Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday (12) attacked businessman Elon Musk, owner of the social network X, accusing him of having a “propensity for Nazis” and claiming that he could close “at any time” his account on the platform, used daily by the left-wing politician.
“Now the networks, having demonstrated their alternative capacity around the world, are being bought by the richest people in the world, as they did in Colombia. Now, wherever I speak, there is a man with a propensity for Nazis, Elon Musk,” Petro said at an event of alternative, community and digital media outlets in Armenia, capital of the department of Quindío.
“At any moment he closes my account, and then the thesis of [antigo ditador chileno Augusto] Pinochet, [do] silence in the face of barbarity, applies”, he added, without giving any indication or presenting any proof that this is about to happen.
Even before taking office in August 2022, Petro has made this social network his most common means of communicating with Colombian citizens. As president, he uses it daily to report on his activities and proposals or to express opinions on a wide range of topics, which has earned him criticism within the country for “governing in X”.
Petro has also used X as a stage for confrontations with opponents, journalists and politicians from other countries, such as the president of Argentina, Javier Milei.
Musk is currently embroiled in conflicts in several countries, including Brazil, where he was included by Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in the investigation into digital militias. The businessman’s social network has been suspended in the country since August 30, after refusing to comply with orders considered illegal issued by Moraes to remove content and block profiles, several of which are linked to the Brazilian right.
Petro says there is a plan to assassinate him
At the event, Petro insisted on Thursday that there was a plan to assassinate him or “overthrow him” through a coup d’état and that “the order was given.” He did not, however, present any evidence or proof of these allegations.
This claim has been a constant in his speeches in recent weeks due to investigations into irregular financing of the campaign that brought him to power.
According to Petro, his opponents insist that “the president violated the law to produce a political impeachment process in the House of Representatives’ Accusations Committee with a lot of money involved behind it.”
“They don’t want us to say this, because they want that, on the last day, when they have already removed the president, as they did in Bolivia, as they did in Brazil, as they did in Peru, killing people, then careless people will allow the next president of the Republic in this presidential period (2022-2026) to be Mr. Cepeda, president of the Senate,” he added.
Conservative Senator Efraín Cepeda Sarabia, who has presided over the Senate since July 20, has criticized Petro’s policies and this week expressed rejection of the new tax reform project presented by the government.
“It is the mafia that is paying for the president of Colombia to be assassinated or removed from office as soon as possible. So let’s take to the streets, friends, we cannot sleep. If the popular triumph of 2022 has been destroyed, we will have three more generations ahead of us.” […] immersed in violence,” Petro alleged.
He also compared himself to former Chilean President Salvador Allende on the 51st anniversary of the 1973 coup. According to the leader, “the same thing is happening in Colombia, but in a more sophisticated way.”
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