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 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, where 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 calls for new leadership in the country away from the president’s party.
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 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 Colombia’s presidential runoff election on June 21.
This is a developing story and will be updated.