Brazilian President Lula da Silva Rejects Coup Attempt in Colombia

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Oct. 2024. X/ @Expectativas01

October 11, 2024 Hour: 7:01 am

‘As someone who has been a victim of all kinds of political persecution, I express my solidarity with Petro,’ he stated.

On Thursday, Brazilian President Lula da Silva defended Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who is being investigated for alleged irregularities in his presidential campaign expenses.

“As someone who has been a victim of all kinds of political persecution, I express my solidarity with President Petro. You cannot give up on due legal process, especially when what is at stake is the will of the people, democratically expressed at the ballot box,” said the leader of the Brazilian Workers’ Party.

In this context, Lula recalled the political trial that culminated in the removal of then Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, an episode that highlighted the persistence of “soft coups” in Latin America. At that time, the Brazilian Congress ousted Rousseff for alleged fiscal irregularities in the budget. Years later, however, Brazilian courts dismissed those charges.

Once the coup was carried out through the lawfare mechanism, Rousseff was replaced by her vice president, Michel Temer, a conservative politician who, upon ascending to the presidency, implemented a broad agenda of neoliberal economic reforms.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum (@Claudiashein) publicly expressed her solidarity with Colombian President Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) for the attacks against his government, which could mean a new case of #lawfare against a progressive leader in #LatinAmerica pic.twitter.com/7AB9SH3R7z
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 9, 2024

“In 2016, President Dilma was the victim of an impeachment process without legal basis, and that marked the beginning of a turbulent and traumatic period in Brazil’s history,” Lula emphasized.

This week, the Colombian National Electoral Council (CNE) opened an investigation and brought charges against President Petro and members of his team for allegedly exceeding the spending limits set for his 2022 presidential campaign and resorting to prohibited, undeclared sources of funding.

Petro stated that the CNE’s decision is “the first step in a coup” against him and appealed to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), arguing that it violates the outcome of the elections that made him president.