Ivan Cepeda (Image: Twitter)
The favorite presidential candidate of Colombia’s left, Senator Ivan Cepeda, joined President Gustavo Petro’s opposition to escalating US aggression in South America and the Caribbean.
In a video statement published on social media platform X, Cepeda warned that recent “extrajudicial killings” of alleged drug traffickers were in direct violation of international human rights.
Combined with threats made against Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, this could lead to a “catastrophic and unpredictable situation in the region” and a “humanitarian, economic, social, political, and diplomatic tragedy,” the senator warned.
We have also seen in recent times an escalation to the point… where the United States government decides to undertake what is called, in military terms, surgical strikes. This would mean a humanitarian, economic, social, political, and diplomatic tragedy for our region. A country like Colombia, in a border zone like the one we have with Venezuela, which is densely populated, any action in that direction could undoubtedly configure a humanitarian crisis or emergency.
Ivan Cepeda
Cepeda made the comments a few days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that Colombian authorities were “still very pro-American,” and “the only problem in Colombia is a lunatic president.”
The presidential candidate and others on the left have sided with Petro over his foreign policy decisions regarding Venezuela and the US.
In an interview with CNN, Cepeda asserted that he would “continue President Petro’s policy,” because he believes that “Petro’s leadership in both cases has been successful.”
Regarding military intervention in Venezuela, the presidential candidate stated his response would be “one of absolute rejection,” and emphasized that he would try to maintain regional peace “at all costs.”
Bogota and Washington DC have been at odds since US President Donald Trump signed a directive to use military force against cartels and threatened to take military action against Venezuela’s “dictatorship.”
