The Old Playbook in Colombian Politics
Colombian President Gustavo Petro recently reported an assassination attempt, following a similar claim from Senator Aida Quilcue. This news emerges as Petro, a former M-19 guerrilla, pushes for significant reforms and peace initiatives in a nation long seen as a crucial U.S. ally in the region. His election marked a historic shift, bringing the left to power for the first time in Colombia's
history. This is not an isolated incident in Latin America's political theater. Consider the 2002 attempted coup against Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, which enjoyed swift U.S. recognition before it ultimately failed, or the long history of plots against figures like Cuba’s Fidel Castro, surviving more than 600 attempts. The pattern is clear: leaders who deviate from imposed economic or geopolitical
frameworks often find their lives, or their governments, under threat. A 2013 investigative report by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, for instance, detailed extensive CIA involvement in destabilization efforts across the continent, particularly during the Cold War. From the U.S.-backed overthrow of Guatemala’s Jacobo Árbenz in 1954 for land reform efforts, to the 1973 coup that
installed Augusto Pinochet in Chile, leaving 40,000 dead or disappeared, the modus operandi persists. The 'discovery' of threats against a progressive leader in a resource-rich nation, especially one seeking independent foreign policy, is less a surprise and more a familiar beat in a well-rehearsed symphony. It’s always framed as internal instability, never external pressure. When a Colombian