It was expected that Colombia’s elites, who had enjoyed a monopoly over the state for two hundred consecutive years up until twenty months ago, would attempt to obstruct the left-wing President Gustavo Petro’s administration. This effort to undermine the process of change mandated by the majority of Colombians has involved everything from misinformation campaigns to the blocking of policies in Congress — but there have also been more direct and sophisticated strategies to overthrow the progressive project.

After Brazil’s legal apparatus was successfully wielded against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, and Argentina’s against Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Colombian elites are attempting to do the same to Petro, with his administration warning about a plot last summer. If successful, it would mean not only the defeat of Colombia’s first left government, but also a major victory for the US and Latin American capitalist classes.