Colombia’s Uribe Accuses Venezuela of Election Debacle, Minister for Defense Responds

This Sunday, March 20, Venezuela’s Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino reacted firmly to accusations issued by Colombia’s former president, Álvaro Uribe, following the defeat suffered by Uribe’s party in the March 13 Colombian parliamentary elections.

Accusation and manipulation
According to Uribe’s accusation, Venezuela’s General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) was behind the alleged fraud that occurred in Colombia’s March 13 elections.

“Venezuela’s penetration contributed to the electoral fraud in Colombia,” wrote Uribe yesterday. With this statement Uribe expressed frustration over the loss of seats in Congress by his party, the Democratic Center. Congress will now be in the hands of the left-leaning Historic Pact for Colombia.

La penetración venezolana para contribuir al fraude electoral en Colombia pic.twitter.com/8ee5Yj6w1O

— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) March 20, 2022

Uribe attached an image to his message attributed to the counterintelligence services of Venezuela’s Ministry of Defense. The report contains data from a purported “vulnerability analysis” of the Colombian Electoral System.

According to the document released by the ultra-right former president of Colombia, “the system vulnerability detection team carries out frequent analyses about sensitive files and serious or moderate vulnerabilities that can be exploited with digital technology.”

In response, Padrino expressed his opinion that the spokesperson for Colombia’s oligarchy “clucked like a chicken” about an alleged fraud because the results were not at all favorable to him.

Padrino described Uribe’s comments as a movement “typical of desperate oligarchies” and predicted the demise of these groups in which power is concentrated.

Los gallos cantan al amanecer para anunciar el nuevo día. Las gallinas dan vueltas cuando van a poner. La manera más fácil de no reconocer la derrota es cacareando un fraude por adelantado, la mentira mediante, típico de las oligarquías desesperadas ¡Pasarán a la historia! https://t.co/py0n05cKE8

— Vladimir Padrino L. (@vladimirpadrino) March 20, 2022

Is Uribe desperate?
The accusations issued by former President Uribe, to which Minister Padrino López responded, come after the Colombian electorate made history by placing the most votes in favor of a left-wing party since the country’s founding.

Public opinion already views the March 13 parliamentary elections as the most controversial that has taken place in Colombia in the last five decades. The victory of the Historic Pact of Colombia paves the way for the success of its candidate, Gustavo Petro, in the presidential elections scheduled for the month of May.

Featured image: Venezuelan Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino. File photo.

(RedRadioVE) by José Manuel Blanco Díaz with Orinoco Tribune content.

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/SL/EF