Petro warns Mexico and Brazil that “algorithms” could alter their elections

Gustavo Petro used his first trip abroad as a former president to warn that “algorithms” and what he called “techno-fascism” could influence elections in Mexico and Brazil. Speaking at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Petro said the methods that allegedly helped Colombia’s far-right president win could spread.

“Mexico is in danger and Brazil is next,” Petro said during a packed lecture attended mostly by students. His event began nearly two hours late after a meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the National Palace.

Petro did not detail that meeting, but said he and Sheinbaum discussed the importance of progressivism and “humanism” in policymaking. He said Sheinbaum proposed that he take part in academic intellectual coordination in Mexico, but he declined because he intended to remain in Colombia.

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It is the system that wants to expand, and that is not right. Mexico is in danger and Brazil is next. These methods have legitimacy among the political class currently leading the United States.

He repeated his allegation that a system involving two million bots interfered in Colombia’s election and said it had been monitored by the U.S. State Department under Marco Rubio to support Abelardo de la Espriella. Petro also claimed Donald Trump knew about the alleged interference, citing Trump’s public statement that Colombia’s president owed his victory to him.

Petro said he saw a similar pattern in the recent victory of Keiko Fujimori and in Chile, where far-right leader José Antonio Kast governs. He continued to present Senator Iván Cepeda, his former presidential ally, as Colombia’s legitimate president while discussing his book, “Political Economy of the Climate Crisis.” He warned that capital accumulation and neoliberalism threatened humanity’s survival and criticized technology companies and executives including Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.

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Trump cannot say he did not know. He himself publicly said, ‘Thank me, Tiger, because he is president of Colombia thanks to me.’