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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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Colombia’s outgoing president Gustavo Petro, the first left-wing politician to lead the country in recent history, has sparked confusion on social media with a two-word post saying, “Heil, Hitler.”
The post, published on X on Sunday and viewed more than 20 million times, included a link to an opinion piece published in Colombian newspaper El Espectador, in which columnist and politician Felipe Zuleta Lleras wrote that, “Colombia does not need more rhetoric; it needs order, authority, and economic freedom.”
Petro’s one-line post appears to be a comment on the nature of this quote and Zuleta Lleras’ article, which called for new leadership in the country away from the president’s party.
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The president has repeatedly warned in recent weeks that parts of the country's political opposition are embracing what he describes as "fascist" ideas.
Why Did Petro Post ‘Heil Hitler?’
Petro, who has an active presence on social media, has commented on the recent results of the first round of the presidential election, saying that “a good part of the country does not prioritize social reforms” that aim to fix the country’s inequalities, which he said are at the heart of “problems like drug trafficking and violence and the lack of democracy.”
On the contrary, he said on X, many Colombians “want to dismantle the social state of law and the 1991 constitution,” which significantly broaden the decentralization of the government and protection of minorities in the country, “to take us back to that of 1886 and even worse, to truly fascist systems.”
There is “strong popular support for fascism” in the country, he added.
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Colombia’s Polarized Election
Colombia is in the midst of choosing a new leader. The country’s first round presidential election on May 31 saw left-wing senator Ivan Cepeda, who has been endorsed by Petro, heading to the run-off together with hard-right politician Abelardo de la Espriella, who is backed by President Donald Trump.
Neither candidate had more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round of the election. According to the preliminary results, Iván Cepeda won almost 41 percent of the votes while De la Espriella 43.7 percent.
In his opinion piece, which contained a comment generated by Gemini AI, Zuleta Lleras argued that “Abelardo de la Espriella’s candidacy is not only a legitimate option; it is the only alternative capable of eradicating the cancer of complacency and putting the country back on track.”
De la Espriella, who has promised to lead the country with an iron-fist approach to crime, is currently leading polls for the runoff election on June 21.
How Petro’s Clashes With Trump Are Weighing on the Election
Petro, a 66-year-old economist, has served as Colombia’s president since 2022, pursuing a progressive domestic agenda focused on strengthening workers’ conditions.
While many of the health and labor reforms he wanted to introduce were stalled in Congress, he is leaving office with an approval rating of over 50 percent, according to a poll published by Celag Data in May.
His time in office has also been marked by a quick deterioration of Colombia’s relationship with the U.S. after Trump returned to the White House.
In September of last year, Trump revoked Petro’s visa to the U.S. after a dispute over deportation flights. A month later, the White House placed sanctions on the Colombian president, his wife, and his eldest son, accusing him of failing to curb drug trafficking to the U.S. and allowing cartels to “flourish.”
The two leaders have also clashed over Israel’s actions in Gaza, with which Petro suspended diplomatic ties in 2024.
Under a law introduced in 2015, which bars presidents from running for reelection, even for a nonconsecutive term, he cannot run for office again.
Cepeda, a longtime human-rights advocate, is running as a representative of the party that Petro has founded, Historic Pact or Pacto Histórico.
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De La Espriella Leading Polls, but Election Remains Heated
De la Espriella’s unexpected rise in Colombia, backed by Trump’s support, is in line with a wave of right-wing politicians taking power in Latin America, including two close Trump allies—El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and Argentina’s President Javier Milei.
De la Espriella is a 47-year-old lawyer who has never held office. However, he has charmed many Colombians presenting himself as an anti-establishment outsider who could save the country from turning into another Venezuela, a failed authoritarian state which is still suffering one of the worst economic crises in its history.
Aligning himself with Bukele in El Salvador and ideologically with Trump in his desire to crack down on drug trafficking from Latin America, De la Espriella has pledged to build 10 new maximum-security prisons in the jungles of Colombia and curb the actions of gangs and armed groups in the country.
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Earlier this month, Trump backed De la Espriella, writing on Truth Social that he has his “complete and total endorsement” and described him as an “intelligent, strong and tough leader” who will take on a “radical leftist Marxist” in the runoff election.
Petro has accused Trump of interfering with the election by endorsing De la Espriella, saying the U.S. president has sided against his party “because we are progressives, because we are on the left, and because we disagree on issues like Gaza.”
According to polling by AtlasIntel conducted between June 1 and June 2, De la Espriella is currently leading with 50.3 percent of the vote, while Cepeda trails him with 42.6 percent.
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