The United States Government threatened this Thursday to withdraw visas from those who try to “undermine” or “manipulate” the elections in Colombia, a country that will be called to the polls in a second round to elect its next president on June 21.
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“Those who are tempted to undermine or manipulate the democratic process, whether by buying votes or in any other way, are therefore warned that they are putting their visas and those of their families at risk”, warned U.S. Under Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, in a message published on social media.
He concluded by emphasizing in Spanish and with exclamations: “¡Por algo me llaman El Quitavisas!”, alluding to an intervention by the head of U.S. diplomacy, Marco Rubio, held this week in Congress, where he also declared himself “committed” to the “protection of democracy” in Colombia.
Therefore, and in order to “safeguard the integrity” of the upcoming elections in the South American country, as Landau emphasized, Washington is “closely following the situation on the Caribbean coast and in other areas”.
Finally, the North American undersecretary emphasized that, in the eyes of the U.S. Executive, a country’s visa “is a privilege” and not “a right”, with its “denial and revocation” being “powerful” tools to advance Washington’s foreign policy.
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It should be remembered, in relation to the first round held in Colombia last Sunday, that President Gustavo Petro denounced an alleged fraud that same night with modifications to the census and polling stations.
However, after concluding the scrutiny of said votes this Wednesday, Colombia’s electoral body (Registraduría) assured that the process was carried out “efficiently” and “without setbacks”.
In addition, that same entity assured this Thursday that the control bodies (Comptroller General of the Republic and Attorney General of the Nation) and observation missions were able to confirm that “neither the software nor the electoral census were modified on May 26”.
