Maria Elvira Salazar claims Colombia is under the threat of socialism with Petro

Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar addressed the upcoming elections in Colombia and the role of the populist left-wing politician and presidential candidate Gustavo Petro during a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Salazar, who covered Latin America during her time as a journalist, claimed that she has the knowledge to talk about these topics, such as the Colombian elections.

“Es un ladrón, un socialista, un marxista, un terrorista y está liderando las encuestas a la Presidencia de Colombia" dijo sobre Petro hoy en el Congreso de Estados Unidos 🇺🇸 María Elvira Salazar @MaElviraSalazar pic.twitter.com/IC1cqFEyp6

— ADN America (@AmericaAdn) November 17, 2021

During the congressional hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Salazar said that Colombia is under “the threat of socialism” with candidate Gustavo Petro. If elected, Petro would seek to move towards socialism and Marxism, which only brings about misery and oppression, she claimed.

“There are many Colombian exiles in my district. Nobody wants to leave their country, they all want to live in Colombia, be with their people, where no one will take anything away from you, or where no guerilla threatens you,” she said.

As the daughter of Cuban exiles, she can understand how Latin America wants to live in freedom and democracy, Salazar claimed. Latin Americans do not want to live in the regime of “repressive bureaucrats” with pretensions of perpetuating themselves in power, which is something that Petro seeks to do in Colombia, she argued.

The congresswoman claimed that the Biden Administration did not know who the real Gustavo Petro is. She explained that “the ex-militant of the Colombian guerilla” poses a threat to the democracy of the country.

“He is a thief, a socialist, a Marxist, a terrorist, and he is leading the polls for the presidency of Colombia,” said Salazar about Petro.

In response to the Congresswoman’s accusations, Petro asked her for respect and accused her of intervening in the decisions of Colombian citizens.

Petro also claimed that former president Álvaro Uribe intervened in the U.S. presidential elections.

“Uribe illegally intervened in the U.S. to elect this congresswoman and now she is intervening in the free decision of the Colombian people,” said Petro.

Petro pointed out that he was elected with more than eight million votes.

Un uribista+otro uribista+otro uribista+ otro uribista. ¿Que nos da?: Duque II https://t.co/rlJx1YbQ0F

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) November 17, 2021

Hours earlier, Petro reacted to the meeting between presidential candidates Juan Carlos Echeverry, Enrique Peñalosa, Federico Gutiérrez, and Alejandro Char. “One Urbista + another Urbista + another Urbista + another Urbista. What do we get? Duque II,” he said.

El dr Petro ha sido generoso conmigo, llama Uribista a todo aquel que se le opone;

Yo he sido egoísta, para dejar de serlo debería no insistir en que él es Chavista, y mejor reconocer que Chávez era Petrista

— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) November 17, 2021

Uribe did not take long to respond to Petro’s comments. “Dr. Petro has been generous with me, he calls everyone who opposes him an Urbista. I am selfish. To stop being selfish, he should not insist that he is a Chavista, and should instead recognize that Chavez is a Petrista,” Uribe tweeted.