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Originalbeitrag: La maquinaria del miedo de De la Espriella: investigaciones periodísticas denuncian desinformación, compra de votos y discursos de odio en Colombia

Multiple investigative reports recently released have placed the presidential candidacy of far-right Abelardo de la Espriella under intense scrutiny in Kolumbien, exposing alleged schemes of electoral fraud, misinformation, and hate-inciting rhetoric.

Reports from the program Investigative Signal, aired by Señal Colombia and Revista Raya, have uncovered the development of an orchestrated operation aimed at instilling fear among voters. The strategy allegedly involves widespread dissemination of false content and misleading messages, utilizing illegal databases, identity impersonation, and advertising billboards that portray political opponents as guerrillas.

The journalists’ findings are alarming, documenting the alleged illicit collection of personal data from over 1.4 million citizens, including active members of the security forces. This information is said to have been used to bombard mobile phones with political propaganda, as reported by TeleSUR.

In the Caribbean coast, specifically in Barranquilla, Atlántico, evidence points to a clientelist machinery operating from local power. City Hall employees reportedly received orders to gather votes, with quotas ranging from 20 to 100 ballots, under threats of retaliation if they failed to meet targets, creating a scenario of labor coercion.

The shadow of hatred and intimidation is also cast over the academic realm, a traditionally critical sector.  Five higher education institutions, both public and private, received explicit threat emails signed by an account linked to the Salvation National movement.

The messages warned of a forthcoming «cleansing» at universities against opponents of the candidate. This campaign, aimed at silencing dissenting voices, is complemented by the detection of WhatsApp groups comprised of retired military personnel and police, dedicated to spreading audiovisual material laden with hate messages designed to instill fear in the electorate.

Vote Buying Through «Mochila»

In the heart of the Caribbean region, allegations of vote buying threaten to impact the outcome of the ballot on Sunday, June 21. According to the cited media, lawyer Miguel Ángel del Río filed a criminal complaint with the prosecution highlighting the operations of the so-called «Gnecco clan» to favor De la Espriella in Cesar, a key department in the electoral outcome.

 The methodology employed is known as «mochila», a historical practice of corruption where intermediaries, referred to as «mochileros», collect blocks of votes in exchange for money. The complaint seeks to dismantle these structures, which, far from being isolated occurrences, pose a threat to the legitimacy of the voting process.

A severely grave judicial antecedent presented by the investigative reports links De la Espriella to paramilitarism. The former chief of the AUC, Pablo Hernán Sierra, alias «Pipintá», sent a letter to the IACHR and the Commission of Accusations in the House incriminating the candidate of the so-called Defenders of the Fatherland movement as a supposed link in a plot to bribe magistrates of the Constitutional Court in 2006. The aim of that operation was to secure legal benefits for the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a confession that, if true, would demonstrate a dangerous collusion between politics and the paramilitary groups that have plagued the country.

Petro: «Lying and Criminal Propaganda is Funded from Abroad»

The severity of these revelations has escalated to the highest levels of the Colombian State. President Gustavo Petro denounced through his social media that this «lying and criminal» propaganda is financed from abroad, specifically from Miami, to hide its true cost in campaign accounts. The president pointed out that a fund established in that U.S. city, in which the mayor of Medellín would be a partner, receives contributions from Colombian and foreign businessmen, motivated by opposition to change policies. This external interference, according to Petro, seeks to undermine Colombian democracy by attacking figures such as presidential candidate of the Historical Pact, Iván Cepeda, whom he defined as a builder of peace.

«I’ve said it several times; this propaganda follows Goebbels’ advice to Hitler. With the lie repeated time and again, and the fear instilled in the population reaching power«, he warned.

La entrada De la Espriella’s Fear Machine: Investigations Reveal Voter Fraud, Misinformation, and Hate Speech in Colombia se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.