|  ElCiudadano.cl |  Noticias

El Ciudadano

Original article: Plata, lobby y guerra digital: “Proyecto Júpiter”, la trama que salpica a empresarios y medios en una ofensiva contra Cepeda y Petro

Silent Power Play: Inside ‘Project Jupiter’ and Its Efforts to Undermine Petro and Cepeda

The so-called ‘Project Jupiter’, orchestrated by ‘Uribismo’, is executed through a coalition of major corporations, right-wing think tanks, and media, operating in Colombia with a clear goal: to destabilize the government of President Gustavo Petro and attack the candidate from the Historic Pact, Iván Cepeda, benefiting right-wing candidate Paloma Valencia (Centro Democrático) in the lead-up to the presidential elections on May 31.

At the helm of this operation is Jaime Bermúdez Merizalde, a communications strategist who aided former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez in his rise to power in 2002 and was later appointed as Foreign Minister.

Bermúdez is notorious in the South American nation for promoting the establishment of U.S. military bases on Colombian soil and for signing a $534 million agreement with the Agency for International Development (USAID) without disclosing its expenditures.

According to an investigation by the digital outlet Batalla Cultural Colombia, leading up to the upcoming elections, this operation is progressing in the shadows with a substantial funding exceeding 7 billion Colombian pesos (around 2 million dollars).

“We have already raised 7 billion, which is no small matter,” asserted the strategist, whose name currently appears on the boards of the most powerful conglomerates in the country: Grupo Sura, Tecnoquímicas, Amarilo, Grupo Carvajal; as well as on the University of the Andes’ Higher University Council.

Additionally, Bermúdez revealed that through this plan over 40,000 people have been trained in electoral workshops aimed at sowing fear, indignation, and hatred against the current president and progressive presidential candidate.

Citizens from the city of Cali, in the Valle del Cauca Department, who requested anonymity, informed Batalla Cultural that the former Foreign Minister is lobbying directly among the leading companies in the country to politically and financially support the project, “ensuring that there is a fund of 7 billion pesos and that each company joining this effort will remain anonymous.”

This raises the question: What lies beneath this veil of silence?

Three Strategic Angles Against Petro and Cepeda

According to leaked documents, Project Jupiter is structured around three strategic angles: political-legislative influence for the 2026 elections and the regional elections of 2027; cultural transformation through electoral workshops held within companies to promote a narrative against Petro’s government and Iván Cepeda, favoring right-wing candidates; and digital external communication, a propaganda machine that mobilizes fear, uncertainty, and indignation, alongside a hope-driven campaign under the hashtag #EstaEnNuestrasManos.

The investigation by the digital outlet reveals that the first angle, called Cultural Transformation, is deployed through six major right-wing think tanks that have divided the national territory among themselves.

In the Caribbean, ORIGEN Network of Leadership operates, an organization where Bermúdez himself is part of the board, and which has heavyweight allies such as Fundación Corona, Fundación Bancolombia, Caracol TV, Juan Valdez, Movistar, and Universidad de La Sabana. In Bogotá, workshops are coordinated by LIBERTANK, a libertarian and neofascist study center, with allies including Smurfit Kappa —accused of displacing communities in Cauca—, Celsia, Postobón, and Fenavi, among others.

However, perhaps the most revealing case occurs in Valle del Cauca. There, the Valle Caucana Action Unit (UAV), an entity created over two decades ago by the Cali elite —including the Carvajals, Eder, and Cabal families— has conducted at least 31 electoral workshops in less than fifteen days, costing over 118 million Colombian pesos, impacting more than 11,000 individuals just in that region.

The director of UAV is María Isabel Alvarado Cabal, cousin of Senator María Fernanda Cabal, while María del Rosario Carvajal presides over the governing board, which includes Harold Eder Garcés, brother of Cali’s mayor, Alejandro Eder. Companies involved include Postobón, Ingenio Incauca, Carvajal, and Bivien, among others.

In Antioquia, the Hernán Echavarría Olózoga Institute of Political Science —whose leaders are linked to Fedepalma, Riopaila Castilla, and the Society of Farmers— handles the workshops. The national coordinator receiving reports on the number of trainings conducted is María Adelaida Puyo, a social communicator and current director of the Telemedellín channel.

“Jupiter has a person named María Puyo who is here with me and who is the coordinator for companies interested in coordinating these workshops,” confirmed Bermúdez.

Digital Warfare

The second major front is digital external communication, described by the investigation as the “most aggressive strategy” from Uribismo and the business class against President Gustavo Petro and Iván Cepeda.

Bermúdez has acknowledged that their content has reached 17 million unique Colombians, supported by a network of media and influencers.

The Digital Vanguard Plan consists of two phases: an open offensive to highlight supposed discontent against the government and mobilize negative emotions, and a defense plan to generate trust in private initiatives as pillars of governance.

This second phase has given rise to the campaign #EstaEnNuestrasManos, gathering over a million followers on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Among its disseminators is Marta Lucía Ramírez, who in August 2025 published a video expressing solidarity over the assassination of Miguel Uribe, the same material used in business workshops to insinuate the Petro government’s responsibility in the crime.

The digital allies of the project are equally revealing, as Jaime Bermúdez declared at a forum of the Infrastructure Chamber of Commerce held on March 3 in Cali.

“Let me give you some data: we have already trained over 40,000 employees, it may seem small, but we have digital versions which are these: Libertank and La Silla Vacía, which allow us to scale overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly. I’ll tell you this: in one week, we reached 400 people in a single company distributing virtual content among ~800 employees,” he said at the event.

Thus, the digital outlet La Silla Vacía emerges as a key digital agency of Project Jupiter, explicitly targeting President Petro and especially presidential candidate Iván Cepeda.

The network also includes Vahos and Orozco, a company in Medellín owned by Mateo Gómez Vahos, who in 2017, while serving as communications advisor to Mayor Fico Gutiérrez, “ordered the creation of 200 fake profiles on Twitter (now X) to defend the official and attack Petro,” as reported by Batalla Cultural Colombia.

The digital content is massive and systematic. The page #EstaEnNuestrasManos on Facebook, active since May, has published over 1,700 pieces. Three types of messages are identifiable: direct attacks on Iván Cepeda, attacks on Gustavo Petro’s government, and campaigns to promote right-wing participation in consultations, clearly leaning towards the candidacy of Paloma Valencia.

“Today, we are producing over 40 pieces of digital content weekly for our Project Jupiter, and I’ll show you some examples, since May of last year we have generated over 1,700 pieces across all digital platforms,” stated Bermúdez.

In light of these revelations, it becomes clear that what’s at stake in Colombia is not just an electoral campaign, but the very legitimacy of the democratic process itself, eroded in the shadows by an alliance that combines money, lobbying, and digital warfare to favor the right.

La entrada Silent Power Play: Inside ‘Project Jupiter’ and Its Efforts to Undermine Petro and Cepeda se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.