence regarding other accusations surrounding Total Peace, joined the pressure the left-wing politician is receiving. “Cepeda’s silence is complicit and incoherent,” he wrote on the social network, taking the opportunity to reproach him that, despite the fact that four years ago, with Gustavo Petro’s campaign, both demanded debates, “today, in power, the silence is total.”
De la Espriella and Valencia would beat Cepeda in a second round, according to Atlas Intel
According to the pollster Atlas Intel, Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia would beat Iván Cepeda in a second round. It is the first time a poll shows this favorable result for the ultra and the Uribista, always lagging behind the Petrista in the most recent surveys.
According to the study commissioned by Semana Magazine, De la Espriella would obtain 48.8% of the votes in a runoff with Cepeda, who would obtain 39.8%. Valencia would get 47.1% against 39.6% for Cepeda.
In the first round, Cepeda remains the leader, this time with 38.7%, followed by De la Espriella, with 27.9%, and Valencia, with 23.5%. While the Petrista and Uribista grow, the ultra outsider stagnates, when compared to other measurements from the same pollster.
Iván Cepeda calls for opening up to alliances with the ‘political center’ while parties continue to debate their support
Before two traditional parties announced that they would not consider an alliance with the left-wing candidate, Senator Iván Cepeda, he received the support of a Green Party senator, Ariel Ávila, and there he made it clear that he wants to extend his hand to the country’s political center. “I want to call on citizens who feel part of the political center,” he said. “The role of the center’s citizenry in today’s world is decisive. It is not about a light center, of empty balances or comfortable neutralities. It is about a center with character, with decision, with the ability to take a stand, and to position itself without ambiguities on the right side of history.”
Speaker of the House criticizes THE U party’s stance against Iván Cepeda:
The Speaker of the House of Representatives of Colombia, Julián López, harshly criticized the leadership of the Party of the U, of which he was a member and from which he resigned in 2025. He criticized the collectivity’s decision not to support Iván Cepeda, despite some of its members having been closer to the left-wing project. López, who has had fierce disputes with the party’s director, Dilian Francisca Toro, since last year, described the collectivity as an “anachronistic, weak party, with timid leaderships full of fears.” “They decide to play, for the presidency, with the extreme right that has impoverished Colombia,” he added.
Abelardo de La Espriella rejects the possibility of the Party of the U supporting him
While the Party of the U expects to decide next week which presidential candidate the collectivity will support, the far-right candidate, who has sought to present himself as an outsider not from traditional parties, sent them a message. “I’ll make it easy for you: don’t count on me,” he told the party, before it made its decision, and called them “Santos’s party, the party that was Petro’s government party.” The U is a party founded by former president Juan Manuel Santos in 2005, and in 2022 it declared itself a government party when Gustavo Petro came to power.
Conservative and Party of the U confirm they will not support Iván Cepeda for the presidential elections
This week, several traditional parties are meeting to define who they will go with for the presidential campaign. The Liberal Party spent all Tuesday meeting, with some pushing towards the Uribista Paloma Valencia and others towards the left-wing candidate, Iván Cepeda. They did not make decisions.
The Conservative and Party of the U, however, decided to issue communiqués this Wednesday announcing that, while they still don’t know who to go with, they already know they don’t want to support Cepeda. The conservatives clarified that they are choosing between Valencia and the far-right candidate, Abelardo de la Espriella.
ELECTIONS IN COLOMBIA
Sergio Fajardo renews his anti-corruption discourse using dozens of brooms as a symbol for his campaign
The candidate who had emphasized his educational proposal returns to ‘not everything goes’ which became popular in the 2010 presidential campaign alongside Antanas Mockus
ELECTIONS IN COLOMBIA
Paloma Valencia and Abelardo de la Espriella seek María Corina Machado’s support
The Uribista candidate says the opposition leader has already offered her support “to safeguard the elections,” while the ultra seeks to distance himself from his past as Alex Saab’s lawyer
ELECTIONS IN COLOMBIA
Abelardo de La Espriella revives his campaign by accusing Petro of illegal wiretaps
The far-right candidate portrays himself as a political persecutee after the president mentioned an alleged private conversation of the criminal lawyer to commit electoral fraud
Iván Cepeda meets again with Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum
The left-wing candidate, Iván Cepeda, met again with Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, during a visit he made to the North American country last week. “I thank the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, for the constructive meeting we held at the conclusion of my visit to her country last week. In this second meeting we have had, I was able to express to her, once again, the recognition and admiration she enjoys in Colombia,” Cepeda indicated in an X post.
This is the second meeting between Cepeda and Sheinbaum. The first occurred in November, also in Mexico City. The candidate supported by Gustavo Petro has given his campaign international prominence in recent months. In addition to the Mexican president, he has met with Spain’s Pedro Sánchez and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Clara López will resign her presidential aspiration to join Iván Cepeda’s campaign
Senator Clara López will resign her presidential candidacy to join Iván Cepeda’s campaign, according to several media outlets this Wednesday. The official announcement is expected to be made next week at an event with the Historical Pact.
The candidate, registered last January 31, has made the decision in order not to divide the left-wing votes in the first round, according to several sources close to the congresswoman told Caracol Radio.
Little by little, Iván Cepeda has gathered the support of several of his former opponents. Last week, he received the support of Juan Fernando Cristo in his first alliance outside the Pact. It is expected that, in addition to López, he will also formalize the backing of Green Senator Ariel Ávila.
Acxan Duque defends himself against accusations: “What happened was a sending error, involuntary and duly documented”
This Friday, through a statement, Duque’s defense insisted that the image was sent by mistake. “The complete chat thread accredits both the original destination and the exact moment the erroneous sending occurred and will be made available to the authorities,” his lawyers state. And they add: “Mr. Duque Gámez immediately recognized the error. He offered direct apologies to the affected official in the same communication channel, before the situation became public. Furthermore, that same morning, on his own initiative, he reported the facts to the Human Talent Office of the Ministry of Equality. And he submitted his resignation (…) without waiting for it to be requested, with the purpose of not compromising the Ministry’s management or interfering with investigations.”
Medellín Court concludes that Iván Cepeda’s speech was based on the historical reality of Antioquia
The Historical Pact candidate, Iván Cepeda, has announced that the Eighteenth Civil Circuit Court of Orality of Medellín ruled in his favor, as it considered that his speech on the history of paramilitarism in Antioquia did not violate the fundamental rights to honor, good name, and free development of personality, thus denying the tutela requests filed by three citizens. On the contrary, the court concluded that Cepeda’s speech was based on the historical reality of the department.
According to the court’s decision, “Iván Cepeda Castro’s intention is to champion the resilience and capacity for transformation of the inhabitants of the Department of Antioquia, rather than to stigmatize them or create a fictitious image of violence, paramilitarism, or drug trafficking.”
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