COLOMBIA – A coup is underway in Bogota, Colombia. Or so the Colombian president Gustavo Petro claims. On October 8, Petro took to social media to denounce what he alleges is an ongoing attempt to overthrow his government. “The coup has begun,” he wrote on his X profile. Petro’s accusation came after Colombia’s National Electoral Council (CNE), announced it was set to launch an investigation into the financing of his 2022 presidential campaign over alleged breaches of spending limits.

Experts say the strong rhetoric is the latest evidence that Petro is struggling to maintain control midway through his four-year term, as a string of scandals threatens to overshadow Colombia’s first-ever left-wing presidency. The president has denied the accusations, labelling them instead as an attempt by his political enemies to manipulate the CNE to oust him from power.

“The jurisdiction of the President of the Republic of Colombia has been broken. Today, the first step of a coup against me as constitutional president has been taken. If carried out, this act would represent the greatest affront to our democracy in the history of the country,” Petro said in a speech shared on social media on October 8.

Petro, a former guerrilla and Colombia’s first ever leftist leader, described the CNE as “an administrative authority captured by the opposition which seeks at all costs to cast doubt on my integrity”, and added that the entity had “formulated charges” against him. As a result of the CNE’s decision to investigate him, Petro has urged his supporters to take to the streets to denounce the alleged coup.

Opposition leaders dismissed the president’s claims and pointed out that the CNE is within its constitutional rights to probe potential financial misconduct. Notably, the last two presidents of Colombia, conservatives Ivan Duque and Juan Manuel Santos, faced similar investigations from the CNE during their time in office, as did the centrist Ernesto Samper in the late 1990s. (Aljazeera)